What to do with my stairs in my newly bought victorian house?
I recently moved into my dream house in London - a victorian townhouse, two floors, semi-detached, 4 bed. As with all victorian two floor houses you come into a very narrow corridor followed by stairs leading up to the second floor almost immediately.
We are having all our floors in the house sanded (not leaving any carpets down) and they will be lightly white washed to give that Scandinavian feeling (I'm Swedish).
But we have decided that the stairs will cost us too much time and money to sand properly, so we want to paint them! We were thinking a darker navy blue - which we'll also paint our front door in, to make it match nicely.
Would appreciate any thoughts on painting stairs (including and banisters)! For example, should they be painted in a matt colour, eggshell or shiny, how many coats do you think is needed - and I presume we would need to get floor paint. Any brand recommendations welcome!
Comments (25)
PROThe Angry Hedgehog Garden Design Company
6 years agoJosefina thanked The Angry Hedgehog Garden Design CompanyRelated Discussions
Need advice for my hall & stairs! Please :)
Comments (21)A vertical column radiator would indeed be a good option, and I like the anthracite idea. Alternatively, if you could find a traditional tall victorian radiator (may not be easy to source) and finish it in a bronze/verdigris, it could work really well with your dark mint and would be a real statement! Your staircase is lovely, and I would go with a contemporary striped runner, white painted sides and a simple rod....See MoreNeed help with my beautiful original victorian tiled hallway.
Comments (4)We lifted our encaustic tiles and relaid them on a new floor. Most builders will say they can't be relaid as its too much work. We ended up lifting each individual tile ourselves and cleaning off all the grout so that the builder couldn't claim the tiles all cracked when he tried to lift them. It then took him a week to re-lay them but he agreed at the end it was worth it. Stick to your guns, I would either leave the floor or make sure you closely supervise the lifting and cleaning of each individual piece....See MoreAwkward Victorian terrace house lay out - advice needed!
Comments (17)Hi all, Thank you so much for your posts and ideas. I really appreciate it! Well 6 years have passed and we still haven’t made any structural changes as we started a family instead! But we think we’re ready to make some changes now (just when its become more expensive than ever to do structural works!) A few things I forgot to mention in my original post is that the roof is a butterfly/London roof so its not a traditional pitched roof and would be expensive to make convert it. Plus we had to unexpectedly replace the entite roof this year because it was causing problems and didn’t have the time to think about a conversion due to the urgency 😫. The front door is next to the lounge (floor plan is upside down 🙃) I think we’re thinking of a ground floor extension now but ideally i’d love to separate out the 3rd bedroom so it has its own entrance and possibly make it bigger. The third bedroom is at a split level from the 2nd bedroom ie you have to go down 3 steps. But the roof above the 3rd bedroom is pitched and i’m wondering if its possible to extend into it and make it a study/4th bedroom. The pesky stairs still seem to be a problem! RE: John Botham thanks for your advice to be cautious as the layout differs so greatly to other properties on the street. Any advice, ideas or similar problems solved very much appreciated! many thanks SJ...See MoreImprove ground floor layout - Victorian House
Comments (20)Just a thought! For your first floor if you wanted to then it looks like there might be potential to create a more central bathroom on the landing and make the current bathroom, or part of it, into an ensuite for the back bedroom (number 3 on the plan). Not sure if a bedroom with ensuite and an extra bathroom is something you'd like to have, but it looks like this might be an option. Useful if you want a guest bedroom with an ensuite, or have teenage children who spend ages in the bathroom! I imagine you have the front bedroom as the masterbedroom, and it doesn't look so possible to create an ensuite for that room without taking space off the bedroom. Might be something worth considering. Having an ensuite is the second most frequently requested alteration that I get asked for. It would be worth asking your estate agent if doing this would improve the potential resale value of your home - if this is something you're interested in....See More- PRO
Josefina
6 years ago - PRO
Josefina
6 years agoThank you for sharing!! Looks fantastic! Did you do the banisters in the landing upstairs as well in this colour, or did you keep these white/another colour.
Here is a photo of ours... not sure if the dark colour should end or go all the way upp the landing banister up until the cupboard at the end (cupboard will be white).
