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This DIY stair runner totally transformed the look of our staircase. With just a few tools, you can do this too!
A little back story: The house my husband and I call home currently is actually the house I grew up in. (!!) It was never a goal or intention of mine to purchase my lifelong home, but here we are.
So – the stairs. They were (along with most of the house) were wildly outdated.
The version of the stairs above is not even the worst version! Once upon a time, before the age of cell phone pictures, the pink shag carpet continued to the main floor and the railing was indeed a half wall of knotty pine wood paneling.
Since my husband and I were now the bosses of this home, I convinced him to let me take the reigns of the stair project. A bold strategy on my part since the most aggressive DIY I had completed to date was painting some walls.
See you in Hell, shag carpet.
The first order of business was getting rid of that insulting carpet. This was a little stressful because we had no idea what was lurking underneath. Our house was built in 1952, so really anything was possible.
Luckily, it was just more knotty pine.
Let the DIYing begin
My ultimate goal was to paint the stairs white and have a carpet runner up the middle. Having a professional do this was out of the question for budget reasons, so I was excited to save money by doing it myself!
I couldn’t find a runner long enough (or cute enough) to suit my needs, so I found a style I liked in a reasonably long length and bought 2 of them.
I bought a cheap roll of carpet padding at Home Depot and cut “treads” that were an inch shorter than my runner on all sides. This would cushion the step a little bit without adding bulk. I did NOT use a spray adhesive or anything to secure these to the stairs because frankly I wanted to keep my options open in case this project blew up in my face.
Using a razor blade, I carefully cut off the finished edges of the runner on the short sides. I did this so it would lay flat against the first step and also transition to the next runner without a bulky seam.
PRO TIP: mark the rug and make your cut from the BACK. This will help prevent cutting the actual carpet fibers, which would leave you with bald spots.
The first step’s a doozy
I won’t lie: getting the runner started was TOUGH. It needed to be perfectly level because if it was off even a little, it would skew the whole runner. I had to go back and re-do the first step several times before I found my groove.
Once I got going though, it was pretty simple! I would secure a step with just a staple or two to keep it in line, and move up to the next step. Once I had a few steps lined up, I would go back and secure the runner with more staples. It’s important to make sure everything is nice and tight to the stairs so there isn’t any slipping when you walk up and down.
A seamless transition
As I mentioned previously, the runner I bought was not long enough on its own. There was going to be a transition to a second runner and I was nervous as hell.
I decided my best shot at making this look decent was to cut the first runner so it ended at the corner of a step. That way the seam would be disguised, and there wouldn’t be visible bump on a tread. Controlling where the runners met was my best bet at keeping this project looking good.
Let me also add that because I knew there would be a seam somewhere on the staircase, I intentionally bought a rug with a busy pattern to help “blend” the two runners. This isn’t necessary, but I wanted to hedge my bets and keep things simple.
But that’s not all, folks!
Ok so it came out amazing. Adding the carpet padding was a game changer, and the patterns blended so seamlessly I still have a hard time finding the seam. The total time I took to complete this was one weekend. The runner itself took less than a round of golf! (I know this because my husband was golfing while I installed it.)
The total investment was less than $200. (!!) I did a lot of digging to find the runner at a good price, but the rest of the cost was some paint and the carpet padding. We already owned the staple gun, but it is great quality.
Did I mention that while I did this we happened to be in the middle of a first floor gut-remodel? Oops. Next we (and by we I mean my husband and FIL) did the stair rail. It was not the custom railing I had pictured in my head, because budgets are real and awful; but it looked way better than the one we had.
Fast forward 2 years…
Enter the year 2021. My husband and I had a C*VID scare and were in quarantine one gloomy January day when I finally snapped.
I hated our stairs.
Something about the whiteness of the stairs and the stupid budget railing I never loved was making me nuts. The paint needed touching up anyway, so I thought to myself, “I’ll be painting it anyway, now’s my chance to mix it up!”
I am my own worst enemy. Can’t leave good enough alone.
Round 2
I decided after 2+ years of indifference towards the stairs I finally decided I was going to paint the staircase to match our ceiling. I know what you’re thinking – “um, aren’t ceilings white?” Not this ceiling, my friend.
Waaaay back in 2018 when we first completed the stairs & reno, I painted the living room ceiling SW Urbane Bronze. A bold strategy that caught a lot of heat from family and friends, but I said screw it! My ceiling, my choice.
Well, well, well. Not only did everyone end up loving it, Urbane Bronze was recently named 2021’s Color of the Year!
I reached out to a friend in the paint biz for some tips, ordered my paint online, got contactless curbside pick up (hi, C*VID – hate you) and got started.
(ps- we ended up testing negative)
Paint it black
I lightly sanded the existing paint job, wiped it clean, and painted 2 coats plus touch ups. In the heat of the moment, I also painted the black aluminum railings the same color – something I ended up being quite pleased with.
I absolutely love how the stairs just blend in to the ceiling. Another thing I am obsessed with is how transformative this paint color is. In reality it is a very warm black – but in certain lights it looks grey, and in others it has a brown tinge to it. You can see a hint of that in the two photos above, taken at different times of day.
Overall, the actual stair runner DIY totally transformed our scary 70’s staircase in to a cool modern moment; the black paint update just sent it over the edge. Check out the awesome DIY stacked log fireplace insert we recently finished, too! You can see it in the photos above and wow I love it so much.
Which version do you like better? Would you paint your stairs black? Let me know!
