I have dreams of a modern staircase with black metal balusters and a natural wood handrail. For now that dream is on pause, but that doesn’t mean I had to live with my oak banister for the foreseeable future. In some homes, oak can compliment the floors and match other trim in the house. After replacing our flooring, we wanted something that would blend in with the white, grey and black accents of our entryway.
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Choosing a Color
Luckily our balusters (spindles) were already painted white, so our decision was between painting the banister and newel posts white or black. I had a few scenarios I was considering and after many trips to Pinterest, I decided to paint both Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black to compliment our doors and furniture accents. Painting the posts white would have required me to paint all of the balusters to match, which made the final decision an easy one.
The prep for this project was a bit tedious, mainly because I had to tape off all the balusters and there are a lot. Go ahead and count them, I’ll wait. After wiping everything down, I taped each one at the top where they meet the banister.
starting at the bottom, I made it to the landing and then took a month off before getting the motivation to finish taping. Have I mentioned that I dislike prep work? Once the taping was done, I was finally ready to start the transformation. Painting is the fun the part!
Choosing the Paint
There are endless options for paint, and the finish on our banister reminded me of our oak kitchen cabinets. To avoid completely sanding or stripping the varnish, I opted for an easier application. I have experience painting kitchen cabinets (which you can read about here) and decided to use the same Valspar primer and Cabinet Paint in Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black. This paint dries as an enamel, which is durable and easy to clean.
Step by Step Process
- Clean, Clean, Clean use TSP Cleaner which is a degreaser.
- Lightly sand with 220 sandpaper. This is a quick hand sanding just to slightly rough up the surface, this helps the primer and paint adhere better.
- Clean again, wipe up all sanding residue.
- Tape off any areas you do not want painted, including floors.
- Apply 2 coats of primer, allowing to dry in between (under an hour with the bonding primer!).
- Allow Primer to fully dry before applying paint.
- Apply cabinet paint, use a thin coat to avoid brush strokes. You will need at least two coats of paint. I applied two coats and then touched up where needed.
- Remove tape immediately to avoid pulling of the paint.
- Try to stay off the stairs until fully dry.
The Finished Product
The banister has held up great after more than a year of wear and tear. My son broke one of our balusters, but we were able to patch and repaint that area which is barely noticeable. I also had to touch up a few spots where we scraped the paint moving a bed and an area the cat likes to repeatedly jump up and scratch. Otherwise, I am extremely happy with how this DIY turned out!
The paint finish is easy to wipe clean with soap and water and I think our entry looks looks much more cohesive with the rest of the house. I recommend this project for an easy way to update your staircase!
Let me know if you give this DIY a try!
