Young House Love

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How To Paint Your Stair Balusters White

At least that’s how I feel about them. I know some people hate stairs, but after seeing about a million gorgeous staircases on Pinterest and a whole bunch of awesome DIY stair upgrades, I was all “I waaaant stairs.” A la that girl in Charlie & The Chocolate Factory who sings about wanting a bean feast (?!). And then, as luck would have it, after seven years of owning one-level houses we fell in love with a house that has stairs. Half of me feared I’d live to regret the change, and half of me couldn’t wait to go on a blind spree, pinning ten million staircases per minute. I was like Ariel singing about being “part of that world” but instead of daydreaming about strolling around on that – what’s the word again? street! – I was daydreaming about stairs and runners with a shell bra on.

Ariel Face 11

Well, after three and a half months of living in a house with stairs, I’m certain about two things:

  1. We actually like stairs! It’s nice to have some division between the living areas of the house and the private/sleeping/getting ready areas that are tucked away on the second floor. We’ll always have a soft spot for a cool mid-century ranch, but now when we have people over we don’t have to clean every last room – we just tend to the first floor and it’s all good if there’s a pair of underwear or seven million toe-murdering legos on the floor upstairs.
  2. We have woefully ignored our stairs this entire time – even after being intensely excited to make them over. Yup, between the blue baseboards and balusters to the old carpet, it’s looking pretty bleak.

Stairs Before

Why is that stair runner still there? Well, we were going to pull it out before moving day, but John mentioned that it might be nice to keep it there to protect the wood stairs from any moving-day beatings they might have been subjected to as we dragged half of our worldly possessions up there. We also thought Burger and Clara might benefit from us keeping the stairs covered with some sort of a runner, so we didn’t want to rip it up until we had something new to put down. So we gave it a thorough cleaning, moved in, and figured we’d get to it within a few weeks.

A few weeks turned into a few months (oops) but I’m finally ready to pull the trigger on a new runner thanks to seeing a few pictures of black and white stair runners on (where else?) Pinterest.

  • Let’s see, there’s this one (this runner was my favorite, but there’s no ebony rail with white balusters here, which I’d like to add)
  • Then there’s this one (the rug pattern isn’t my favorite, but we’re aiming for a dark ebony railing with white balusters like this)
  • There’s also this one (the rug’s a little boldly striped for me, but of course I love the dark rails with the white balusters)
  • And this one (once again I fell for the high contrast striped runner, paired with a dark railing and white balusters)

*Spontaneous drinking game (the secret word is balusters).

Anyway, I showed John those links (he’s a visual creature, so it’s nearly impossible to get him on board with anything using words alone) and it was enough to spur both of us into “let’s really do this” action. So I did some googling in the hopes of finding a runner that was well rated to stand up to lots of wear and tear (no sense putting in something that’ll look terrible in six months) and also in the hopes of finding something that we liked when it came to the look of it (without spending 1K on a new stair update). My BFF swears by Dash & Albert (she has two crazy active kids who each have ten of their friends over and beat up on all of her rugs, but they still look great years later thanks to being well made) so it was nice to have that lead to pursue. And after clicking around over there, I found it. Almost the exact same (if not THE exact same) rug from my initial inspiration pic – the one I liked best of all:

Rug Sale1

It was nice to see it used on a staircase in the photo, since that suggested to me that they thought it would be good for that application (guess I’m a visual creature too) and even though the stairs were all white with a modern black & white railing, I had this original inspiration photo to remind me what it could look like on wood stairs, and this one to remind me what adding a dark railing and some white balusters might do to the whole shebang.

When I showed John what I had found, he was sold (I even earned a highly coveted hubby-high-five) but before entering our credit card number I searched for other Dash & Albert vendors, just in the off chance that someone was running a sale. Bingo.

Rug Sale2

A site called rugstudio.com came up, and I was psyched to score a discounted runner price (we’d need two 2’5′ x 12′ runners, so we saved $32 through this sale) along with free shipping. On top of that they were also offering 20% off every order with the code CLEARANCE20, so it sort of felt like stacking three coupons. In the end it was under $199 (instead of $280!) for two extra long runners that we hope will last a crazy long time once we tear up the old carpeting and install them ourselves. They’re back-ordered for another week or so, but we hope they’ll show up soon so I can work on my rug-pulling muscles and send the old runner packing in lieu of our swanky new striped one.

