If you remember, when I painted the stairs in our house, I mentioned that I wasn’t quite finished yet–the final touch would be to install a seagrass runner on the upper portion of the steps to protect them and give people (and pets) a little more traction.
Today I’m excited to share the finished project!
I’m thrilled with how it turned out, plus it was a relatively easy project and very cost-effective.
Just to refresh your memory (or if you’re new here), this is what the steps looked like when we moved into 100-year-old Magnolia Cottage about six months ago:
With the homeowner’s enthusiastic permission, I painted the chipped and colorful steps with a more renter-friendly palette of black treads and white risers. You can read all the how-to’s and details in this post about the process. Here’s how they looked after I painted them:
I loved how they looked, but black shows everything, and with a golden retriever who sheds like it’s his full-time job, the stairs looked kind of yucky if I didn’t vacuum them every day. It was always my plan to add the seagrass runner, but I couldn’t seem to find a block of time until right after the new year.
In all, the project took about four hours from start to finish, and while my son helped me position the runner and make sure it was centered, I completed 99% of the project by myself (so you can, too!).
The first step was to measure the steps (about four times to be safe!) and order my runner. There are several different patterns available but I opted to purchase a runner with a neutral binding and a zig zag design. I’ll list all of my sources at the end of the post, but I ordered this exact one in the 2’6″ x 20′ size. Definitely round up when you’re ordering as you can cut your runner quite easily if it’s slightly long.
We rolled out the rug, centered it, and then I used painter’s tape like Lisa recommended to mark each step to help keep it straight (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of that part). Working from the bottom, I used my crown stapler to install the runner, using 18 gauge x 1″ staples.
I would NOT attempt this project with anything but a pneumatic stapler, but if you’re a DIY’er then a compressor should definitely be on your work bench! I’ve had mine for about five years and it comes with a stapler and two nail guns–I highly recommend it and have linked to it below.
The pillow is because knee pads would be helpful for this sort of project–mine were super sore the next day!
It does take quite a bit of muscle to pull the runner tight and make sure you get a close fit; I also wound up with sore pecs and deltoids the next day but just considered it an extra arm day.
When I got to the top of the steps, I used a utility knife to cut the runner. My knife was brand new and it cut like a dream, so I definitely recommend a new blade.
I then added a piece of trim just to cover my cut line; it was pretty straight but this finished it off nicely, in my opinion.
The runner was around $160 and then I bought a no-slip rug pad and staples, so the entire project was under $200. I’m thrilled with how it turned out; so is the dog since he did not like going up and down the wood steps (he’s 11 and not as sure on his feet as he used to be).
We opted not to try to carry the runner down the landing and the bottom two steps, although another option would have been to start the runner on the landing instead of at the bottom of the upper flight of steps.
I can’t tell you how good it feels to have this project check off my to-do list! It’s been on there for several months and I hate that feeling; plus I’m so pleased with how it turned out.
If you have any questions, please just let me know in the comments. As promised, my sources are below.
I love the look and hope to one day do this to the staircase that goes to our basement.
Thank you, Beverly. This is such an easy project so just bookmark or pin it until you’re ready to do your basement stairs!
Hey Christy~ Love the new look!! Found it curious you started from the bottom and worked up…as I thought perhaps reverse? If you agree, I would do those two bottom steps and leave the landing be. Is the runner made from jute? looks like it. Although there is no coverings on my stairway, I could not handle jute because of my allergies. Your landlord must be thrilled you’re living in this house! lol 😉
You could certainly start at the top if that’s where you wanted the binding to be, but I thought that visually it would look better with the binding at the bottom and the trim at the top. Completely your choice! As to allergies, it honestly never even crossed my mind. My husband has some pet and seasonal allergies but we’ve had several seagrass, sisal, and jute rugs in the past and neither our family or our visitors have ever had an issue (this exact one is seagrass, by the way). I would think carpet would be a far worse offender since it traps all the dirty nastiness!
