normally, no wood look tile against real wood. do you have pics of your tile and the look of these stairs you want? very hard to give advice on something we can't see.

please choose wisely on that wood look tile. some of it is already dated looking.

Yes, this is the wood look tile I want to go with (Treverk, Cappuccino in a 8"x48" size)

http://www.marazziusa.com/products/porcelain-stoneware/color-body-porcelain/treverk

and for the stairs i love the 2 tone look with a modern railing:

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/kennedy-dr-lot-2-modern-entry-seattle-phvw-vp~42838876[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/kennedy-dr-lot-2-modern-entry-seattle-phvw-vp~42838876)

[https://www.houzz.com/photos/holmdel-nj-residence-contemporary-staircase-new-york-phvw-vp~2360008[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/holmdel-nj-residence-contemporary-staircase-new-york-phvw-vp~2360008)

it's easier for everyone if you can post the pics into the comments so they don't have to click back and forth.

I like the stairs w/the black railing. with your flooring choice, I think it's a nice contrast. So you don't want to use these on the stair treads?

Thanks, Beth. For some reason it said the files were too large and wouldn't post in comments so thank you. I've heard that tiles on stairs isn't a good option. So do you think with the wood look tile to do the espresso treads & railing, and white risers?

I just think it's harder to finish tiles on treads and make them look good.

here is the wood look tile, but I can't tell how they did the actual treads (with tile or with real wood)

however, this is my fave staircase look. dark wood treads and black risers.

But this looks good too...all depends on what else you have around it.

here's your wood look tile,,,But I believe they used the real oak for the treads and stained it to match the tile if you could get it to look like this, it would be fine w/the tile

I found an example where they did this edging w/the tile

I do love dark wood w/the black risers though

White looks nice too. just depends what else you have going on around it.

(I also love a tiled riser. like the cement tiles in black and white)

or you can use stencils and paint them yourself, or vinyl decals

sorry for the pic overload.

The black flooring with the black & white stairs, absolutely stunning!

Thank you for the input! I love the look of wood floors but we live in the desert and in this climate with a pool and 2 dogs I feel the wood tile would be better for our family. My kitchen will be white cabinets at the perimeter with an espresso colored island(but waterfall countertop edges so you wouldn’t see a lot of espresso) with light gray walls and I think for the fireplace a medium gray tile to the ceiling. I’m thinking for the railing to be espresso so do you think it’d look better to do espresso treads and white risers, or treads stained to match the wood tile color with white risers and the espresso railing? I lean towards matching the treads to the railing at the moment

the former. match your treads to railing. your tile floors will be in the same color family? Keep your stairs matched together (railing/treads) and then just do your floor like you would any other floor. They're two separate entities.

Once you get quotes for that stair, you will have a better idea of what you can do. Stairs are really expensive to do and I would rule out tile on stairs completely. I would not open that staircase up and even if you did, it would be a mess under there. Stairs are messy and rarely are they done well in terms of infrastructure. I would put my money in your flooring and get that done well and save some for some nice rugs too. Then just carpet the stairs and paint the existing railing as Beth suggested above. Keep things simple and you won't regret that.

One more thing, with dogs and a family who will use this staircase a lot, consider the noise factor too because with a two story open staircase, noise is an issue!

Much prefer the white risers

I feel like the wood treads and risers would look best because it’s not off to the side It’s in the middle of then house and in the main gathering area so it’ll be a focal point. I read another post about carpet vs wood (at this point it’d be a carpet runner), and some said they felt the carpet was more slippery at times. We’ve never lived in a two story to compare stair materials, any feedback on if the wood would be too slippery and we’d regret or if that should be fine?

Also just on the maintenance of Wood if we did that throughout vs wood tile, would wood be an ok option or is wood tile for downstairs still best? I know we have people coming in from the pool wet and with the dogs I figured time. I just want to make the best decision possible and have all the information! Thanks all!

I owned a home with the same floor plan in MMR. Have you considered closing in the railing in the loft on both sides of the fireplace with a half wall? It makes the loft more functional. What is the flooring at the top of the landing?

We have had wood stair treads, wood with carpet runner, and all carpeted. Currently we have wood with carpet runner. That is our favorite. It is pretty, keeps stair noise down and safe with wool carpet. We have a curved stair case so had to have it custom done but love it. Yours is straight so easier to carpet less labor less cost. As to wood floor vs tile i would choose wood any day. Tile is hard on your body. A good quality engineered wood IMO could be best for you. Easy to keep clean and as long as you don’t let water sit for long period on it very durable. You could use combo of something like slate entry areas to capture water and have wood flooring after the entry areas. Just make sure the height of your wood flanges up with height of slate for flat joints. Engineered woods have gotten better and better. For resale most are interested in wood.

I agree with Flo. Check out the wood options. They have come along way. Wood is so classic and versatile. You can have wood sanded down and stained after 20 years of use for significantly less money than replacing. You can't say that about any other flooring. It has classic appeal too. Put a rug in front of the slider from the pool area to protect the flooring.

Your dogs may not be able to use the stairs as they may be too slippery. I raised two sons in a two story home and you WILL regret not putting at least a carpet runner since your stairway is in the middle of your home. I don’t know how old your children are but the older they get the louder they will be running up and down the stairs with their friends. The tile floors and wood/tile stairs will create issues with acoustics m ( read noise).

Thank you everyone! I was thinking of doing a fun patterned stair runner, but would that be ok to be different but still same color tones or does it need to match the carpet at the top of the stairs?

An interesting print would be great and it can stop at the top riser, then the carpet upstairs rolls over the top edge and stops. Great look. Just keep the pattern about 2 times different size from other patterns near by. I would go larger.

Medium size print with large wood design. Darker runners hide soil really well.

Notice print on runner smaller scale than large squares on floor. That is how you mix patterns.

I might be tempted to do something fun like an animal print! Just depends on the other elements in the adjoining room. A smaller leopard print in grays and blues would be interesting if you are doing some blues in the room and blues work really well with wood tones as well.

Yes it needs to match the upstairs carpet. If you want gray/taupe wood tile downstairs, should do the entire stairs and the upstairs with a carpet that works with the tile, like gray or taupe. Otherwise its even more chopped up.

Just was playing around redoing your great room. Enjoy!