I like them the way they are. My white risers get scuffed so easily.

I too like them as is …dark.

I like white risers too but it would make me

”more crazy” to have them scuffed up. If that doesn’t bother you ( wet wipes for white rain jacket 😉) then no worries .

I just think with the dark wainscoting they'll look out of place painted. I did some massive googling and couldn't find an example of stained wainscot with painted risers. Also - the mania for farmhouse has made unpainted wainscot even more rare than it already was after the mania for white and the mania for cottage and the mania for chalk paint and and ... so IMO it's getting even more special by the day. And I have painted a LOT of wood in my house (ugly orange pine and oak, but still).

Could you bump up the lighting in the staircase?

I do see a lot of people in very historic homes fully carpeting the staircase (not a runner).

This is the closest example I could find of mixing stained wainscot with white risers - and is not too close

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Don’t you dare paint that staircase! ;)

LOL, @palimpsest... so the further north I go, the less formal. If I move to Canada, maybe a ladder? We had that in a home in Iceland on our vacation.

And yes, NJ had a sisal runner with tapestry border and brass rods. Can't see any of that i the photo but there was a time when I thought that was so fancy. The light fixtures flanking the mirror here are now in the Itty Bitty Stonehouse, I notice.

@Irish2,

I like white risers too but it would make me ”more crazy” to have them scuffed up. The scuffing probably took 100 summers, LOL. I would not worry so much about them getting scuffed again Or white raincoats.

@petalique, *just* the risers, you understand.

Robo, There is lighting in the staircase, but I wasn't taking a photo of the staircase when I took this (old) photo. I have this at the top of the steps, for example, and more as you go up.

I'd leave them be. There's plenty of white already and it helps lighten the whole room, unless the stairs are darker than in the pic. You have a perfect balance of light and dark, so painting the risers white would look like stripes.

My childhood home had dark stairs and mom added a runner. Not good for a teenage girl wearing the best shoes ever for the first time on her way to school, and they had no scuff marks, which made her slide down the whole staircase which took off both heels. Such trauma! :)

Like the wood, not a big fan of white. unless a cottage style home. That said I am sure there are other home styles where the white risers are the best look.

Our current house the risers are wood; last house they were wood with carpet down the center. I was worried about the dogs sliding on the wood.

Another vote to leave them stained! I love sea manses with dark features. It feels right to me. You go outside for brightness and have a calm, moody darker interior for shelter from the sea and sun. Beautiful!

Someone with photoshop skills could paint them to show you. Since I cannot, if I were contemplating this, I’d be cutting risers from white paper and taping them in place on a few of the stairs to try it out.

I like it as it is and would not paint them.

This is the best I could do on short notice.

Close your right eye, squint with your left one, and look at this from 3 ft away … it might give an idea:

I'm late to this discussion, but I am also in the "leave them as is" or consider a runner camp. Love your room so much!

Jilly, can you easily change the color of those steps. They would be a softer white, like the ceiling.

Ok, I took the color from your ceiling and lightened it just a bit. Not perfect, but hopefully gives an idea:

My vote is still firmly to not paint. 😘

PS: I LOVE your rugs!

This is not the house for it. This house is supposed to border on gloomy with the lights out. It just is.

It usually takes a really long one. Like 25 feet + for 14 steps feet unless you want to piece them.

This house is supposed to border on gloomy with the lights out. It just is.

LOL I think so, lit by whale oil lamps.

How come I don't see you when I "@jilly", jilly?

Thank you, I like them too. Came with the house. So did two more in the 2nd and 3rd floor halls. And those are --- red! (gasp). They add to the sense of the home being handed down. Of course my ancestors were lovely but they didn't own a single speck of oceanfront real estate, the scoundrels.

I woudn't touch that beautiful staircase with white paint. Frankly I think it would be jarring in that beautiful room. I'm in the runner camp but you have stated that you don't want a runner, so I would just leave it as is.

I googled an "old sea captain's house" and this popped up. I hope I don't regret showing it to you.

