When sprucing up the house, many homeowners often focus on redesigning their walls, kitchens, and bedrooms or replacing their existing interior decorations or furniture pieces. But if you have staircases, you must include them during your home redesigning process. After all, your staircase takes up considerable space in your home, making it one of the most noticeable parts of the house.
Revamping your staircase may sound like an expensive option for some. In reality, many staircase makeover ideas won’t require you to spend over your budget while still giving it an amazing transformation. Here are some helpful tips as you spruce up your staircase on a budget.
One of the essential parts of the staircase is its handrails. Although they’re mainly designed for safety measures, handrails add style and decorative features to your staircase. Most indoor staircases have spindle handrails since they come in various designs and shapes, and you can customize them to fit your house’s theme.
Meanwhile, the staircase on your patio or balcony may have used balusters as handrails as they provide firmer support.
Generally, people use the terms spindles and balusters interchangeably since they look almost the same. However, a home design blog named Livinator explains the key difference between spindles and balusters.
Spindles are supported by a horizontal rail underneath their handrail posts, while balusters are directly attached to the footing of the step or floor. Both spindles and balusters can be made from materials such as wood, steel, or plastic. Whether your stairs have balusters or spindle handrails, it’s a good idea to have them replaced if your current handrail is already outdated.
If a complete replacement is too expensive, you can repaint those handrails instead, especially when the old paint is starting to fade or peel away. Repainting the handrails is much cheaper and easier since you can do it yourself. A gallon of paint usually costs between USD$15 to USD$65, depending on your choice of color, brand, and quality.
If your handrails are made of wood, polish and varnish them afterward for a shiny finish. You may coat the surface with paint if it’s made from other materials (e.g., steel, iron). Repainting your stair’s handrails can quickly transform and freshen up your staircase.
You’ve probably heard about the ombre effect used in the beauty industry, related to hair colors or nail arts. But why not try to experiment and apply the same effect to your staircase? If you still have plenty of leftover paint after sprucing up your stair’s handrails, use the remaining paint to coat the stairs with the ombre effect.
To come up with the ombre effect, start by painting the lowest step with the darkest shade of the paint. Mix the color with white paint to make the shade appear lighter as you paint your way up. Repeat the process until the last step appears to be the lightest shade. The ombre effect will enhance your staircase’s visual appeal and boost your home’s aesthetic.
If the ombre effect seems too complicated, you may make the easy choice and create a rainbow staircase. This can be a perfect design for your home, especially if you have kids who love to play or be surrounded by colors. Adults can also appreciate this decoration if they wish to add a cheerful ambiance to their home.
To pull this off, you only need to buy less than half a gallon of paint for each color of the rainbow (e.g., red, orange, yellow, green), or maybe more if you have a wider staircase. Then, paint each step with the corresponding colors of the rainbow. If you’re not into bold colors, you may opt for pastel colors or mix the bold paint colors with a bit of white.
Perhaps buying gallons of paint may still be a bit over your budget. For an even cheaper alternative, please take out your extra wallpaper, which you’ve probably hidden, and use it to spruce up your staircase. Although wallpapers are mainly designed for your walls, you can also use them for your stairs.
First, cover the risers with a fresh coat of paint before covering them with wallpaper. Apply the wallpaper as neatly as possible to achieve the desired results. If you’re not confident applying the wallpaper, you can always ask a professional interior designer to do it for you, but be prepared to pay them a fee.
If you don’t have leftover wallpaper, you can always buy scraps of different wallpaper designs, or you may ask for leftover wallpaper from your friends or neighbors. Then, use a different wallpaper design for every step to create a colorful and unique design for your staircase.
Perhaps you have lots of old books hidden in your bedroom or attic that you no longer read. Instead of using extra wallpaper scraps, you can spruce up your staircase by reusing your old book covers.
You can tear the book covers and use them to cover the sidewall of the stairs. You can stick the old book covers as if you’re arranging books on a bookshelf wherein the book titles are facing the front.
Not only will this spruce up your staircase, but this unconventional design will surely leave your guests in awe.
Wrapping Up
There are countless ways to update your staircase, bring it to life and make it one of the best areas in the house. Plus, these ideas won’t cause you more than a hundred dollars. So, put your DIY skills into practice and try one of these tips to revamp your staircase.