For many reasons, many homeowners have hardwood stairs in their homes that are made of the same material as their hardwood floors, but they’re covered up. There was a trend in the 1980s and 1990s to carpet everything. So, many homeowners put down matting and covered their hardwood stairs. Also, many chose to put carpet or tile over their stairs for the benefit of their children or pets. Whatever the case may be, many homeowners are rediscovering beautiful hardwood to match their floors. If you don’t have hardwood stairs, you should consider making the upgrade.
Hardwood Stairs
You have several options for your hardwood stairs. The current trend is for your stairs to match your hardwood flooring. The easiest way to do this is to have your stairs laid with hardwood planks at the same time you do your flooring. If you have a straight staircase, that should be pretty straightforward. You’ll just need to measure the stairs to make sure that you incorporate their square footage when you buy planks. Make sure you measure the tread and the riser. The tread is the vertical face of each stair, and the tread is the step itself. You’ll also need to have a wooden subfloor on your stairs so that you can affix your flooring if you choose to use solid planks.
If you choose engineered hardwood, they can be installed over the existing floor as a floating floor.
That’s how you can get your hardwood stairs to match your flooring perfectly. Whether you choose engineered hardwood, prefinished, or site finished, they’ll match because you installed them at the same time. Some designers have been showing hardwood stairs that complement the floors instead.
Complementary Stairs
There are several different ways for your stairs to complement your flooring. A simple one involves patterns. If you have a chevron or a herringbone pattern for your flooring, you could invert that pattern for the stairs. Alternately, if you don’t have a pattern, you could use something like a herringbone pattern to simulate movement across the stairs. You could also choose a color or a wood type that complements the floor. For example, if you have a honey colored white oak floor, you could choose something darker for the stairs. Black and tan tend to go very well together; they might even go well together on the same stairs. Some have chosen dark treads and light risers or vice versa. You have a great breadth of options.