Your home should rise up to
greet you, lifestyle experts are forever preaching. Sprucing up the
stairway is a simple start.
"Stairs are
architectural details that should be played up," said Karol
Nickell, editor in chief of Fresh Home magazine. "But they often
get ignored because they're passageways. People forget that they're
the transition between the public and private places in the home,
which makes them important."
To say Patricia Shackelford
of Kansas City, Mo., felt uplifted when a candy-colored striped runner
recently spiffed up her stairway is an understatement. Here's what she
wrote in her blog, Mrs. Blandings: "Is it possible that the
installation of a carpet runner would offer such joy? Can you imagine
your heart skipping, not a beat, but just skipping?"
So how does she feel about
her stairs now, after her three sons, ages 7, 10 and 13, as well as
the family's boxer, Rosie, have trounced up and down hundreds of times
in one of the snowiest winters in history?
"The same,"
Shackelford said with a satisfied smile. "It's wearing
well."
However, she concedes no one
wears their shoes in the house, which is why the cotton runner still
looks new. In a shoe-wearing house, wool takes a better beating —
especially in high-traffic areas.
Shackelford found the two
Dash & Albert rugs she used as runners at Stuff in Kansas City. It
took installers about half a day to staple them in place to the
stairs. The project cost about $750.
Nickell says that there are
other ways to add a little springtime to our steps. Painting the
risers — not the treads — a contrasting color is a smart choice.
"It would also improve
safety because it's easier to see each step as you go up,"
Nickell said.
The skirting of the staircase
in front entrances, often painted the same color as the molding, also
could be painted a new color.
"You could even stencil
in a traditional support bracket and paint it a bright color like lime
green," she said. "And when you got sick of it, you could
just paint over it."
Another idea Nickell likes is
using carpet tiles, which are easy for do-it-yourselfers to install.
"There are so many
colors and textures, and they're very low profile and flexible to work
with," she said. "You could almost make a colorful, modern
patchwork quilt with your stairs."
Aubrey McClintock of Old
Forge, Pa., and her husband, Lee, swapped out their scuffed rubbery
stair treads for zebra print Flor carpet tiles.
"It was a huge change
right away," said McClintock, who shows crafting and home
projects on her blog, A Daily Obsession. "I really wanted animal
prints. I have a thing for them. They're not over the top, but they're
fun."
Even though the carpet tiles
include adhesive on the backing, she and Lee opted to staple them in
place since they're also on the treads.
She, Lee and their poodle
mixes Lexi and Esko safely trek up and down the stairs several times a
day. The staples are concealed within the nap of the rug.
"I like that if they get
really gross, it's easy to pull them and change them out,"
McClintock said. It was a fairly inexpensive change, too, about $100.
Nickell also suggests using
thin, lightweight ceramic tiles on risers.
"You could go to
home-improvement stores or online for vintage decorative tiles and it
wouldn't cost a lot," she said. "You could do one or two
lines per riser in a beautiful color, and they're an instant
pick-me-up."
Casey Simmons of Kansas City
took tiling her stairs several steps further. About eight years ago,
she installed mosaics of tile samples, shells and river rocks from
vacations as well as broken dishes to the treads of the stairs leading
up from the lower level.
"I love them," said
Simmons, co-owner of Stuff. "When I'm talking on the phone I'll
go and sit on the rocks. It created a nice nook. They feel great
underfoot, too, like those pebbly massagers."
Simmons spent 6 to 12 hours
on each step in yoga-like positions to accomplish the elaborate
mosaics. She knows the eclectic, beach bungalow-like look of hers
isn't for everyone.
"Someone could do it in
one color palette or one style of tile, and it would be
sophisticated," she said. "And at the same time,
personal."
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CARPET SQUARES
Aubrey McClintock of Old
Forge, Pa., installed zebra-print Flor tiles on the stairs in her
90-year-old home, above. One square can be cut to cover two stair
treads.
Flor carpet tiles are
available in different colors, patterns and textures at Elements of
Green in Kansas City and Lowe's.
DECALS
Instead of a carpet runner,
Fresh Home magazine shows how to use removable wall decals for stairs,
above. They used the Neu Tree design from www.modernwall graphics. com
($60 for a 7-foot decal available in 40 colors). If necessary, use a
fine paintbrush and an oil-based paint in the same color as the decal
to touch up any joints or fill out the design.
The best thing about decals?
They can be peeled off without damaging surfaces and reapplied
elsewhere.