Aha! Thank you Arapaho. I might just try, as Oly suggested, tpaing up some paper there for a bit to see.

I like the white. But, it should be a creamy, not too bright, white.

Just an observation - that white looks pretty busted in the old sea captain image…

@rubyclaire

I would not use a pure white. By busted do you mean dirty? Doesn't deter me.

In re the wisdom of white, remember that, in Maine, I have painted white wooden floors in my kitchen, in the "maid's room" (a little bedroom off the K), in my girls bunk room, and in 2 of the baths on the 3rd floor. It has been 10 years+ and I am thinking it would be a good idea to repaint the K floor, but the others are fine. This is partly what made me think of doing the risers when we have the K floor repainted.

Oh and I installed a wood floor in one of my DD's rooms in CT a little over a year ago, for the purpose of painting it cream.

And when we add the sunroom (meeting with contractors soon!) in Maine, I will have painted floors. Though I have been thinking they will be green.

Ohhhh, green painted floors! Yes! 😍

Ohhhh, leaving the risers as is! Yes! 😍

Ok, it’s settled.

Yes - the white looks a bit dirtier and scuffed up compared to the other elements (even though they are probably equally worn).

I still like the unpainted and/or runner look but you have excellent instincts about what will look good and wear well in your homes so I can’t wait to see what you decide!

The sunroom will adjoin this room (the room in the pic that shows my stairs).

The walls would be mostly windows, otherwise white, and one wall of the new room will be gray cedar clapboard (that wall is currently the exterior wall of the LR).

I was leaning toward painting the floors FnB's Cooking Apple Green, which I have in my PR In CT.

I also liked this green, Ben Moore's Martha's Vineyard

This is a little out of my comfort zone. (hat tip, Allison) but it's so pretty. Martin Senour's Leaf Green

I am acutally leaning toward FnB's Arsenic. Something about this shade of green makes me think of taffy and Victorian coastal. It can look quite intense as it does here:

The same color, looking more "adult" here (and soooo lovely with the black)

But then look at how tame ihe same color is on this floor! This will definitely require a lot of sample pots when the time comes.

On a floor, I think the color is going to have to be much greyer than one would imagine in order to look green without being minty or post mod pastel-y, and depending upon what direction the room faces.

This color is distinctly a grey-green blue on the swatch and at the paint store.

I’m so excited to see this (sunroom) project!

ETA: I want all of Pal’s chairs, especially those fab red and chrome ones.

Me too, Jilly.

Pal's rooms are always appear so effortless, don't they?

Pal, it's definitely going to take some trial and error. But I don't want to wimp out either. We will have a huge white slipcovered sectional, probably a rug and so not that much floor showing. The room faces southeast, I think.

🤷‍♀️ I like white painted risers! (I think I am the only one?)🤣 I’m all about fresh and light, though. And I do think it goes nicely with the glimpses of your projects up there that you’ve shared.

I haven't read above responses; I'll go back after I post my response. I would never, ever paint those risers.

My risers are not wood, but if they were, I have always pictured them as white. I have a lot of millwork that is all white and white risers make sense to me. You have a lot of stained millwork there and I think if you painted the risers white, you would get a stripey effect on the stairs, set off by the paneling or paint color behind and beside them. If you are thinking of painting the floors green, I definitely wouldn't paint the risers white. Unless I've missed something, that white would come out of nowhere. If you paint the flooring, you might paint the risers the same color as the floor.

I am still a no on the risers, and dislike the example photos (even if painted a cream). Besides being a visual element, It is removing part of the house's historical details.

I like painted floors, for the most part. Doing green in the sunroom will be lovely. Lots of samples.

I dont want you to paint the risers white. I like the stairs as a visual ”mass” and painting the risers white changes them, chops them up. Your reason for thinking about painting them is they are very scuffed and you think they need to be refinished. Maybe they just need a deep clean and some wood oil, or something? I grew up in a 200plus year old house and I dont think the risers were ever stripped down and refinished they just got hand buffed snd touched up every once in a while. And there were lots of kids, and dogs.

