Our staircase is very steep and boxed in entirely on both sides by walls, so there is just a hand rail, no scope for a lovely balustrade. After recent building work the time has come to redecorate and recarpet.
As the house is Victorian (1901), I'm thinking about returning the skirting board, hand rail and stairs themselves to natural, varnished wood and having a strip of carpet up the middle of the stairs with restraining bars (sorry, the terminolgy escapes me) to try and make it look lighter and wider. Would this work do you think or would fitted carpet be more effective and easier to maintain?
G x
Our daughter had a wide staircase & had a carpet up the middle. I said she would get fed up with it. She had a new one fitted last year. The sides were always dusty, but they were painted.
I had my staircase and upstairs hall stripped and varnished a couple of years back (1906 Edwardian). It looks great and is a dream to clean bit it is pretty noisy so, like you, I am toying with the carpet runner and stair rods versus fitted carpet. I suspect I'll end up going for the fitted carpet as it will make the stairs look wider and is less fiddly to clean.
Quote from: grawrc on December 14, 2009, 21:54:14
I had my staircase and upstairs hall stripped and varnished a couple of years back (1906 Edwardian). It looks great and is a dream to clean bit it is pretty noisy so, like you, I am toying with the carpet runner and stair rods versus fitted carpet. I suspect I'll end up going for the fitted carpet as it will make the stairs look wider and is less fiddly to clean.
Hmmm, so you have no carpet at all at the moment? I can see how that might be noisy but it sounds attractive. Tell me more please. :)
G x
I think a light coloured carpet all over would make it appear wider & more spacious
Quote from: Poppy Mole on December 14, 2009, 22:22:41
I think a light coloured carpet all over would make it appear wider & more spacious
Yes and with two grandkids under 3, a clumsy OH and me a gardener how long would it stay that way? ;) ;D
G x
with 2 g'kids g, iwould carpet all of it (in case they slip on the bare bits).
Quote from: Georgie on December 14, 2009, 22:02:36
Hmmm, so you have no carpet at all at the moment? I can see how that might be noisy but it sounds attractive. Tell me more please. :)
G x
There's not a great deal more to tell. We wear slippers to go upstairs so as not to scratch the wood. The guy that did it said we would need to get it "buffed up" every 3 years or so. It is really easy to clean - a quick woosh with the suction tool on the vacuum or a quick brush and a weekly mop over with some wood protection polish stuff. But it is noisier and I think possibly more draughty. I did suggest putting edging along the base of all the skirting but my workman seemed to think that was strictly for wimps. He said you'd need to do it in a modern house but not in an old one. Since he would have earned more if I had added the edging I took it he was being upfront and honest. ;)
Grotbag I've sent you a totally unrelated pm!
I like hardwood flooring but uncarpeted stairs always seem slippery to me and less safe- had quite a fall once when my slippers slipped! And as stated, carpeting does muffle noise which is wonderful with a herd of children galloping around.
Well, my two lil' 'uns don't constitute a herd! I wonder if you can have a wooden staircase with rubber insert thingies for safety?
G x
I would love the look of a staircase as Anne has described but I know it would not work in my place with the dogs and the OH.
I have had a strip staircarpet and you do end up with dusty sides.
Fully fitted everytime for me. :)
I remember those dusty sides- they were a nightmare to keep clean! We're having a carpet fitted this week in our church, which is supposed to be very hardwearing, resistant to spillage (will even cope with bleach!), is a sort of mixture of colours, and should look very attractive down. We've gone for the light grey with sort of golden flecks- sounds awful but looks great on the sample. I'll find out the make tomorrow and let you know. Personally I'd always go for fitted staircarpet- it just feels more hospitable somehow.
Georgie - we've got just floorboards throughout our hallway and stairs and it did take some effort to strip them back, thoroughly clean them up (they had the original thick varnish /lacquer on) and are now varnished with a clear varnish - 3 coats. It does seem to make the space seem bigger. And it looks a treat.
And as grawrc says easy to clean. I'm not the neatest or cleanest of people, and the cat sheds hair like there is no tomorrow, so cleaning up is much easier.
I have considered a runner up the stairs, I think it would look really smart. And my attitude to dusty side of the carpet runner - well just think how dirty the carpet must be then!!
Yes but you can pretend the carpet aint dirty cus you can't see it ;D
Thanks for all your thoughts and suggestions. This is why it takes so long to get anything done in this house: so many choices, the dilemma about whether to go for aesthetics or practicalities and greedily wanting both!
Gwynnethmary, thanks it will be good to know the name of the manufacturer of a good hard wearing carpet.
1066 you sound like a person after my own heart. Life is too short to be overly house proud I reckon.
LOL@Den!
I still haven't made my mind up but there's no hurry: we've got to get the decorating done first. Hmmm, I wonder what colour I should go for.... ;D
G x
Friends have renovated their turn-of-the-Century 3-storied house with staircases much as you describe, Georgie. Their solution for the stairs, once all the woodwork had been finished, has been to have carpet.....pads? can't think what else to call them, with underlay...screwed into the treads only. They took an offcut of a rather nice carpet they had had given them, to a carpet shop which advertised making rugs out of off-cuts. The 'pads' aren't full width (full width anything will in time show wear down the centre) the studs are brass - and the effect is stunning 8)
Three years or so on, with constant traffic caused by their teenage son (and all his friends) to his room at the top of the house, it still looks as new.
The carpet, btw, is a heavily patterned Axminster which just doesn't show dirt, dust or marks.....
.....which why I bought it in the first place 8) ;D ;D ;D
Thanks Lish, I really like the sound of that. I'm sure I've seen something like that in a theatre. I'm not really 'a pattern person' but I can see why it makes sense on a staircase. You've given me lots to think about. ;D
G x
Georgie, the carpet I mentioned is from Associated Weavers, and the range is "Gladiator".
We're getting it fitted at church in the morning, so I need to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight instead of surfing around until 2 a.m.- busy day ahead!
Quote from: gwynnethmary on December 16, 2009, 18:46:27
Georgie, the carpet I mentioned is from Associated Weavers, and the range is "Gladiator".
We're getting it fitted at church in the morning, so I need to get to bed at a reasonable hour tonight instead of surfing around until 2 a.m.- busy day ahead!
Many thanks. Hope it all goes well for you. :)
G x