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minnie101

Staircase dilemma

minnie101
3 years ago

Hi all, I’ve finally got a decorator booked to do my staircase and now can’t decide what to paint what ...Bedrooms will be carpeted but the main landing and stairs will be painted. Walls are elephants breath which won’t change (Budget/practical reasons). I wanted to do the stairs in a bitter chocolate although yet to find the perfect colour (front door faces south so north facing window on landing).. As you can see sadly the stairs have been altered a lot over the years. In an ideal world I’d change the first platform back to how it should be however I don’t want to change the floor so want to detract from that as much as possible..

I’m trying to minimise costs as we may move however if we stay I will later add a runner. Do I paint a runner now (dirty pink)? Or paint a stripe above the skirting to lead the eye away from that platform? What colour to do skirting, panelling etc?

Any ideas as I’m going back and forth? Whilst I like all “black” stairs and panelling, mine are quite wide and the skirting Is really high so not sure if it would be too much.

Any ideas welcome 🙏

PS for those with painted stairs, have you used floor paint on the treads and eggshell elsewhere?





Featured Answer
  • Wumi
    3 years ago

    Hey Minnie,

    If you’re going to paint I would definitely go for a specialist hardwearing floor paint by someone like Ronseal. Other general domestic brands will just wear away over time.


    Have you considered doing a black stain? You’d have to strip everything back to wood, but some black stain, followed by some oil or varnish could work. You can even get tinted oils. I recommend the Osmo Oil brand, very good quality oils/wax and easy to touch up.



    Comments (25)

    • Sonia
      3 years ago

      Hi minnie101, I’m not sure how hardwearing floor paint is, but saw these examples on the dreaded Pinterest but no mention of the paint colours used (as always lately!). The first looks like Railings? I like the mix of light and dark.

      minnie101 thanked Sonia
    • 1sandyh
      3 years ago

      Sorry to tell you this Minnie but we have painter stairs with a carpet runner. The painted areas that are showing either side of the runner are already scratched and mark so easily. Ours are white - but I imagine a dark colour would be even more forgiving. I’m forever wiping them as I can see dust & little bits. So definitely do some research as to which colours are most practical

      minnie101 thanked 1sandyh

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    • Daisy England
      3 years ago

      I do wonder how painting they treads and risers fairs up for wear and tear. Then there’s the slip when only wearing socks and the noise issue.

      minnie101 thanked Daisy England
    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Thanks Sonia, I’ve got a similar look on other stairs but I wanted treads and risers in the same colour for a more formal look this time. It does look like railings though!

      C, what paint finish did you use out of interest? My basement ones are painted and then covered in some sort of anti-slip and the only issue is where the wood has expanded in a couple of places.

      Thanks Daisy, funnily enough I had a bad fall down these stairs when carpeted (serves me right for taking x steps at a time to get the phone!).

      Thoughts on the whole lot one colour? Just worry it will be too much. 2nd pic shows the stripe I was referring to.

      all of my woodwork is the same colour btw but they’ve now changed the composition so I can’t just repaint the skirting plus the paint has aged anyway. I could take an easy option and do all of the “stairs” in bitter chocolate and the skirting and panelling in skimming stone?



    • Juliet Docherty
      3 years ago

      A really lovely colour that I have recently discovered is 'Walnut' by Neptune, it's a brown which contains red and reads as chocolate. Their paints are made by Paint and Paper Library and Little Greene (I was told) and I much prefer them to F&B. I would personally keep the dark areas to a minimum such as the spindles and posts but not the skirtings. Lovely staircase. Also think of who you are appealing to when selling, I know people say not to do this but it's important to keep things classic sometimes.

      minnie101 thanked Juliet Docherty
    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Thanks colourhappy, I saw Neptune walnut when they released it and again when searching recently but they only do an eggshell finish hence not getting a tester but I might give it a try anyway as it is lovely. The testers top to bottom are P&P pontefract, atelier Ellis bitter chocolate which looked gorgeous in the photo attached and not grey! And then LG Purple brown which I already have in varying degrees of success. Mylands also have a couple of potential contenders (on screen anyway).

      We’re in an odd situation re selling and were originally carpeting the stairs but then decided as neither of us are particularly fond of carpet that we’d paint them... I was hoping as it is essentially a mahogany colour that it would also be classic?! Mind you having been here nearly 7 years ago I’m probably past who it appeals to!

      Thanks Wumi. Having taken up half of the carpet so far I think I probably need to paint them. Colour choice is based on upstairs colours being red or magenta based (well and I like it!) although a black stain sounds lovely. Have you used Mylands, P&P or LG floor paint out of interest?