So while we waited I thought it was time to start painting all of that blue baseboard and those blue balusters on the bottom half of the staircase.

Stairs Before3

Oh but we can’t forget about the two up here in the hallway now, can we?

Hallway Onemonth

First I broke out some primer and did two coats (I know the drill with this blue trim by now, it takes four coats – two of primer and two of paint).

Stairs During0

This is it after two coats of primer and one of white paint. We chose BM Simply White paint (in semi-gloss) to match the rest of our trim, but here are some other designers’ favorite white paints you could choose instead. See those blue lines peeking through? Infuriating, I tell you.

Stairs During1

No sirree, third time’s just not the charm in this case.

Stairs During2

But something magical happens after coat #4 and everything dries and it’s white! Glorious not-blue-peeking-through white! So even though it took about five hours over two days to have at it with a short handled brush (that’s my secret to not having to tape off – it gives me a lot more control) it was WORTH IT.

Painted B&a

There might have even been a mic drop in the middle of the foyer. And by mic drop I mean paintbrush drop. After it was clean and dry. Because $herdog’s no fool.

Stairs After1

Boom. We’re one step closer to the whole striped runner + white balusters + dark railing equation than we were back when these stairs were blue city.

Stairs Before4

In fact I had a little fun with Photoshop on the railing. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?

Ebony Rail

Oh man, I still can’t believe we have stairs.

Comments

  3. Ana says

    Looks great! If you’re going darker on the railing, will you stain the stairs to be darker as well? I think that would give it a more cohesive look.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve seen a few inspiration pics with mid-toned stairs like ours but a dark railing (our current stair color matches the hardwood flooring that it runs into at the top of the stairs), so I think we’ll go that route first and see how we like it.

      xo
      s

  7. Manda Wolf says

    Looks good. I really like the dark banister rail I think it makes it look more modern. I bet you guys are happy to get rid of that blue! Can’t wait to see it with the new runner.

    Reply

  10. Sara says

    LOVE an ebony railing with white balusters! My mom did this in her house and it is GORGEOUS on her staircase. One tip, she REALLY sanded the heck out of the railing and that thing is as smooth as a baby’s butt! She didn’t do it quite black but kind of an in between a black and a black-brown, almost an ORB color without the metallic sheen to it. Absolutely gorgeous!

    Reply

  11. Megan says

    I have saved a pin of stairs with their balusters ( I’m game) painted in a gradient. Someday mine will look like that… I grew up in one- story land and stairs still feel like a novelty and are also a great way to exercise!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve seen a few inspiration pics with mid-toned stairs like ours but a dark railing (our current stair color matches the hardwood flooring that it runs into at the top of the stairs), so I think we’ll go that route first and see how we like it.

      xo
      s

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Our first instinct was bare wood stairs, but they’re hard and there’s slate at the bottom so I think we worry about not having something to soften the blow (and to provide grip for Burger) so a runner sounded good. Maybe in a decade with older kiddos we’ll go naked though. The stairs, I mean!

      xo
      s

  16. Cherrisse says

    Your little mermaid reference is hilarious! I can’t wait to tell my husband about it. We are new to stairs, too. I CANNOT wait to but Christmas garland on the rails!

    Reply

    • Margaret says

      I agree….I think this photoshop venture ended up on the creepster side, but that’s okay. It successfully got that song stuck in my head, so, win? “Walking around on those, what you do call them….feeeeet!” Very professional at the office! :)

    • Ashley says

      Terrifying or not, I have heard that Disney is notoriously strict about the use of their images without permission. Don’t be surprised if you hear from their lawyers.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Not to worry, it’s an altered (my head’s on it, haha) screen grab from the movie used in parody, so it’s within the legalities! We’re paranoid rule followers, so we’re always extra careful about that stuff!

      xo
      s

  19. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    The best stairs moment I’ve seen in a long time was last summer when my step-son and his cousin came sprinting up to my hub and me saying, “look at this!”

    One promptly went to the bottom of the stairs to video while the other rant to the top and entered “stair riding vehicle.” Down the stair riding cousin went (complete with a helmet) and moments later, he was propelled onto crash mats that they had put at the base of the stairs.

    Ah, yes, stairs, cousins, imagination, and videos!

    Reply

  20. Alice says

    When I see you covering up the blue trim with white paint, I think … someone took the time to paint all that trim blue … and thought it was a good idea. I chuckle every time.

