Good morning! If you have a staircase, it’s usually a fairly prominent feature, so why not showcase it? Here are classic staircase updates for you to consider for your home, such as painting or staining the handrail or replacing it with a more streamlined one.
Classic Staircase Updates
Here is a beautiful staircase by Marie Flanigan Interiors that incorporates antique furnishings with a modern metal handrail and balusters.
Painting Handrails Black
Often times, I will suggest painting the handrail black if the color is off-putting (like too much honey oak) or to give it some drama. This can be a fairly quick solution with sanding, priming, and painting
1. Love Your Abode 2. My Friend, Claire 3. Classic Casual Home 4. Marie Flanigan Interiors
Metal Balusters For a Modern Feel
I’m really enjoying the clean look of these staircases.
Traditional Stained Wood Hand Rails and White Balusters
You can’t go wrong with pretty stained wood. It’s not easy to restain if you are stuck with a color you don’t like that’s why sometimes it’s easier to paint or replace.
1 . and 3. My friend, Debbie 2. McGee and Co.
Staircase Terminology
This is a good diagram by Pacific Timberworks. Note that balusters are also sometimes called spindles.
The carpenter and I had a little fun with the baluster design in our last home…
The railing is painted Benjamin Moore Kendall Charcoal.
And here is another fun one (one of my most popular pins on Pinterest) for my client, Lisa, and built by Brovelli Construction.
Those are classic staircase updates for your home.
We painted our handrails black twenty years ago when it wasn’t so popular and it made such a statement! Repeated in our new build. Such an easy update!!
Yes…I have been doing it for years too!
We painted our light oak handrails black several years ago, and we are so happy to have done that. Very classic and timeless look. Its a relatively cheap fix if you can’t afford to re-do the whole stairway.
Yes!
Mary Ann,
Great ideas. We’ve only had one home in our 48 years of marriage that was a two-story. That’s become a good thing for us now, but I love the looks of stairs and the baluster and all related details.
Karen
I’ve been toying with the idea of painting my oak handrail black but just can’t wrap my head around sanding and priming before painting. What your thoughts on using chalk paint or mineral paint, something that doesn’t require all that prep?
Barb,
I have painted furniture with chalk paint with good success. You might need touchups occasionally. I would google it!
Looks like a good project to do when we are cooped in this winter. I feel like black won’t quite go with my home and am thinking a very dark brown(with some black in it) might work for me- floors are stained medium brown.
Yes. Check out Minwax’s dark finishes.
WHAT A GOOD IDEA……..it does make it POP!
NO STAIRCASE HERE only to the CHICKEN COOP!
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