There are no rules! :) Just follow your heart ....

So you COULD paint each riser in fresh white or antique cream or gray or taupe; OR paint them each a different color -- just for fun -- and instant artwork in the space!

Or you could get some "Wall Words" or stencil or paint them with your favorite saying or phrase -- again -- instant artworks!

And if you DO paint them -- AND you change your mind about the color -- simply paint them again -- in satin black -- to make them disappear!

Jan

My house has wood stairs and white risers. There are a lot of black scuff marks on the risers. You know best the people who live in your house. Would this be a problem?

To me, all wood looks more formal. Painted risers give a more informal, perhaps even country or cottage look to the stairs. Which would fit in better with the style of your house and the decor?

If the wood is a medium tone, not too dark, and the walls are light, IMO it would not look too dark. Or you could get different lighting to brighten the stairs up.

I would vote for all wood, because I don't like having to deal with the marks on the white paint, but that might not be an issue for you.

We did the same as you: before we moved into our home we had wood floors installed, inc. having the carpeted staircase removed and replaced with wood. We had our risers painted the same cream as our trim and the balustrades.

not an excellent photo but the best I have on hand

Our house is anything but country / cottage (okay, maybe not "anything but," but you know what I mean), and it's funny, because my instinct is the exact opposite of camlan: I think an all wood stair looks more primitive, like what you'd find in an original (American) house from the eighteenth century. Funny, eh?

In the two years we've been here we've had not a single scuff mark, and I've a rough / foot-dragging spouse, two toddlers (one of whom learned to walk in this house and we're still working on going up-and-down stairs), an enthusiastic dog and three cats.

But I'll tell you what I do have: the (v. dark) wood treads show everything -- all the cat fluff and goodness only knows what other detritus. For the life of me I cannot keep those treads clean. It's like the Golden Gate Bridge: once I finish vacuuming the stairs I need to start over. So now I use a Swiffer duster, pushing everything from each tread to the one underneath it until I get to the v. bottom, and then I vacuum all that junk up. Lasts for, oh, seven minutes? On a good day.

I have thought if the stairs would look cleaner if I had carpet, but they'd only look cleaner. And they'd also look ugly (to me) -- I l-o-v-e the look of our wood-riser stair!

Good luck with your projects.

Limit only by imagination, wood, paint, mirror, drawer pulls, fabric, tile, intarsia, photos,
what style is your room?

We have tile risers with hardwood treads. Here's a pic taken during the installation of the tile.

{{!gwi}}

Hi,

We have a similar staircase, the last few stairs are open, but the remaining stairs are enclosed by walls. We went with wood stairs and white risers. Our wood is a medium tone, I don't notice dust/dirt on them very quickly, I can go a week before I need to dust/sweep them. We do see some scuff marks, but some wipe clean, and we do frequent touch ups with white paint to keep them fresh. Nothing too bothersome, we love our wood/white stairs! Here is a pick during construction, they weren't finished in this pic.

I'm back. While away I remembered one of my parents' staircases, which is similar to what others have already posted!

My mother, who is an artist and one of her media is ceramics, made tiles to fit (height-wise) in the riser. Then she painted patterns / scenes / whatever she felt like on them (they do NOT match), and she asked everyone in the family to paint some as well. I don't visit that house that often, but when I do it makes my heart smile to see that stair -- not because the tiles have meaning to me (only a handful "speak" to me), but because I find it such an incredibly jolly, personality-filled space.

And that's what I like: things which scream the homeowner's personality. My stairs scream my personality too: messy! And the sole reason my stairs show everything is because the stain is so dark, like dark chocolate (stained ebony). They are d-a-r-k. Beautiful color -- lots of maintenance! My experience shows medium and lighter is incredibly forgiving ....

flyleft -- I can't wait to see pictures!

Thanks for all the responses - you certainly are a creative and helpful bunch!

The stairs are next to the LR which is very traditional. The colors are brick red/light golden yellow/and moss green with a large glass coffee table trimmed in aged leather on an ORB iron base. I think it's the style of the spindles and post that make it look country (or not). I am not sure white spindles will work, but I still think the white (cream) riser would be ok even with all stained spindles. I love the idea of the mosaic risers, some of the pictures are beautiful. But I worry it will be too busy when you walk into the space and I don't think I really want people to focus on the stairs when they walk into the housee. (OK, I also don't have the nerve/imagination to pull it off!) MaybeI need to relax and realize that either wood or paint riser would be OK and let it go.

marzhere meant to say I love your risers too -- did you have someone do them or did you do them yourself?