    Reply

  21. Shannon Rode says

    Great job you guys! Why did Andy Cohen’s face from WWHL just pop up in my head when you said “Spontaneous drinking game (the secret word is balusters)” You know that might be a fun game to tie in, HA :)

    Reply

  23. Sarah says

    I am so excited about this!!! I have googled “Dash and Albert stair runner installation” for years, just dreaming about trying to convince my husband to try it. We have two D&A rugs– they are the best with kids and dogs! We have an indoor/outdoor D&A rug in our play area and it is quite soft. Good luck!

    Reply

  25. Lisa E says

    Always loved stairs and usually had them. This time we purposely looked for a ranch because let’s just say we are, ah hem!, a bit older now. :) Looking good!

    Reply

  26. Sherri says

    What a difference! It’s going to be beautiful. And I love that you’re not hung up on the railing having to match the stairs. :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We never had the guts to go for that look until we saw a few inspiration photos and realized how pretty it can be! I figure since we like dark wood furniture on medium wood flooring it’s sort of the same thing.

      xo
      s

  27. Angel p says

    Looks great! I’ve been wanting to update our stair railing too but I’m not sure yet what to do. Can you update (darken) the railing and not the stair treads or will it just look weird? We have carpet on the stairs but the sides of each tread still show. I can’t wait to see what you do as this is a project on my short list. I’m hoping to do it this winter sometime.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve seen a few inspiration pics with mid-toned stairs like ours but a dark railing (our current stair color matches the hardwood flooring that it runs into at the top of the stairs), so I think we’ll go that route first and see how we like it.

      xo
      s

  28. Natalie C says

    I dig it. A lot. Fun fact: I live in 1144 square feet in Austin. I love our tiny-house-in-the-hood, but I have a recurring dream that I find STAIRS in our house that lead to a beautiful LOFT that I’ve just “overlooked” for the last year. And then I wake up. Ahhh…. to dream.

    Reply

  29. Sarah says

    When you paint something over a period of a few days do you have a method of preserving the paintbrushes/supplies between applications or do you wash them each day? Do you have a tried and true method to cleaning paint brushes? It’s my nemesis!

    Reply

  32. Sarah @ An Inviting Home says

    We LOVE our stairs and having the separated sleeping spaces from the main house. We also love our little bins on the stairs. Each person has one and they work perfectly to collect odds and ends that need to be taken upstairs. I can’t wait to see the runner! :-)

    ~Sarah

    Reply

  33. Melissa F. says

    I feel your pain on painting the balusters! Mine were a similar medium oakey color and I painted them white and the railing a dark ebony. There were about 80 or so balusters going up the stairs and including the railing overlooking our family room! Pain in the you-know-what, took me the better part of a week (with kiddos visiting grandma), but so worth it. Talk about big impact. Yours looks awesome already!

    Reply

    • Tish says

      I was wondering this too. I can’t wait to see that process. We have stairs that make a U-shape so I have no idea how we would install a rug, but I love the idea and am a HUGE Dash and Albert fan! We have two of their 12′ rugs in a looong hallway and they are perfect. I’ve even thrown them in the wash, which you probably aren’t supposed to do, but they were fine (at least that one time)! :)

  36. J says

    Just a heads up that I also bought a rug using that RugStudio sale and it was backordered for days and then they cancelled my order due to sellout. My friend then told me she had the same experience with that site during a previous sale.

    Reply

  37. Geertrude says

    Looks great! Funny that having stairs is so new and exciting to you. We’ve always had stairs, even in the tiniest of homes (not big-making-a-statement-stairs like yours though, more like upgraded-ladders). I guess it all has to do with living in a really crowded country. We tend to build two or three story houses on the smallest of plots.

    Reply

    • Lori says

      We visited friends in Nijmegen last year, and they graciously indulged us in a “How is the average Dutch home laid out?” tour. I chuckled at your “upgraded ladders” comment – Dutch stairs are SO steep!

