I'm looking for some carpentry advice. I have a solid walnut floor laid in my dining room, and I'm planning to put the same in my living room. Problem is, there are a few stairs between the two, and I'm not sure how I should finish the stairs. I've been told a couple of different things by different people - stain the stairs to match the walnut (stairs are pine coloured - not sure what type of wood), have a new set of stairs built (a bit over-kill I think???) or just lay the same walnut on top of the present stairs.
If someone has encountered the same situation, I'd appreciate hearing what you did.
The stairs are likely to be softwood of some kind. It is pretty difficult to make it look like hardwood. You may be able to get the colour reasonably right, especially if relatively dark. The problem is that the grain and texture will look wrong - i.e. you won't achieve a real match.
You don't say how many stairs and whether the treads are exposed or carpetted.
I had a similar situation, although for a slightly different set of reasons. Originally, the house had a softwood staircase, constructed from softwood but stained and varnished - stringers, rail and posts. It looked quite acceptable for many years.
Then the ground floor doors were replaced with solid oak ones and the stairs simply looked wrong in contrast with them. It was partly the colour and partly the texture and grain, and we realised that there was no way, other than perhaps painting, to address this.
So the staircase was replaced with an oak one and the result is superb. Then the upstairs doors etc. followed, but that's another story.
I don't see how you would get away with laying walnut flooring onto stair treads. there would be the issue of the risers and I guess you have bullnose curves on the front of the treads?
I suspect three options are possible.
- Don't attempt to match to the walnut. You might be able to get away with something contrasting and may find that that is OK for you. As I say, I was unhappy with the grain and texture of softwood among hardwood.
- Change the stairs for some made from walnut. This is going to be expensive, I suspect because of the material costs.
- Change the stairs for some made from another hardwood that contrasts with the walnut floors.
I have to add that I am something of a perfectionist. Obviously these things are also a matter of what you like.
If you decide to go the route of getting the stairs changed, I can recommend a good joinery firm who would make them for you.
If the stairs are pine, they'll never look like walnut, whatever you put on them. Also, they're probably varnished, so a stain won't penetrate, and that only leaves you the coloured varnish option, which always looks awful IMO. Vive la difference
Sounds like I'll have to replace the stairs then - there are only 8 steps to replace. They are unvarnished at the minute - I take the point though that the look/grain will never match the walnut. Had toyed with the idea of a dark striped carpet running between the two, but my wife's not too keen on that one!!
I agree with the other posters - you'll never make pine look like walnut. However, depending on the style of the stairs, capping the existing treads may work. If they are open treads, it'll be easier - otherwise the risers wouldn't match. If there's lots of fancy stuff around the stairs, balustrades etc, they may not match well either. Depending on the thickness of the walnut, you may also have problems with mismatched riser heights. What happens currently/will happen after the new floor is covered - are all the risers equal, or are the first/last higher/lower than the others? A vey small mismatch is enough to cause a stumble. A very simple staircase probably could be succesfully capped - possibly ironing out any height mismatches at the same time - anything more elaborate and you're looking at a non-trivial replacement stair cost. BTW I've seen a commercial "staircapping system" in France (don't know if it's available here) - but it's truly dire - avoid it at all costs. Get a traditional joiner to advise/make up what you need.
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