Painting basement staircase treads

KinNorth

Any colour/paint recommendations?

I'm thinking of painting my basement stair treads either "white" or a dark-dark brown/"espresso"?. Or maybe another colour would be better for the flooring transition/lighting? (see below) Then possibly some type of carpet runner on top of it all (any more recommendations welcome).

I've seen all-white staircase photos and they might look too 'stark' plus possibly make individual steps hard to distinguish. (I don't need anyone falling and breaking their neck.) So that's why I'm thinking dark brown - or would that be worse? I guess the carpet runner pattern might help.

I've painted the risers, walls and ceiling white because it's a partially enclosed staircase with no lights except a spotlight on the bottom landing. It is still a bit dark and dingy.


Transition/co-ordination issues:

We have 12-yr old, now slightly yellowed "natural" finished oak hardwood on the main floor and Allure Trafficmaster cherry flooring on the basement floor. The two aren't too dissimilar.

Our main floor-to-second floor staircase has white risers and natural oak treads.



Note: Eventually I do plan to do the stairs in full hardwood (provides a larger an nicer tread too) but for now I just plan to paint the basement stair treads as an interim measure to dress it up a bit.


Any recommendations?


One similar thread:
Painting basement stairs

sdsester

I would use something like Benjamin Moore's floor and patio paint. The alkyd oil-based product is urethane reinforced and the waterbased acrylic is epoxy reinforced. Both will hold up as well as anything for the treads (and even to kick marks on the risers if an issue). You can get it in a rainbow of colors. The acrylic product is less glossy and slick than the oil-based. It affords clean-up with water. It may be all you can get easily in some states.

You might want to consider some sort of non-stick treads applied after painting since you will likely be hauling laundry and so forth up and down the stairs? Cussing as you maneuver in the dark to flip a breaker or two that popped the power off? I am not wild about adding non-skid coatings to floor paint as it wears and degrades and erodes to the point of sometimes making the surface more dangerous than to start.


As for color? I would think descending/ascending to/from a basement it would depend on lighting. My natural instinct would be to go with something lighter but if you have enough light you could pick a color to blend with the wood floors. You do not have to go either stark white or deep espresso brown.

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Mr. Paint

I have some visual impairments and just from my own experience, I feel safer on lighter colored stairs in well-lit surroundings.

I also think that non-skid adhesive-backed tread tape is very cheap insurance against slip and falls.

sdsester

Especially on stairs to a basement where you are likely to have your hands full of stuff going up and down stairs.

They have nice die and laser cut, carpeted and sculpted rubber non-skid, indoor/outdoor, adhesive-backed decorative and scroll work patterns for stair treads that look really nice if you want something more than tape strips. You might like the combination of paint and non-skip well enough to postpone tread replacement? I will warn you removing self-adhesive anything is not one of my fave jobs! Getting the residue from stair treads up to repaint is a PITA.

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KinNorth

I started with the original light grey went to a white primer then to a medium brown finishing paint. Didn't like it either. Finally I ended up with a very dark brown tread colour called Kona brown. (A Tremclad paint.) Now I plan to find a suitably lighter coloured continuous carpet runner. Continuous for the sake of safety.

Note: Costco sells wireless LED lights that I might install to better light up the staircase. The wireless wall switch is a good match to standard wall switches.