Ps. thanks for Garden info. Think we'll leave garden until next year! But will keep you in mind :)
- PRO
The Angry Hedgehog Garden Design Company
6 years ago - PRO
Josefina
6 years ago 
PROBathroom + Kitchen Eleven
6 years agoThis is what I did with my stairs to add some contrast to the steps - keeping the backboards white. (Sorry only photo I have so excuse the toys and 'princess'!)
Since this photo I have also painted the skirting the same colour as the floor - really enhances the look! (In my opinion!)Shannon
Josefina thanked Bathroom + Kitchen Eleven- PRO
Josefina
6 years ago - PRO
Bathroom + Kitchen Eleven
6 years ago 
lianecoakes
6 years ago- PRO
The Angry Hedgehog Garden Design Company
6 years ago lianecoakes
6 years ago- PRO
The Angry Hedgehog Garden Design Company
6 years ago - PRO
User
6 years agoHi Josefina,
Obviously very subjective, everyone will have a different approach.
I love victorian properties, the proportion of the rooms, ceiling heights and architectural detailing is wonderful. I can see why you would class this as your dream home.
The colour of the staircase depends very much on the overall theme.
If you paint the staircase consider a carpet runner down the middle. Even if the other floors don't have carpet this can look stunning especially if you add good quality steel stair rods.
With regards to the dark blue, a contrast can be really good.
Had you considered using black ?
Here are a few interior shots of traditional homes where the interior has been left with a clean pure white then the architectural features picked out in black....simple, timeless..
I'm sure the flood of advise will be confusing but that my take on it.Hope that helps,
Martinwww.angel--martin.com
PROKia Designs
6 years agoWe used a tough dulux paint to do this stairwell, and it has held up nicely. We didn't paint the treads but did paint the rises. The rises and hand rail are the most likely to get dirty, so it was bold going for a light colour, but if you get a paint you can wipe with soapy water, it comes up perfectly with a kitchen sponge and some fairy liquid and you are scuff free.
The block colours really lifted the space and made what was quite a small, pokey stairwell into a feature.
Mid-Century Modern Apartment · More Info
Mid-Century Modern Apartment · More Info
PROAmber Jeavons Ltd
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoHello Josefina,
Painted stairs are fabulous... Perhaps consider how to incorporate other areas into this idea for example any interesting architectural features.. Consider how you can achieve a modern or more traditional look in similar surroundings by making subtle choices which change the dynamic..... These two images show it very nicely how you can influence the overall aesthetic with ease...
(Also if going for really dark, my suggestion is always to look for charcoal rather than blacks) Dark greys are lovely and or Charcoal for example is equally nice on a front door with brass door furniture.. .. Eico is really good and has one of the lowest VOC's of any paint sold in the UK. Manufactured in Iceland and Sweden! ; ))
shadowstep
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoI would paint the banisters white and paint a midnight blue (or indigo blue) strip down the staircase - see image below. I think this would look lovely with white washed floors.
By leaving the banisters white and also the white border beside the dark navy strip, it lightens it up and still allows the hallway to breathe. A dark banister plus completely dark stairs could become quite heavy, even if you do have white floors (like in your first image that you shared).
Hallways are tight spaces so you don't want to feel like you're walking into a dungeon when you come in through the front door, especially when it's winter time. I'd consider lighting scenarios for different times of day and different seasons before painting it all dark :) .
Jane Bateman
6 years ago
PROAnna Auzins Interiors Ltd.
6 years ago
PROSpaced Out Limited
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoHi Josefina Boston,
Lovely victorian staircase. We would suggest this three possible ideas for your stairs; 1st example can be painted steel navy blue or a french blur (light blue), 2nd, range of two colours on each thread as seen and for the last image, if you want to go for a creative finish your original oak solid handrails can be sanded and the balusters painted white.
Also, another idea for the 2nd example you could continue the colours from the thread right up to the wall (stripes) and you could leave some out incase it feels too repetitive.
We hope that helps :)
headers13
6 years ago
PROAndrea Sartori Ltd
6 years ago- PRO
Andrea Sartori Ltd
6 years ago 
PROSaltbox Interiors London
6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
The Angry Hedgehog Garden Design Company