  38. Marlana says

    Oh wow! I have never thought of black as a Bannister color but I am LOVING IT! The contrast of colors is amazing and the white def pops out better than the blue! Brings a sortof brightness to it! Thank you for the painting tips!! I don’t have any stairs in my home and now I can’t wait to get them in my next :)

    Reply

  40. Sarah says

    Do you have a method of preserving the paintbrushes/supplies between applications (I’ve heard plastic wrap) or do you clean them each time? Also, do you have a tried and true method to cleaning paint brushes? It’s my nemesis!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I just put the whole brush in a ziplock bag, which seems to work for a few days (I wouldn’t leave it a week or anything). As for cleaning, I just use regular old water since our paint is water based. I wash brushes for like five minutes each, just to be sure the water runs clear and they’re fully rinsed.

      xo
      s

    • Jess says

      Warm water, baby shampoo and patience. The baby shampoo is great at washing out the latex paint while still being gentle on the bristles of the paintbrush. It’s also worth taking your time to throughly wash the brush out. Every time I rush I come back to a brush that is stiff because there’s still some paint in there.

  41. Kimberly @ Turning It Home says

    While reading the first half of this post, I couldn’t stop saying in my head, “You gotta get some white balusters!” (cue snl skit). Haha!

    Now your home looks like the taj mahal! Really though, what a difference… it look great.

    Reply

  42. amanda says

    The Ariel is fantabulous. Semi-creepy but awesome.
    The high contrast runner is a great graphic and the white paint looks so much fresher, and not to rain on your parade, but as a long time stair girl… stairs get a lot of traffic and get dirty, like when did a football team come through here kind of dirty. So I guess some scotchguard or something would be recommended. Just sayin.

    Reply

  43. Tanya says

    When we bought our house the first thing I wanted to do was rip out the old carpet runner on the stairs, but I wanted to replace with something as I have slipped on fallen down stairs more than once. But 4 years and a sold house latter it is still there. It still taunts me every day and after seeing this I really want to change it! But since our sale closes in 2 weeks it is probably not a good idea.

    Reply

    • LMG says

      OMG that was my same thought!!! no wonder she looks so familiar…and John kinda has the whole John Smith from the Pocahontas Disney movie going on, too. (Minus the renaissance mullet, thanks to Sherry. :)

  45. Sarah says

    Well done!!!! We have two long sets of stairs and I painted the spindles on one of them once – what a mission that was! They are still in need of a second coat of paint a year later. Definitely a job that is far underestimated in terms of time to complete but makes such a huge difference. Can’t wait to see the runner in too. Are you going to stain/paint the stairs themselves?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We’ve seen a few inspiration pics with mid-toned stairs like ours but a dark railing (our current stair color matches the hardwood flooring that it runs into at the top of the stairs), so I think we’ll go that route first and see how we like it.

      xo
      s

    • Ann says

      Our house came with a darker banister and I hardly noticed it… but now that I’m looking, I do like the look. Its separate enough that it just feels like a different design piece (or something). Basically…I think it will work out for you!

      Do you still plan to darken all the wood in the house eventually?

  46. Christine says

    You guys have such good ideas! The whole dark wood/ebony wood/white wood with a black and white striped rug… what a great idea.

    Reply

  47. Dave says

    I think this is one instance where taping would have been a lot of help. Tediously tape once and sloppily paint 5 times instead of tediously paint 5 times. My guess is this would have saved about 2-3 hours.

    Reply

  49. Tammy says

    Hi Sherry!
    So curious to know how Clara is doing with the stairs? Are you planning on using a baby gate, or is she old enough to manage?
    xo,
    Tammy

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I was really worried about it before we moved in but she has been awesome. She knows to hold the railing and that we don’t play on the steps, so thankfully everything has been fine without a gate. Off to knock on wood…

      xo
      s

    • Karyn says

      I know Clara is still in her crib (as is my almost 3-year-old) and we don’t have a gate at the top of our stairs either, but we are going to be installing one as soon as she transitions to a big girl bed just so that we don’t have a munchkin roaming the house in the middle of the night while mom & dad are asleep and unaware should she wake up. Just some food for thought.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Smart! I was thinking of putting a gate at her bedroom doorway so she couldn’t leave her room and get into trouble in the other upstairs rooms. Will have to see how that goes though…

      xo
      s

    • Karyn says

      The only poblem to gating her bedroom instead of the top of the stairs (as I see it at least) is bathroom access for nighttime potty training. We’ve got childproof knob covers on rooms that we don’t want her getting into (every door except the main bathroom that she would use and the master bedroom so she can get mom/dad assistance if needed) already since the girl is a wiz with opening doors/deadbolts.

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, Clara’s dry through the night (so lucky! she has just done that from the start and I take no credit) so as long as we get up when she’s up in the morning and get her out of her crib and into the bathroom it’s all good – so we assume it’ll be the same deal with the gate.

      xo,
      s

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