Stair Makeover: Staining Stair Treads to Match New Floors (Comparing the Stair Flooring Options and more)

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by Robin

When you install new floors it can be such a gamechanger. It sure was for our main floor! We went from mismatched, worn out, broken flooring to a cohesive look we love.

But what do you do about the stairs that no longer match your new floors? 

This is a dilemma – one that has a few different options to consider – some are better than others.  How do you make your old steps match your new flooring?  That’s what we’re diving into today.

There are a few solutions to this problem – and we considered them all! 

And for your benefit – if you’re finding a similar problem in your home – we’re going to run through some options and show you what we settled on – and it looks so good!

You might remember last fall, we got a great deal on our new main floor flooring.  We weighed the luxury vinyl plank pros and cons and decided it was the perfect floor for our taste and lifestyle.  The specific one we chose is really good quality, has just the colour and finish we were looking for and the price was oh so right.

After Ed did an amazing install – and wrote a comprehensive post of tips for professional-looking luxury vinyl tile installation – we moved onto the stairs.

And that’s where we were left with; an ugly problem. You can clearly see it in the photo at the top and the one below: ugly stairs that don’t match.

Some options to consider when choosing the best flooring for stairs:

a) Cover the old stairs with matching luxury vinyl nosing or treads:

• The LVP floor we got such a good deal on? The matching stair nosing couldn’t be sourced in Canada. Why? I have no clue. And the US companies I reached out to never even responded.  And even if they had – shipping would have been insanely costly.
• We could have tried to find similar vinyl stair treads – but we were seeing the cost as about $75 to $100 each!  And the match would never have been quite right.
• Our dog finds the Luxury Vinyl incredibly slippery. (Think Bambi on ice – legs splayed everywhere – but only if he’s not kept his speed in check.) We added a fabulous washable runner to our kitchen (which we love!) so that he could make it to the back door without skidding – even when he’s feeling hyper. I don’t think having the same slippery flooring on the stairs to his primary door would go over at all.  (And we aren’t carrying 90lbs of neurotic dog over the threshold 10 times a day.)

b) Cover the old stairs in sheet vinyl:

• It’s a good option as far as cost – sheet vinyl is very affordable – and you can often find remnants if you’re covering a small area.
• You can see in our before photos – this is what we had before.  It was installed almost 20 years ago – and was showing it’s age. But, maybe a fresh install of a new product would be better?
• We decided against this. We wanted an upgrade and this would have been a lateral move.  It also would have required rubber, vinyl or metal stair edging, which is not attractive.

c) Cover the old stairs in carpet:

• We let the manager of our local flooring store have a vote – and his pick was carpet.  Specifically commercial grade carpeting.  He showed me some pretty good options – with varied colours and textures. Some of the carpets I could actually visualize looking pretty good.
• Commercial quality carpet is really hardwearing and could handle the beating this back hall gets.
• This wouldn’t be an install we’d tackle – but the cost to have it installed wouldn’t be outrageous.
• What kept me from choosing this option was the time it takes to dry. Carpet soaks up water – and takes longer to dry – so that people heading to our basement media room in sock feet will feel it.

d) Cover the old stairs with hardwood:

• This is the choice we ultimately made. We retrofitted our steps with oak treads and risers.  It’s the higher-end look we wanted and can you believe that covering the old stairs with hardwood is actually cheaper than vinyl treads?!
• We bought our oak stair treads and riser on sale at Lowes for about $25 a set.
• But what about the water issue? This I struggled with and the beautiful compromise we came up with was to tile the landing (where the bulk of the water sits) with an affordable brick tile. Then the stairs themselves, which get very little water in contrast, we sealed with an amazing matte floor polyurethane.
• And here’s how it turned out…

Materials for Finishing and Staining Wood Stair Treads:

• Stair treads and risers (We used this one) USA source
• Stains – we used Jacobean and Special Walnut from Minwax (The small 1/2 pint container was enough for these stairs and 6 more all the way to the basement.)
• Table saw
  • OR circular saw with a cutting guide like this one
• This matte polyurethane finish (The sheen is beautiful!)
• Foam brushes
• Sandpaper
• Tack Cloth

How to

Staining Stair Treads: How to stain stair treads to match floor

Step 1: Cut Stair Treads to Size

Step 2: Using Tread Cut-offs Test Stain Mixes

Step 3: When you have the stain mix right, mix enough for your whole project

Step 4. Lightly Sand and Stain your treads

Step 5: Carefully Apply Finish Coat (Before Installing!)

Step 6: Lightly Sand again after the first coat. Poly makes the wood fibres stand up

Step 7: Use a tack cloth to remove dust and debris

Step 8: Apply at least three coats (we did four) and Let your finish cure

Attach your new wood treads and risers (full tutorial for that step here) and Admire your handiwork:

In the next post, we cover how to install these new stair treads on plywood stairs like ours. This is a great solution if you have plywood stairs – for example if you want hardwood in place of carpet or vinyl.

This project is one of many in our Basement Makeover – you can see all the progress and DIY tutorials here!

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