Your first impression when walking into a home is the foyer. My foyer is in desperate need of some updating. My house was built in the early 90’s, so when we moved in it still had the teal carpet (yuck!!) and vinyl floors. It is a bi-level, so when you walk in the front door you can either go up the steps to the main level, or down another set of stairs to get to the lower level. The foyer itself had the vinyl flooring and the steps had the teal carpet. So we installed laminate flooring over the vinyl and removed the carpet. The steps were in great shape so I sanded, stained and sealed them. The risers were painted white. Fast forward about 4 years and now they look horrible. I have a big dog that has torn the steps up, so now it is time to redo them. Apparently I didn’t apply enough sealer. Whooops. But that’s ok because the entire main level now has dark zebra wood laminate floors, and now the foyer floor and steps no longer match anyway because they were done in a light wood color.
So now I have decisions to make. Off to Pinterest I go!! Please click on photos to link directly to the websites I got them from.
Do I want something traditional such as this?
My floors are so dark I could use a paint on the steps which would probably work better with a dog then a stain would. This photo is a pretty classic way to update my foyer.
I am not a huge fan of the whole ombre craze, but I do have to admit I love the look of it on this stair case from athomeinlove.com!! But I only have seven steps, so it probably wouldn’t look as good.
These steps from dixiedelights.blogspot.com are basically the same as #1, but numbered to add a little interest:
These pattered steps are a lot of fun!! The link on Pinterest was broken, so I apologize that there is no link to the original website. I would probably use a Chevron pattern such as this one from simpledwellings.blogspot.com, but with gray and white paint. It would be subtle, but more interesting then plain steps. Ok, I would probably use a color such as blue or teal instead of gray…
Or, do I go totally bold and paint them a color? I probably won’t but it looks like a fun way to bring in color to the small space. Since I am a home stager, I am always thinking in terms of resale. If I painted my steps like this I would probably have to change it if I were to ever put it on the market.
Last but not least we have the carpet runner. I love the way this one from rareandbeautifultreasures.com looks, and it would save my poor steps from the dog, but idk about keeping it clean. She doesn’t track in a lot of mud but wooden steps are so much easier to take care of.
What do you think? Which one do I choose? When I get working on it I will post before pics. Until then you can’t see it 🙂
Jamie Cochran 