My kids did better than my husband on hardwood stairs. He fell repeatedly. Now we have a runner.

I’m with you. Love the look but with little ones I only consider at least a runner and at best, fully carpeted stairs. Prettier, no way. Safer, yes ( and I’m actually not a particularly safety oriented person/mom. I tend to not freak out about the big things that are statistically unlikely to happen. But even one ER visit for a stair accident, while it’s likely not going to be life-threatening, is pretty darn likely to happen at some point on hardwood stairs and it’s something I’d rather avoid. My husband had hardwood stairs as a kid and has vivid memories of (admittedly minor in the scheme of things but still traumatic for him) multiple falls. )

We ended up installing a carpet runner on our hardwood stairs. It was too dangerous without and most importantly our dog couldn't handle them:(

Hardwood with a runner is gorgeous but know it will be costly. Here's a few "feature" staircases we've done.

We carpeted the stairs after we moved in. The carpet guy tried to talk us out of it because we were covering up 100 year old hard wood. He was right, it was beautiful. But it was also noisy and slippery.

Carpet.

If your budget can afford it, put in the hardwood on the stairs and do one of two things:

1. Have them finished to match the rest of the house AND THEN put down a decorative runner; or

2. Leave them "raw" (unfinished) and then carpet the entire tread/riser (no exposed hardwood visible).

Either of these two are highly desirable for future resale value. You can then advertise that "hardwood under the carpet" for the stairs. That has a big draw in the resale market.

If this is your "forever home" AND the budget is getting tight, you can then build the stairs with plywood and then carpet the entire thing. It is the cheapest/fastest way to do it.

I HATE the stairs that have a carpet runner and the small amount of exposed tread/riser have hardwood veneer on them....I always feel like someone is trying to "pull the wool over my eyes".

Is this a forever home? Is the budget getting stretched to the point of snapping?

You use a RUNNER of carpet up the stair.

A runner is all I would do I love the look of the wood showing BTW carpet on the stairs has nothing to do with not falling all it does is make for a bit softer landing. Socks and any stairs are dangerous carpet can be just as slippery as wood.

My stairs are split, half are hardwood then you turn and the rest are carpeted. Nobody has fallen on the carpeted section but plenty have gone down the hardwood. A runner would be nice.

Interesting. I previously had hardwood up to the first landing, slipped on it several times, just had it ALL carpeted the same since I had never slipped on the carpeted section above.

Carpeted stairs are safer. If possible a landing half way up the stairs is a better option as well.

When we had the stairs in my parents' house recarpeted, the installation team reversed the direction of the pile on the stairs so that they were not as slippery. Worked perfectly.