depends what you want. too bad the owners did think about those two floorings right there in front. do you know why they couldn't match both floors?

I think if you painted the banister and risers, it would be less wood to contend with.

I like black w/wood. here's an example

look up photos of painted stairways to get an idea of what you would like. I like the black idea best.

you could leave the spindles white, and do the bannister and treads black. up to you.

What I want is a clean, modern look.

Most of the examples I have seen pull in an existing shade of flooring to stair design choices. In the first example you show, they added darker flooring to compliment the new banister color. Second example looks to incorporate flooring tone to stair wood tone. Third example we can't really see the floor but my assumption is that it's not oak, walnut or laminate like I am dealing with.

I'm just nervous to add another tone to the mix by painting something black or doing a dark stain. You know?

Thanks so much for your time and input.

not necessarily. you can have darker tones w/wood flooring .I can post tons of pics,,or you can browse through them yourself. just click on Pinterest and search "painted staircase". you'll see dozens of choices.

you could also remove the spindles and bring in some cables to update the look.

you're asking what to do to minimize the all the wood. painting will do that. if you'd rather paint it all white, then do that. white, black,,,doesn't matter. they both go w/the wood tones.

Ok, I will look into painting - thanks again!

I see staircases similar to yours in design pics all the time. The flooring at the bottom is a little difficulty that you will fix when you can. Staircase work is not cheap and you have fine, beautiful staircase right now. When you get to the floors, you can consider the railing of the stairs. I would hate for you to spend money on that now, then do the floors in a few years and have to paint / stain the railing again because you altered your plans / style a bit.

I know - it would be a shame to have to undo. But it's just SO hard to look at, and it's the first thing you see when you walk into the house. We definitely need a runner as we have 3 young children - maybe just doing that will help tone the situation down a bit. Thank you .

here are a few examples so you can see. and yes,,,right now the staircase really isn't the problem,,except that light oak and dated spindles are a bit blah. as I've said,,,it depends on what you want. will it be 5 years before you can do the flooring? do you want to live w/this till then? Up to you.

dark/white w/light flooring

again. although they stained this w/Java stain.

Love the metal spindle idea!

Maybe you should paint your risers - they show more dirt (mine are painted) but maybe that is the difficulty. It is a classic staircase - similar have been around for over a hundred years.

Recent design pics - I'm seeing a movement back to lighter woods - though if you like darker then that is what like and you might go for like pic #2. Black paint is OK - I've just never liked a painted handrail compared to a beautifully stained one, which takes a lot of work.

Replacing with metal spindles will be very expensive - you could fix the floor for the same $.

Just finishing up a house with stairs just like yours. The huge problem was people unfamiliar with the house were falling at the bottom because, visually, there was nothing to separate the bottom step from the floor. So, definitely a runner.

You could have three runners at the bottom, cut on the diagonal and sewn together, making a U shape.

This idea:

jhmarie,,,the metal spindles aren't that expensive. she could do regular iron ones and install them theirselves.

It certainly needn't cost 5K! She wanted options, I showed her. you keep saying to leave it. She said she didn't like it and wanted to change it. I'm not going to force her to accept it, hence, I showed options. there's no need to rebut what I post. I'm sure she can figure that out.

.I know you like your oak, and that's great. but not everyone does, especially when butted up against two other wood floors. we don't know when she's changing it. so painting it is easy and cheap.. I've restained bannisters and it wasn't a big deal. staining them darker or painting them would give a break from all that same toned wood.

heck, even updating the spindles to something like this would help

Hi! I suggest going white with your bannisters to work with existing spindles and keeping up with directional trends going light. A subtle runner going all the way up/down the stairs would be another strong recommendation, maybe a soft grey colour to offset & contrast all the orange wood. To get it to work better and make more sense at the bottom, use the same runner/carpet in a large oval or hexagon shape to extend the runner onto the floor to cover the transition from one flooring to the other. Visualize the runner like a waterfall that pools into a large pond at the bottom. That would help the transition and solves the immediate problem of different kinds of flooring colliding at the staircase.

I love the metal spindles in Beth's last photo but they're probably slimmer than your existing wood ones, so that's a problem if you're just wanting to replace spindles. Not a problem if you're redoing all the wood on your steps.

You might also consider fatter boxy end-posts at the bottom of the stairs (as in Beth's last photo) to replace the existing skinny ones. Then visualize them all painted white. That would immediately update the entire staircase till you're ready for more extensive renovations. What do you think?

That was another question I had - same rug as runner or not? I'm terrible at mixing patterns and I'm super plain Jane. Grey is definitely my go-to and if that helps tone down the orange wood, I'm all for it. While I am loving the idea of white banisters (they really do blend in more as white as Rawket Girl demonstrated), I'm nervous about the upkeep.

And, updating to fat, boxy end posts would make me happy - much more modern and custom.

Thank you so much for your input. I appreciate it.

I would do as you mentioned. Add a colorful runner to the stairs, use a larger solid color rug at the base of the stairs. Your staircase is quite lovely! I think that some deeper color on the walls will make it even more so.

Beth - it is not about the oak:) I would stain the handrail darker - but that is a lot of work because I would strip it first.

HGTV has some "designers" frequently saying that a staircase needs updating, when it is a classic spindle staircase that can be found in homes over a hundred years old and some just needs some TLC. This has led people to believe they need to "update" stairs and usually they do not. Similar staircases can be found in very classy and elegant homes and newer designer builds too.

Black paint is fine if that is what the OP wants - glad you suggested it. It goes well with the current gray / white cool home tone style - which some pros have pointed out is beginning to trend out. Then, in another decade, the black handrail may need a total refinish to bring it back to a more elegant, classic and style-flexible wood tone.

I do a lot of DIY and I would not attempt to change out my own spindles - few people are up to that and as the contractors on here have pointed out on similar post, people usually give up the idea when they are told how much it will cost.

People often post staircases with the square spindles or wrought iron spindles in the same type of "need to update stairs" post - because the Property Brothers or similar called them dated on their show. As your last pic shows, they are not dated at all.

jh,,,personally I like a more modern looking spindle. yes, staining it is a big job, but hers isn't that big. and I agree, doing the spindles takes a bit of know how,,,or call a stair guy and pay him 1K to do it. That's what we paid in our rental. yes, it included the iron spindles. allow me to show you the difference.

(its a bit different than the oak in OPs. typical 1980 stuff)

we also rebuilt it so it angled into the room: (feng shui is big where I live)

IMO, OP's staircase needs a change. not so much updating. just something to give it some personality. that's just me. others may like it just fine. OP was the one that asked so that's why the different options were given.

but I do agree w/you jh,,,the staircase is fine.

I'm with Rawket Grl. Quick, easy, works for the short-term or long-term. Less than 5% would notice the flooring difference with the break-up. If you're in long-term, you will eventually want to go all wood and going longways from what I can see.