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Step up the look of your stairs

By Stacy Downs, McClatchy Newspapers, Source: MCT News Service

Your home should rise up to greet you, lifestyle experts are forever preaching. Sprucing up the stairway is a simple start.

"Stairs are architectural details that should be played up," said Karol Nickell, editor in chief of Fresh Home magazine. "But they often get ignored because they're passageways. People forget that they're the transition between the public and private places in the home, which makes them important."

To say Patricia Shackelford of Kansas City, Mo., felt uplifted when a candy-colored striped runner recently spiffed up her stairway is an understatement. Here's what she wrote in her blog, Mrs. Blandings: "Is it possible that the installation of a carpet runner would offer such joy? Can you imagine your heart skipping, not a beat, but just skipping?"

So how does she feel about her stairs now, after her three sons, ages 7, 10 and 13, as well as the family's boxer, Rosie, have trounced up and down hundreds of times in one of the snowiest winters in history?

"The same," Shackelford said with a satisfied smile. "It's wearing well."

However, she concedes no one wears their shoes in the house, which is why the cotton runner still looks new. In a shoe-wearing house, wool takes a better beating _ especially in high-traffic areas.

Shackelford found the two Dash & Albert rugs she used as runners at Stuff in Kansas City. It took installers about half a day to staple them in place to the stairs. The project cost about $750.

Nickell says that there are other ways to add a little springtime to our steps. Painting the risers _ not the treads _ a contrasting color is a smart choice.

"It would also improve safety because it's easier to see each step as you go up," Nickell said.

The skirting of the staircase in front entrances, often painted the same color as the molding, also could be painted a new color.

"You could even stencil in a traditional support bracket and paint it a bright color like lime green," she said. "And when you got sick of it, you could just paint over it."

Another idea Nickell likes is using carpet tiles, which are easy for do-it-yourselfers to install.

"There are so many colors and textures, and they're very low profile and flexible to work with," she said. "You could almost make a colorful, modern patchwork quilt with your stairs."

Aubrey McClintock of Old Forge, Pa., and her husband, Lee, swapped out their scuffed rubbery stair treads for zebra print Flor carpet tiles.

"It was a huge change right away," said McClintock, who shows crafting and home projects on her blog, A Daily Obsession. "I really wanted animal prints. I have a thing for them. They're not over the top, but they're fun."

Even though the carpet tiles include adhesive on the backing, she and Lee opted to staple them in place since they're also on the treads.

She, Lee and their poodle mixes Lexi and Esko safely trek up and down the stairs several times a day. The staples are concealed within the nap of the rug.

"I like that if they get really gross, it's easy to pull them and change them out," McClintock said. It was a fairly inexpensive change, too, about $100.

Nickell also suggests using thin, lightweight ceramic tiles on risers.

"You could go to home-improvement stores or online for vintage decorative tiles and it wouldn't cost a lot," she said. "You could do one or two lines per riser in a beautiful color, and they're an instant pick-me-up."

Casey Simmons of Kansas City took tiling her stairs several steps further. About eight years ago, she installed mosaics of tile samples, shells and river rocks from vacations as well as broken dishes to the treads of the stairs leading up from the lower level.

"I love them," said Simmons, co-owner of Stuff. "When I'm talking on the phone I'll go and sit on the rocks. It created a nice nook. They feel great underfoot, too, like those pebbly massagers."

Simmons spent 6 to 12 hours on each step in yoga-like positions to accomplish the elaborate mosaics. She knows the eclectic, beach bungalow-like look of hers isn't for everyone.

"Someone could do it in one color palette or one style of tile, and it would be sophisticated," she said. "And at the same time, personal."

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CARPET SQUARES

Aubrey McClintock of Old Forge, Pa., installed zebra-print Flor tiles on the stairs in her 90-year-old home, above. One square can be cut to cover two stair treads.

Flor carpet tiles are available in different colors, patterns and textures at Elements of Green in Kansas City and Lowe's.

DECALS

Instead of a carpet runner, Fresh Home magazine shows how to use removable wall decals for stairs, above. They used the Neu Tree design from www.modernwall graphics. com ($60 for a 7-foot decal available in 40 colors). If necessary, use a fine paintbrush and an oil-based paint in the same color as the decal to touch up any joints or fill out the design.

The best thing about decals? They can be peeled off without damaging surfaces and reapplied elsewhere.

For a retro modern vibe, at left, Karol Nickell of Fresh Home magazine likes the Charles and Ray Eames crosspatches from www.whatisblik.com. They could be used on the risers and even the treads.

PAINT

Stair risers can be painted a contrasting color, a smart safety choice too because they stand out. The black-and-white staircase is designed by Benjamin Moore color expert Sharon Grech.

"You could even use turquoise, the color of 2010," said Karol Nickell, editor in chief of Fresh Home magazine. "It's a beautiful color because it's earthy and stylish."

RUNNER

From the cover: Patricia Shackelford of Kansas City found striped Dash & Albert rugs to use as a stair runner from Stuff in Brookside.

TILES

Casey Simmons of Kansas City gathered found objects, including blown fuses, to create works of art on the stairs of her home. She also incorporated tiles on the treads that friends and family wrote to her to commemorate her 30th birthday. She suggests doing a sample board or stepping stone of mosaic tiling before tackling the stairs because it was a project that took dozens of hours.

Another option is installing straight rows of thin, lightweight tiles on just the risers for pops of color.

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OTHER WAYS TO SPIFF UP YOUR STAIRWAY

Change out art. Patricia Shackelford of Kansas City took on a craft project for her stairwell, painting canvases two equal colors and using inexpensive frames.

Improve the lighting. Use a wall sconce or lights that mount into the risers.

Paint the walls. Shackelford's walls are sunshine yellow, making it feel warm and welcoming like spring, even on a cold winter's day.

RESOURCES

A Daily Obsession (carpet-tile stair runner project), www.adailyobsession.com

Dezign With a Z (decals), www.dezignwithaz.com

Elements of Green (Flor carpet tiles), 1919 Wyandotte, 816- 842-0500, www.elements-of-green.com

Fresh Home magazine (decal stair project in the winter 2009-2010 issue), 800-344-6913, www.freshhomemag.com

Mrs. Blandings blog (stair runner project), mrsblandings.blogspot.com

Stuff (Dash & Albert runners), 316 W. 63rd St., 816-361-8222, www.pursuegoodstuff.com

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(c) 2010, The Kansas City Star.

Visit The Star Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.kansascity.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): stairs