Staircase Makeover Ideas

Every photo below is a staircase our crew has done, not a catalogue picture. Use them to decide what you like, then see what a staircase renovation in Toronto involves.

• Light treads with black iron spindles
• Patterned iron spindles
• Curved staircases
• White wood spindles and an oak rail
• A white stringer and a two-tone flight
• Floating stairs and glass
• A railing that opens to the room
• Railing around the stairwell
• Stairs matched to the floor
• Light in the steps
• Going dark
• Two Bolton staircases, before and after
• Staircase makeover cost
• How to update stairs on a budget
• Get a price for your stairs
• Frequently asked questions

This is the look on more of the staircases on our work page than any other. The light treads match a light floor, the white risers keep the flight bright, and the thin black spindles let light through instead of closing the stairwell in. A big square newel post at the bottom gives it weight.

It works in almost any house because nothing in it is fussy. For the stain itself, our stair stain colours guide shows the common choices on real stairs.

Swap plain spindles for ones with a shape, a box or a twist, and repeat them every few spindles. It reads as a detail rather than a pattern, and it’s an easy way to make a straight flight look custom.

Spindles can also be changed on their own, keeping the steps and the handrail. Our guide to replacing stair spindles covers iron, wood and glass.

A curve is the showpiece of a front hall, and it’s the most work on any staircase. Every tread is a different shape, and the handrail has to follow the curve. On our Bolton job the rail carries round the turn in one continuous piece instead of stopping and restarting, so nothing interrupts your hand on the way up.

A curved flight runs closer to $10,000 with us, against about $7,000 for a straight one.

Not everyone wants iron. White square wood spindles with an oak handrail and newel give a softer, more traditional staircase, and they suit a house with white trim and panelled walls. The oak rail ties back to the treads, so the flight still reads as wood.

Paint the risers and the side of the staircase white, keep the treads and the rail in wood, and the steps look like they’re floating up the wall. It’s a clean, modern version of the classic look.

Open treads with no risers and a glass rail let light straight through the staircase. It’s the most modern look on this page, and it suits an open main floor where the stairs are part of the room. Like every staircase, it’s priced in writing after a free measure.

When the staircase sits in the living room rather than a hallway, it’s furniture. Here the oak rail and black spindles carry the floor’s colour up the stairs, and the white risers match the panelled wall behind. More East York work is on our East York staircase page.

The railing along the upstairs hall is part of the staircase, and it’s easy to forget when you’re planning. If the stairs get new spindles and posts and the landing doesn’t, the old railing is the first thing you see from the top step. Count it in from the start.

When the treads come from the same species, stain and sheen as the floor, the stairs and rooms finish as one. That’s easiest when the floor and the stairs are done in the same visit and the material is ordered together. Stairs bought separately from the floor rarely match, and the top step is where it shows. More on that in should stair treads match your floor.

A line of light along each step turns the staircase into a night light and shows off the wood grain. If you want lights in the steps, say so before the treads go on, because the wiring has to be in place first.

Dark treads with white risers is a strong, formal look, and it suits a house with a dark floor. Most of the stairs we do now are light, like the rest of this page. If you’re matching a dark floor you already have, though, this is how it’s done well: white risers stop the flight looking heavy.

Two jobs where we can tell you exactly what we started with:

• Carpet to white oak in three days. The stairs were carpeted when we arrived. New treads and risers capped the original structure, so nothing was torn out. Risers painted white, treads left light and wire-brushed, black wrought iron spindles and square box newel posts, with the floors done in the same visit. See carpet to hardwood stairs for how it works.
• Old oak refinished in five days. These stairs were already oak, just worn and the wrong colour for the floor beside them. The treads were thick enough to sand, so they were refinished to a natural light oak and the railing, posts and spindles were replaced. The full story is in our Bolton stair refinishing job.

Every price is fixed in writing after a free visit. For the full breakdown, see staircase renovation in Toronto, or recapping vs refinishing if you’re deciding between the two.

You don’t always need the full flight. The smaller jobs, from least to most work:

1. Change the spindles and keep the steps and handrail. Usually a day for one flight.
2. Refinish the treads if they’re solid hardwood under the wear. A new stain can make old oak match a new floor.
3. Vinyl on the stairs when the floor they meet is vinyl. See vinyl plank on stairs for the pros and cons.

If the stairs are carpeted builder-grade wood underneath, there’s nothing to refinish, and capping them with new hardwood is the real fix.

Send us a few photos of the staircase, tell us how many flights, and point to the photo on this page closest to what you want. We’ll tell you what the job involves, then book a free visit to measure and confirm a fixed price. We work across Toronto and the GTA, as far as Bowmanville, Castleton, Wasaga Beach, Niagara Falls and London.

Get a free quote