Looks wonderful Christy! As usual you outdid yourself! I too wonder about allergies.
Heidi
Thanks, Heidi! I’ll share some of my reply to Julie with you:
As to allergies, it honestly never even crossed my mind. My husband has some pet and seasonal allergies but we’ve had several seagrass, sisal, and jute rugs in the past and neither our family or our visitors have ever had an issue (this exact one is seagrass, by the way). I would think carpet would be a far worse offender since it traps all the dirty nastiness!
No one has sneezed since it’s been in the house and seagrass doesn’t shed the way wool or jute do, so maybe that helps. Bottom line, if you’ve had seagrass in your home before and not reacted, that’s probably a green light.
Great job!
Christy it really made the stairs look even better.
Thanks so much, Rebecca!
Christy
Beautiful job Christy! Your stairs look so good. I agree that the homeowner must be thrilled you have you living in his home and making it look fabulous!! Love reading your blog!! 🙂
Thanks so much, Nancy! The homeowner has been so supportive and appreciative of all of my projects; it’s been a pleasure to collaborate with her.
I absolutely LOVE what you do to the homes I have seen while following you. Its ALWAYS INSPIRING!!! Thank you for your blog!
Wish I could correct my mistyping!! Oh well, I am sure you can figure it out!
Connie–thank you so much! That’s a lovely compliment and it made my day!
Christy
Hi Christy,
so glad I found you. I love your ideas. Is the seagrass easy to clean?
Hi, Lorraine–Yes, it’s super easy to clean. I just vacuum it a couple of times a week. It doesn’t show dirt or wear. I have spilled water on it and when it dried it was like it never happened. I hope that helps!
Christy this looks so amazing on your stairs!! I love how it came out and thanks so much for the shout out sweet friend!!
Thanks for paving the way! One of my favorite projects so far because it gives so much bang for the buck.
Christy
Now that this runner has been down awhile, are you still happy with it? I’m wondering how it will wear.
Yes, very much so! We moved away last July but it looked just as perfect when we moved out as it did on the day I installed it. Hope that helps!
Christy
Christy,
I have had seagrass stair runners in my last 2 homes and “attempted” to have it installed in my third home. I ordered the seagrass from a local company who then subcontracted out the installation. They came again today. I left them to get started and went into my office to work. Two hours later they called out to me. They were unable to lay the product. Unfortunately, they had glued down pads on each stair tread. They have just spent the past 3 hours removing those pads. In the process they got glue on the handrails which lifted the paint. The handrails will now have to be sanded and repainted. I am beyond frustrated. They said the staples wouldn’t hold. I had asked for a tight roll as I had using decorative brass rods. Can you venture an opinion on what happened? I don’t what to do next. Thank you!
Oh, Janet, that’s terrible! I’d be after them to fix the mess they made for sure. I have no idea why they glued down the pads (!!!) in the first place as you can staple right through them, and if their staples didn’t hold, then that just means they need to get longer staples, for heaven’s sake. Your brass rods would have helped keep it in place so they would only have needed a few staples. To be honest, you might want to DIY it since it sounds like you care more about your things than they do. You’ve already had seagrass runners before so you know it can be done…again, I’m so sorry.
I love this makeover! In the process of redoing our staircase and was wondering if the jute runner was still available.
Hi, Lorraine–The link I included is still good. Because there are so many different sizes and binding colors, some runners go in and out of stock, but they do seem to always get restocked. I would 100% recommend this project. Good luck! Christy
I loving your results! I’m looking to do something similar on my own stairs! Where you have a landing, then two bottom stairs I have seven. How do I handle the landing in the middle of the split staircase if that makes sense?
I think the only way is to skip it like I did and leave the landing bare. Or you can cut a rectangle from a rug to try to cover it, but then you’d have to figure out a way to put trim on the sides and I’m not sure that would work. Or maybe you could find a small square rug online? Good luck!
Christy