Should I paint the stairs and railings?

[redrabbit]

My partner and I are planning to sell our flat (which is over two floors) in the next 6-12 months. We are trying to do some improvements - e.g. we have just had a new bathroom installed for about £1000 (a lot of work by ourselves to save money), etc...

Should we paint or do something with the stairs in the living room?
If so - how much work would it be? Would white be a good colour?
The stairs are a key part of the room as they're so physically visible and present. The wood is fairly dark and not very nice looking in my view. I have seen others stairs and many are painted white.

Pictures below (IGNORE THE MESS... that is temporary). The carpet is also being replaced in the next few months.







Thanks

 

[Johnny Allround]

Hi Redrabbit, Your asking the sort of questions people hate to answer!. At the end of the day it’s your personal choice and you should stick with that. Personally I like your decor but I would use a light oak stain to bring the wood to life and showcase your lovely room. Sometimes less is more. Hope this helps.

 

[plastic_peanut]

My thoughts are to change the banisters. I think that design is a little dated and something more modern would improve the feel of the lounge as well.

Maybe a white gloss if you were dead set on keeping them

 

[HERTS P&D]

Remove the dado rail and paint everything white, it makes the places look so much bigger and brighter.

We had the grey walls a couple of years ago and then decided to paint it all white, since then every room is white and will only be white.

Andy

 

[redrabbit]

Hi Redrabbit, Your asking the sort of questions people hate to answer!. At the end of the day it’s your personal choice and you should stick with that. Personally I like your decor but I would use a light oak stain to bring the wood to life and showcase your lovely room. Sometimes less is more. Hope this helps.

Thanks Johnny! I know it's really subjective, just didn't know if there would be a really big wave of people saying "paint it white" or whatever. The staining sounds like a good option, thanks for your advice.

My thoughts are to change the banisters. I think that design is a little dated and something more modern would improve the feel of the lounge as well.

Maybe a white gloss if you were dead set on keeping them

Hi Peanut - we are not really in a position to start removing the banister unfortunately. We are pretty desperate to leave this place having sold it originally two years ago but things went badly wrong for us. We should be in a position to sell hopefully at the start of 2021ish... so we are focusing on the key parts, like painting, carpets, maybe touching things up here and there.

White Gloss is definitely a good option - thanks for your views and your suggestions, much appreciated

Remove the dado rail and paint everything white, it makes the places look so much bigger and brighter.

We had the grey walls a couple of years ago and then decided to paint it all white, since then every room is white and will only be white.

Andy

Hey, we only painted the living room and hallway up stairs about 6 months ago so it was a bit fresher. We aren't keen to remove the dado rail - but about 5 years ago I did consider it but never got round to it.

White does seem to be quite a common colour choice for some rooms these days. Guess it makes it look very clean and open/fresh.

Thanks for your response

 

[Tigercubrider]

It's also cheap and easy to do with one colour throughout

 

[Nige F]

Thanks Johnny! I know it's really subjective, just didn't know if there would be a really big wave of people saying "paint it white" or whatever. The staining sounds like a good option, thanks for your advice.




Hi Peanut - we are not really in a position to start removing the banister unfortunately. We are pretty desperate to leave this place having sold it originally two years ago but things went badly wrong for us. We should be in a position to sell hopefully at the start of 2021ish... so we are focusing on the key parts, like painting, carpets, maybe touching things up here and there.

White Gloss is definitely a good option - thanks for your views and your suggestions, much appreciated



Hey, we only painted the living room and hallway up stairs about 6 months ago so it was a bit fresher. We aren't keen to remove the dado rail - but about 5 years ago I did consider it but never got round to it.

Leave the bannister and paint white. Leave the dado. Good job with your bathroom