Our Black Painted Staircase

Hey friends. I am seriously SO excited about this post. Today I get to reveal our black painted staircase! Just yesterday I finished the painting, installed the carpet runner, AND photographed it! So what I’m saying is that we haven’t even had it done for 24 hours! Every time I walk past it I stop and stare because it is SO amazing!

So that you understand what I’m talking about, this is a shot of our stairs just last week. We had a lot of Oak and carpet that was in BAD shape.

After removing the carpet and TONS of staples, I decided the leave the old carpet pad, and began taping off every inch of the stairs. 

Seriously… every inch. Taping took days, but it was worth doing it right, because it helped make the painting go much faster.

I wasn’t sure if I should do the spindles in black or white, so I polled you guys on Facebook and Instagram. The vote was almost unanimous that I go with black. I ended up choosing Benjamin Moore Midnight Oil. This is the same color I used in the powder bathroom. I went with a high quality paint and primer in one. I’m praying it holds up well.

My sweet friend Bethany came over to help me paint, and all together it took one long day to get the spindles and backs of each stair painted.

Then things got fun. I had been eying up the Birmingham rug for YEARS and after receiving their Fall catalog I decided it was finally time to pull the trigger. To cover twelve stairs I ordered two of the 2.5″x12′ runners.

Installing the runners was actually really simple. I used a narrow crown stapler and 3/4″ crown staples to attach the rug right under the top step.

Then as I went down the stairs I used the stapler to attach the rug under the top of each step, and at the corner of each step. I only stapled on the black parts of the rug and the staples embedded deep enough that they didn’t show at all.

Because we left the existing carpet pad I didn’t need to worry about a pad. If it wouldn’t have been there I was planning on using a new pad under the runner.

Cutting the rug was super scary, because I was afraid that I would mess my cut up! It turned out to be super simple, and after cutting the first rug I just started that step by overlapping the start of the next rug.

I could not possibly be happier with how this turned out.

Even though it’s only a stairway, it’s the first thing you see when you walk into our house.

If you read Wednesday’s post you know I’m completing our upstairs reading nook for the One Room Challenge. I love that the rug and black spindles are going to be able to complement this new space.

Now that we’ve replaced the flush mount lights, added the shoe stretcher coat hooks, and finished the stairs I love our entry. I’m still planning on painting the tile floors, but currently it’s moved pretty low on the priority list. **update** Here is the link to the painted floors!

stair