Installing a stair carpet runner was a simple way to add a ton of style to these stairs.
A few weeks ago I revealed our newly finished basement living room. Today I’m chatting about how I made over the stairs down to the basement. We started with wood stairs that had rubber mats on every step. For over a year we lived with the plain wood stairs and it was SO LOUD when the kids would run up and down the stairs. FINALLY I installed a stairway carpet runner and I can’t believe it took me so long.
Installing this runner took about an hour from start to finish. First I purchased a carpet pad remnant from our hardware store and cut it to just shy of the runner width. The pieces were just wide enough to wrap over the lip of each stair. I used a staple gun to attach each piece of pad to the wood. Next I used a brad nailer with 1″ brads to attach the carpet. I worked from the top down and attached brads just under each lip, and again at the back corner of each step. Then at the bottom I cut off the excess rug, folded it under, and used the brad nailer to attach it to the last step. **post contains affiliate links**
Here’s a pic of how the stairs looked with just the pad. The rug was about 2″ wider than the carpet pad pieces beneath it.
At the end, cutting off the excess was a bit nerve racking! I left about three extra inches to tuck under before stapling it up.
As I was working down the staircase I kept double checking to be sure that I stayed centered and straight. Now that this project is done it is SO much quieter when the kids run up and down the stairs! This is the runner that I ordered for under $100 on Amazon and I really love the way it works with my faux cement painted tile.
If you’re planning on tackling this project, you can click on the images below for the supplies I used.
I’m also including links to the other runners that I loved and considered for this project!
If you have an old runner you hate, or a loud wood staircase, hopefully this post inspired you to replace your carpet runner! This entire project was under $100 and made a huge impact. Thanks a ton for stopping by today!
