In a home a staircase is often forgotten in decorating. I can admit that for my first year of living in my new home I didn’t really give it much thought. The stairs just got me from point A to point B. Now that in the stages of finalizing (for the time being) the rooms in my home I’ve had the staircase on my mind for the last couple of months.

My stairs are traditional wood stairs with the risers painted in white.  I’ve been itching to do something to step them up a notch.

Traditionally most staircases get outfitted with a stair runner. I’m not a fan of the ones with oriental carpeting down the front, but I think I could get use to this:

Images via Copy Cat Chic

It would probably be very comfy on my feet and help the dogs from sliding off the wood, but so not in my price range at the moment.

Another option would be to wallpaper the risers for an added impact. Lately I’ve been in love with all sorts of wallpaper, but if I wanted to use them in a room I would need to give up food shopping for quite some time to get the loot to pay for it all. Buying a roll or 2 of your favorite designer wallpaper will not break the bank and add some character to your stairs.

I’m loving these images for inspiration:

Images via Door Sixteen

The cheapest option would be to simply either paint the risers, or a stair runner onto my existing stairs. I could either use some left-over paint or run to Home Depot and see what they have as their Oops paints and walk out with a gallon for $5!

Inspiration for painted staircases:

Image via House of Turquoise

Image via Girl meets Glamour

After doing all my research I did finally pick a solution for what I want to do. I didn’t go with paint, wallpaper, or carpeting, but a little something else. It was relatively inexpensive and if I want a change it’s an easy fix.

Since we are suppose to have a rainy weekend I figured it would be a great time to get this project done. Fingers crossed it happens and I’ll be posting a before and after on Monday!