Last Piece of the Puzzle: How to Finish the Stairs
The last major aesthetic decision we need to make for the house is how to finish the stairs. The linoleum has been removed from most of them, leaving us with what you see above. We’re going to keep the banister its current dark wood color and will probably paint the vertical back of each stair…
The last major aesthetic decision we need to make for the house is how to finish the stairs. The linoleum has been removed from most of them, leaving us with what you see above. We’re going to keep the banister its current dark wood color and will probably paint the vertical back of each stair white. What do people think we should paint the stairs and the spindles? Keep in mind that the hallway floors on each landing are going to be natural wood with poly. Thanks.
I want to repaint my existing staircase railing and spindles. They are currently whitewashed/antiqued. I have carpet (berber) going up the stairs and it is not in the budget to replace at this point. I am looking for advice on what to do with the railing. The wall colour on both the main floor and upstairs floor is Benjamin Moore Rocky Road and the trim colour is Benjamin Moore Cloud White.(the carpet is a very similar tone to the wall colour) I was thinking of doing the spindles in the same white as the trim BM Cloud white in a semi-gloss. Now I can’t decide on whether I should do the railing black, or a dark brown /black. Any suggestions? I was planning on using a semi gloss for the railing as well. I have been looking at BM nigh horizon, black bean soup.
Only 2 years late to join in this discussion! I have a house in the ottawa valley built in 1870s. I was thinking to overcome the challenge of toxicity and stripping old hazardous paint, how about fitting hardwood ei: maple or cherry, peices over the steps and painting the risers decoratively with a lopely faux-fini?
What I find difficult is how to ensure a new layer ofd safer paint will actually adhere to the old paint which is beginning to chip, when you are not supposed to do any sanding!? I wish I could speak to Tim, who had astute comments earlier on the topic of lead and asbestos. Maybe there is a compound to be mixed in with latex to hep ensure it will stick, or simply a way to fill cracks and chippy parts the paint?
I welcome any help!
BK
I suggest you use a thick layer of compressed badgers to cover your stairs. We did it, and it looks really great!! If you like, you could do the whole house!
we just moved into our house and are doing many renovations, most walls are plaster and need patching and sanding, original trimwork needs sanding and re-painting . All this talk of lead paint and asbestos is worrisome since I have two small children. When sanding I always wear a mask, but honestly don’t know what I’m looking for. How can I tell if I have lead paint and/ or asbestos in my house? The house is anywhere from 50-80 years old.If anyone has any general info it would be appreciated.
Hi! We are deciding whether to put carpet stair treads or carpeting on the wooden stairs inside our condo. The stairs look great now but our aging dog is slipping down them, so we have to do something. We were thinking the treads would make the least visual impact (since we have no rugs elsewhere in the house, since the risers are white, since we’re not that interested in fully carpeting the stairs, and since carpet prices are relatively high (compared to stair treads). The stairs take a 180 degree turn, so we have 4 regular stairs, 6 pie-shaped stairs, and then 5 more regular stairs. We are considering just putting the treads on the regular stairs, which are the ones our dog slides on anyway. We’re thinking that not doing the pie-shaped stairs might look funny, though…. Any advice? What do people think about stair treads, aesthetically and otherwise? Thanks….
First, my credentials…I’m retired from the paint business, mostly commercial and industrial. Second, MOST of the talk about lead-based paint is so overdone. Lead was used primarily in exterior paints. It rarely shows up in interior paint unless someone used exterior paint indoors (on trim, stairs, etc.) (or they got it cheap or from the job!).
Remove the paint from the steps and risers by using Peel-Away #6 or #7 WITH THE PAPER. Follow the directions, that is, leave it on for about 3 days (not longer), remove the paper, and scrape off the residue. If you’re going to be using the stairs, then just do half the step, when it’s finished, do the other half.
As for the spindles, do the same, that is, just wrap the paper around each spindle. Then, clean the spindles with denatured alcohol. Most spindles (and woodwork) were first coated with shellac, so all subsequent coatings are sitting on top of the shellac. Finally, after all the finish is removed, coat the spindles, etc., with a coat of AMBER shellac, then VARNISH. You can tint the varnish if you want. Please, stop using Polyurethane! Varnish gives you a much nicer finish, and doesn’t look so “plastic”.
we painted the stairs in our house a benjamin moore shade called “deep caviar.” looks great with a taupe wool sisal runner down the middle.
Absolutely, brownstoner. We know of a little girl whose lead was very elevated after moving into her new Brooklyn home… The culpit? Not the old windows or doors, but the stairs she was crawling up and down. Best to get the lead off them w/wet scraping right away.
We’ve been researching the lead dust implications of sanding the stairs and it looks like it is DEFINITELY to be avoided. Given our budget, we were advised to do a wet scrape of the stairs to get rid of the major pieces of paint and build-up and then just paint over that surface, especially since we will go a runner or full rug.