# Pine stairs and landing - how to change it?



## RMCF (8 Jul 2012)

I have a set of pine stairs leading to a landing area that I am going to turn into a home office. The landing also has the same varnished pine floor.

I was thinking of sanding it all back, and then maybe painting it a two tone, maybe with a light antique cream on the landing floor.

Can anyone recommend any paint or indeed colour schemes? What paint is best for traffic on floors? Should it be painted then clear varnish put on top to protect?

Any advice appreciated.


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## seantheman (8 Jul 2012)

Had the same in our house Pine doors,skirting,architrave and staircase.We painted the skirting and architrave a cottonball (antique cream)colour and left the doors the mild antique pine colour they were.For the stairs we left the handrail,baserail and newelposts pine colour and painted the spindles cottonball.It gave the whole house a new lease of life.Have the stairs got an open thread? or is carpeting the stairs and landing an option?


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## basamin (8 Jul 2012)

Got a product in Woodies for my varnished pine chairs called ESP. Its a liquid that goes over varnish and paint ( no need for sanding ) . Mrs Bas repainted chairs , great results


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## RMCF (9 Jul 2012)

Thanks for the replies folks.

Seantheman, you seem to have done exactly what we are planning to do. 
Our house is coming down with pine at the minute, there's too much of it, its everywhere. This is why we got the idea, and it sounds like you are glad you did it.

Would you have any photos of the finished job?

We are also thinking of painting all our internal pine doors the same colour too. We did one as a trial in our ensuite and it looked a lot better than the plain pine.

Our stairs currently are open, the previous owners had carpet on them but we pulled it up, it was filthy. We can't decide whether to paint them too or put a line of carpet up them. Don't think I would like to carpet the landing. It will be an office space and will soon be getting shelving put up, so I would like to keep the floor as wood. Do you think painting it the same colour would be a little OTT?


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## lochness (9 Jul 2012)

If you wanted rid of the pine altogether you could varnish the steps and rail to look like mahogany. I have attached a link to a picture below.


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## SPUDZ (9 Jul 2012)

paint paint paint Everything!!...you won't regret it. Nothing worse than that old ulgy pine...it is so yellow and dated...yuk!...Go for it!


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## RMCF (9 Jul 2012)

What type of paint do you use to paint over pine?


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## changes (9 Jul 2012)

Do you intend to have the pine stairs brush painted or spray painted?


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## RMCF (9 Jul 2012)

Brush.


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## delgirl (10 Jul 2012)

If you paint the stairs they may become scuffed in the middle of the treads where most of the traffic will be.  You could use stair mats to protect the treads and also as a non-slip surface.

Lidl has them at a very reasonable price from time to time - I used the plain beige ones (scroll down to view) on my pine stairs and they look great.


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## RMCF (10 Jul 2012)

Still no-one revealing what paint they have used for this type of job?


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## Thirsty (11 Jul 2012)

Colortrend always and everywhere! 

Personally I like the satinwood (eggshell) finish for wood.  For stairs/heavy traffic areas you might like to use an exterior quality paint (again you can get a satinwood finish).  Call to the factory shop in Celbridge if you can & you'll get great advice.


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## homebird (26 Jul 2012)

*pine*

I once worked in a guesthouse and one of the bathrooms had a painted wooden floor. It was impossible to keep clean. Painting the newel posts and perhaps the risers would be nice. Lots of examples on google images "newel posts".


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## confide (30 Jul 2012)

I lived in a rented house for a while with a painted white wooden staircase, and like homebird's floor, it was impossible to keep clean. The guy who owned the house is an interior designer who was more interested in it being his 'masterpiece' than in any practicality.


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## wbbs (30 Jul 2012)

I have a painted stairs for 20 yrs or so, repainted maybe 3 times over that time.  Everything painted Satinwood white originally, the stairs is open, then painted strip up the middle in black hard wearing  gloss, kind of to look like a carpet runner if you follow.  It was navy for a few years and had a border stencilled on either side of the strip which made it look like a fancy carpet runner!  Now it's just black and white, painted the banister with the black gloss too, easier to keep clean.

The black bit is what gets the most wear and is easy to touch up without having to paint the lot, having said that I have only done that a couple of times when I actually damaged the stairs after hitting it with stuff I was moving upstairs.


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## sanne (30 Jul 2012)

Get rid of the pine but be sure to use a floor paint. One colour on the step and a separate colour on the spindles and knewel post can look really really well. The knewel might even look ok with the pine or a darker stain. Beware though the job can be very time consuming - did a similar job myself recently and it took a lot longer than I expected. Plan on spending around 15 mins per spindle for each coat alone then there is the sanding and second coat. Wow I am getting tired even thinking about all the effort now. Still the job looks amazing when completed.  It's not something you can get done in a weekend, it takes time to get right.  Good prep work will be essential. 

Farrow and Ball have a good although pricey floor paint product - it does have a really nice eggshell finish that is hard to beat. There is also a product you can get at B and Q by international paint. It's cheaper but colors are limited and the finish is a little rubbery looking.


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## aido71 (8 Aug 2012)

When house built for us 10 yrs ago we couldn't wait for pine doors architraves everything....2 yrs ago did some home improvements and repainted internally..... If it couldn't move it was painted! For stairs cream for steps and a brown for rail spindles with runner up the centre..... Doors etc match. Best thing ever.... Have 2 active boys and stairs gets a lot of abuse.... Paint holding up well to battering..... This simple paint job looks like a new staircase. Don't have name of paint off top of my head but will find out and post.... Also will talk to painter ( no way my wife let me near it..... She saw results on first house!!).... Find out re primer etc. re painting I would say that unless u handy I think the best money we spent on the house ( and we did extension etc) was on the painter. And don't go for cheapest option just because. A good painter can hide a multitude of bad workmanship (and in our case quite a bit!) but nothing hides a bad paint job!


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