This is the staircase that we painted in our previous home in 2006! We just moved away this year so I thought I would share this big project! What a huge improvement painting the staircase was!! I absolutely loved it and my husband did all of the work on his own.
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Here is the staircase before the job was done. It was a standard Oak staircase with original beige carpet going up.
My husband tore the carpet off (as you can see in the photo) to make sure the wood underneath would be fine for our idea of painting the staircase.
DIRECTIONS
The staircase was given a wipe to make sure it was clean and any holes were filled with a wood filler (like from carpet staples). It was lightly sanded in places that needed it and to make the job easier my husband used a Zinsser high adhesive primer. This made it possible to do the job without having to sand off all the varnish. We did one coat.
On the treads we used a floor paint that was already tinted dark brown. It was a Dulux oil-based paint which we bought in Canada but you can buy a comparable paint anywhere I am sure. A floor paint is perfect because it is made for the high traffic usage of people walking on it. We used this same paint on the handrail.
On the risers, spindles and trim (edging around stairs) we used an acrylic semi-gloss white paint that is highly durable and easy to clean. If people kicked the riser with their shoe and left a smudge, it would wipe off easily.
The trick of this project is that it does take time and if you are living in the house, going up and down the stairs can be interesting! My husband painted every other step and let that completely dry. Then when he did the alternate step we put sticky notes on the stairs to step on. I suggest actually writing “step here” because some people at our house had trouble with stepping on the right stair! ha ha
Once a year it might need a bit of a touch up with the paint in places, but that went well too.
By the way, did you notice my little heart shelf at the bottom of the stairs in all of these photos? I just finished painting it recently and blogged about it this past week. Check it out!
Our front entranceway and staircase became a central location for some awesome photographs!
Here is my Staircase Photo Gallery!
Sisters off to their dance recital!
My son and his younger cousin on Halloween. It was a coincident that my nephew was a police officer and my son was a convict. Ha ha. It made for some fun anyway.
Please let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them with advice from our Chief Renovator (my husband).
Have a fantastic week-end!
Love what you did! Too bad I never got to see it in person. I think it had been a while since I’d been to Kingston. What a talented husband you have (way to go John!).
Are you sure you never saw it? either way, I do agree that my husband is a talent. You can come visit my new house and staircase anytime!!