How to DIY ugly old stairs??

3 years ago

Our house was built in 1942 and the previous owners installed bamboo flooring upstairs, and dark brown laminate in the downstairs. The stairs are painted a brown that is chipping and the stick on carpet treads have got to go, they are so old and outdated lol. How do we tie in the upstairs flooring, downstairs flooring, and make the stairs look modern, sleek, and also slip resistant? Trying to make our home a modern colonial farmhouse/ transitional style one DIY at a time haha. A couple of ideas are:

Paint the stairs all white or all gray, add clear slip resistant treads
Freshen up the existing paint colors (brown and white), and add new stick on carpet stair treads
DIY install a runner rug… jute or something that looks like it
Annnd, long term DIY fix up the weird mismatched side trim and maybe add a chair rail with some board and batten below it

Any ideas, suggestions, feedback and experience are welcome! Trying to figure out what would work to keep our dog safe on the stairs, but update their look since all guests pass by them to use the guest bathroom lol.

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Comments (5)

Lyn Nielson
3 years ago
there are all kinds of peel and stick options on amazon.com or other places

I would not do baord & Batten too busy for a small space.

Paint it white and keep it bright. Sand the existing treads and apply your safety grips as you say.
Elaine Doremus Resumes Written
3 years ago
Brown or white is great, but please no gray. Some people in the interior design industry say it is not timeless (too trendy) and should not be considered at all.
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Olychick
3 years ago
I probably would do something like this, which would detract from the different upper and lower finishes. You could put a finish on the stairs that is non-slip.

these are decals from Wayfair, but I am sure there are a gazillion options if you search on pinterest, etc.
la_la Girl
3 years ago
we had a similiar situation and chose to paint the stairs since it is so cost effective - sherwin williams has an additive you stir into the paint that makes it slip resistant, lots of toddlers and large dogs over 12+ yrs and we‘ve not had any issues
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ilikefriday
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I redid my stairs diy about 5 years ago. They were previously carpeted. I removed the carpet, sanded the treads, added molding, painted everything black, and added a runner. The hardest part for me was the runner because I had to match the pattern of the runner around several pie-shaped stairs. YT to the rescue. It appears that all of your stairs are straight so it should be much easier than what I dealt with if you decide to go that route. Overall the entire project was very cheap and easy and made a huge impact.