I'm planning to use some Heath ceramics and some of the floor tile from the laundry room (adjacent to the stairs, similar color to the white oak, actually) mixed in...I can't wait until I get to focus on that project :).

To tsherman, if you paint the risers the same color as the trim in your house, it will flow and not look too busy at all.

We have red oak stairs and banister and always had white risers and spindles--
The scuff marks on those white risers have been the bane of my existence for nearly 11 years. It's a heavily used stair.
I painted my mudroom brown last year because I was tired of struggling with some of the same issues "I'll paint it the color of mud!" I said...well the mudroom turned out fabulous and it looks great (it helps that brown is "in") In any case it dawned on me that I should do the stairs and then the scuffs wouldn't be an issue ...here are the results:
{{!gwi}}
And then I did some of the mantle to help tie everything in...
{{!gwi}}

I guess I'm saying I would go with wood or a dark paint, but definitely not white. :)

berf - wow! That dark brown is striking. I think my wood will be too dark, so there wouldn't be enough of a contrast, but it does make me think about using it in another room. I am so visual - and your visual sold me! It looks so sharp and modern while still being warm. I love it!

It's a really good point about the scuffs on white paint. We are mostly a shoeless family, but I know if I see scuffs on those stairs when I walk into the house, I'll be painting or scrubbing! The all wood sounds more "comfortable" for me.

flyleft - We did them ourselves. DH cut the tile. Which is on 12x12 sheets. Cutting was a slight pain because the 1x1 mosiacs kept falling away from the 12x12 (because the mesh on the backside is really cardboardish). He ended up holding and cutting each 1x1 individually.

I did the tile setting. It went quickly until I had to lay each cut 1x1 individually, since they no longer were on the grid. It really wasn't a bad project overall, just slightly time consuming.

I am trying to decide the very same issue. Let me tell you what I saw at an open house I went to. As you approached the front door you look directly at the stairs going to the second floor. This home owner did her risers in a gorgeous paisley border. Wallpaper border! it was so striking and of course wouldn't show the scuff marks at all. Never ever have I seen that anywhere else.

june

Here's a trick for white risers (which always look much better to me). When the paint has cured, get them perfectly clean and put a coat of paste wax on them. (I use Butcher's, but have heard that car wax is good, too.) Protects the paint, and is easy to clean with just a damp rag.
You do have to strip off the wax when you repaint, but it does a good job, and gives a depth to the gleam of the paint as well.

A coat of water based polyurethane would protect the paint too.

Lincrusta is also a way to add detail alittle or alot

What is lincrusta..if I may ask?

My goodness, there is such a wealth of knowledge on this forum! I love all these ideas.

All wood stairs- they are maple and nearly 30 years old. As you can see, scuffs are not an issue! It is probably the one thing in the new house I won't be changing.

Lincrusta;
A strong tuff wallpaper type product pressed in raised relief style, to paint or stain or embellish. Very useful covering flaws in old wall textures or damage. The look of artistic hand made plaster relief but machine made for much less cost in money and time. Great fun to work with and personalize. Example 2 is a dream for walls that are not plumb and straight lines become impossible. Hand painting in more colors to match decor is great fun, and frame as art, or door panels, or trim, etc. I LOVE playing with this type wallcovering!
1 border

3 crown

Our risers are painted black with oak treads. I don't have a pic. right now, but they look great. My house is very traditional. The black is great because when the backs are painted white, people often kick the back with their shoe and it leaves black marks.

bodica, what can you tell me about that wallpaper? it's beautiful. thanks!

Here is a bit more information for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglypta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincrusta
http://www.wallpapersplus.com/lincrusta.html

myredhouse - those maple stairs are to die for - breathtaking! I love beautiful wood - Ma Nature simply cannot be beat for the very finest in art :)

I have 2 sets of stairs that need work - the budget means they'll probably just get re-painted, but I'm filing some of these wonderful inspirations away.....just in case....

Tsherman, have you looked at the stairs thread in the gallery? Lots of inspirational pictures in there.

Those of you with lovely staircases, please consider posting your photos to that thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: Staircase picture gallery

I need to set aside 17 or 18 hours to browse the gallery - oceanna you have done such an amazing job of collecting photos & bringing contributors in to the gallery & keeping it alive!

I've not seen the staircase gallery before now - some breathtaking images in there!

thanks! wow!

How do you install lincrusta on stair risers

Yes!!! Please let us know?