    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      I don’t see the problem with the platform?
      We’ve been in our house 5 years and stairs still not stained as I can’t decide on product 🙄
      I think the white riser/dark tread is a more classic look.

      minnie101 thanked Victoria
    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      It‘s only about 5ft from the front door and really creates a barrier, blocked in feel hence wanting to detract the eye. They added it when they renovated the house in the 70’s for some reason plus 70’s newel posts, skirting Etc which someone later replaced! I feel as if a dark colour will make it blend in and I could add art or the stripe etc to lead the eye.

      😂 I’ve only got a couple of weeks!


    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      This sort of shape now at the bottom? I think it looks fine. With your under stairs panelling I’d still keep the staircase classic.
      I don’t have a runner at all, white risers, unstained (currently) oak treads, white balustrade and newels, oak handrail.

      minnie101 thanked Victoria
    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      thanks, similar but it’s the proximity to the front door.. Please ignore that pink paint btw, that will definitely not make an appearance, it was a tester I had ages ago and not used and looked lovely when I opened it in my kitchen 😂 I do like wood treads but sadly they’re not in good enough condition. They also created that really awkward gap next to the dining room door and left a bit of skirting 😡



    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      My neighbours built their staircase exactly like that, next to a door too. Similar distance inside front door. Could you get a little bit of skirting made up?

      minnie101 thanked Victoria
    • Tani H-S
      3 years ago

      Bloody staircases!! I’m on mine right now and struggling with various things as well. They are a pain and I hate them 😭

      As for dark all over ... very dark is also a dust magnet. I had dark stairs once and omg, it showed dust from shoes and anything that fell on it.
      Unless you have a ‘no shoes’ policy in your house then I would go for a mid tone if possible?

      I do like the two tone effect ie white with darker tread and think it does look both modern and traditional so should work in your house.

      You can get tread overlays in wood - but they aren’t cheap.
      Either way for painting the wood is going to have to be sanded and filled etc so taking it back to the wood and mid stain with varnish over wouldn’t be much more work?

      I hate carpet on stairs but I’m going for it as it’s just easier 😂 - plus I’m the one having to sand/paint and my stairs are horrendous!

      minnie101 thanked Tani H-S
    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Thanks Victoria, I may just paint that odd bit of skirting the wall colour as it’s 70cm high

    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      😂 Tani, I know! I’m going round in circles as I know all dark is too much however with the runner I want it won’t be but we’re not doing that if we move... We can afford a runner in the upstairs carpet though which is an option.

      you are right re dark attracting the dirt! My bathroom panelling is in railings and gets so dusty, weirdly this side of the house doesn’t get very dusty though. We do have a no shoes policy too but I’m the only one who follows it properly! (Well and the dog!)

      i do like wooden stairs but probably need a joiner for some bits. We restored our bedroom floor last year and the boards were fine and I was hoping the stairs would be the same having seen photos in the 70s but sadly not. If I’m honest though if I stained the wood it would be in a walnut/mahogany colour 😂

      thankfully we‘re having someone do it as it’s way beyond my prep skills! I can see wh6 you’re opting for carpet!

    • Tani H-S
      3 years ago

      Ha ha yes indeed. I like the darker stained stairs as well but they are a lot of work to prep etc.

      Oh well if you are having a runner (I thought that was only an option if you were selling) then it would be fine. When it gets bad just hide it!! Ha ha

    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      Mine does this

    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Sorry Tani, I probably wasn’t clear. So if we end up selling and don’t like the painted stairs, I can have a runner made in the carpet we’ll be using upstairs ( there will be remnants and I wouldn’t put a runner on the landing part as it’s a bit of a trip hazard which isn’t ideal on a galleried landing). However if we stay i can add at a later stage the expensive runner we want.

      obviously I’d rather just pay to paint them though not knowing whether we’ll need to move or not Atm!

    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      Makes sense Minnie

      minnie101 thanked Victoria
    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Yours look lovely Victoria.

      i think I’ve made my mind up now (get the decorator to paint in stages 😂)

      I’ve just dug out the renovation photos and ironically the middle of the stairs were in the walnut colour!

    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      🙄

    • minnie101
      Original Author
      3 years ago

      Well in my defence it was a long time ago that I looked at them, I see something different every time I do!

    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      😂

    • Wumi
      3 years ago

      @Victoria your stairs are gorgeous!! This is exactly the type of finish I want for my tread and risers. Where did you get your treads from?

    • Victoria
      3 years ago

      It’s a whole staircase, we built the house. Treads are solid oak. Stairs and windows from a joinery company that no longer exists, I’ve just discovered.

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