I think white risers are just going to show scuffs, etc, more than the wood does, so I am not sure why you’d want white. Mine are white in both houses but we also have runners in both houses (because I am apparently clumsy and have slipped down bare wood steps in my socks several times — yet we wanted to leave our steps nekked in current home but my dad and one dog kept having near-falls so we went for the runner).

We have all white stairs. We wanted it to be a little more bright and transitional and just a tad more contemporary-looking for our house. We added the upstairs room onto our house.

Mtn, I wouldn't paint yours, but I would think about adding a stair runner to add interest. I haven't read all responses, so maybe someone has mentioned it already.

think white risers are just going to show scuffs, etc, more than the wood does, so I am not sure why you’d want white.

I don't really care about a low maintenance choice. I want what I think looks best. Having to touch up or repaint is not a big concern. My dog is getting to the point where we escort her down the stairs, though.

Maybe they just need a deep clean and some wood oil, or something?

Good idea

@lascatx, the green floor is not for this room.

I would paint them a warm white because I wanted to and I realize how lovely they look when done. Take a piece of wood, test the warm colors against cold and choose the one you like.

When we put solid Brazillian cherry in our home twenty years ago, we also did the stairs and I soon regretted doing the risers in the BC -and of course it would have saved $$ to just put painted wooden risers. It just makes the staircase feel a bit like a dark hole, so I understand your thinking. I'd vote for a warm white. I also think a seaside cottage can be the perfect place to have fun with a painted design, so you could consider that too.

If you are thinking of painting the floors green, I definitely wouldn't paint the risers white.

The green floors will be in the adjoining yet to be built sunroom. Not in this room.

If you are really considering changing the risers to white, this video shows an alternative to paint which would mean not removing original stain.

Covering the risers in melamine is what the video recommends and it says melamine does not show scuffs (if he's right) --- watch here and I hope this link works

I think the context is key, and the context is that this house never had painted risers because it shouldn't.

There could be a house next door that looked almost the same on the outside, but with a Colonial Revival interior, which would have been another option of the period, and it Would have had painted risers. it would have had painted lots of stuff. It would not have had painted risers without painted spindles though...very unlikely.

I lived in a building from the 1830s that had a huge addition put on it in 1890 something and since the house was Greek Revival, it was always painted woodwork. So the new staircase, which was Colonial Revival, to go with the front of the house, was painted and stained, (stained treads and handrails, painted risers, and spindles and huge mantel, ) and the doors were painted on the stairwell side.

Once you were in the new rooms in the addition they were more "modern" for the period and had roman brick fireplaces and was a little Craftsman-ish, and all the woodwork was stained. 100%. And the stairs that connected things inside the addition were stained, 100%.

If this house had been remuddled a lot already on the inside, it might be a different story, but it hasn't been, at least in these main rooms, and I don't think it would be a great idea to start now.

"the green floor is not for this room."

I'm glad to hear that. I was reading through quickly and was confused about where you intended the green. I love the color of the wood and wouldn't change anything. A good cleaning and conditioning can really make a change in how the wood looks. And not to beat a dead horse, but the Odie's Oil I have used on old wood pieces can be used on flooring. It is great stuff and has really brought some old wood to life for me.

I would paint the risers an off white as soon as i could get the painter there to do it as I think the stair will be more graceful with painted risers. I like wood, but too much of it is too dark and too heavy like your staircase. Love of wood does not preclude painting it every once in awhile. The next owners can strip the paint if they’re purists.

The dark wood of the stairs matches the style of the home. white would be pretty only if you painted the other dark wood panelling white (which i dont think is in the cards).

If you want to see how itmight look, grab a roll of super thick toilet paper and see.

I was going to suggest cutting up some butcher paper, sticking it on the risers, and living with it a while.

Count my voice as another that says not to paint the risers. I agree that the stairs are exactly as they are meant to be, and I personally think it would be a mistake to change them. They're gorgeous as they are.

I generally prefer white risers, but in this house, I like the wood.

Another who prefers the wood unless you plan on painting the rest of the wood in the room.