nix on the berber. A few years ago we bought the highest quality Karastan berber for our sunroom and had the offcut bound and installed on our stairs as a runner to show the wood on each side.
The beige berber is easily cleanable and is wearing well in the sunroom. It has not worn well at all on the stairs since they get so much traffic. The pile matted within the first year on the landing and in the center of the steps.
The dogs nails have not hurt the berber in the least. Their nails don't get caught and their nails are longer than they should be :(
That being said, it is holding up, it just got matted very quickly and at the time I vacuumed daily. That being said It doesnt seem to be getting worse. It looks good enough not to be changed out.
Hope this is helpful. Sue

Oceanna,

Get thee to the carpet store and look at their runners!

They are wonderful and can be found in all price ranges. I had one with a pattern in it and it handled 3 kids, husband, and dog for 15 years. I finally took it off but mainly because I was tired of it. It still looked good.

With all of your antique furniture I could see a patterned runner looking great, but a multi toned berber would be very practical as well. The nice thing about a runner is that when you purchase it you have no waste, and when you get a carpet cut for a runner there is labor involved and some extra carpet left that you are paying for.

UGGH! Trying to get photo to post and no luck but later in the day I'll post a picture of mine.

So happy for you and your floors!

There's an old thread and discussion about this somewhere (probably more than 1!) but here are the pictures of mine. I had a tight carpet cut and bound for a center runner - didn't want edge to edge. Don't use a plush or a burber - when the material bends over the edge of the stair it will "smile" and you;ll see the backing. That's why you need a high quality, tight product. Labor is the largest part of this purchase, so if you try and save on material, you'll lose out in the long run by needing to replace it sooner and then get hit withthat labor charge again.

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And close up
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We had berber on our stairs and it was horrible. Very difficult to deep clean it, you really can just clean the surface. The cost of having stairs professsionally cleand is very high, and I don't think they ever really got them clean. Then, the cats started pulling out strands of it and it was beginning to unravel. Our stairs don't have carpet now though I would consider a runner someday when the kids are gone.

I'm glad you love your new floors!!! Have you posted any pics yet?

Oceanna, one of the problems with berber is when it is seamed. The seams never look that great, and that's the point where they will unravel often. Berber on the stairs has to be seamed all over the place. I wish the salesperson had advised me of this when I bought mine.

My experience with our high quality berber is not that it "smiled" when bent, because it didn't I think the pile is very dense. The only complaint we have is the matting due to high traffic. No problem with seams anywhere in the sunroom or stairs. It actually looks very much like DLMs from that angle but of course is beige.
We steam clean our own carpets with our bissel so that is easy to do whenever.
Oceanna if one lived alone with no pets then berber would be fine- its the high traffic in my experience.
The best thing we did was to buy wool Karastan orientals for our downstairs room, they hold up so well. My next stair runner will be a Karastan runner made to order because of the landing at the base of the stairs.
thought the more info yu have the better:)

I agree with cooperbailey about Karastan rugs wearing well in addition to looking very beautiful. I've had mine in three different houses over a period of at least 14 years and still can't see signs of wear in spite of it having been in high-use areas during all this time.

We've had berber on our stairs for 12 years and it's held up well; however the edges (where it raps around the tread) are now getting matted and I'm thinking replacement with something else. It's really hard to deep clean the berber. I'm stumped regarding what we'll replace it with. I like a softer feel but don't want berber or plush.

Love the looks of dlm2000's stairs.

Thanks! You've all given me a lot of good ideas.

DLM2000, your stairs look gorgeous!

Jjam, your post spoke to my heart. I can't do a runner because the stairs under the carpet are just plywood. But I will look at patterned carpet. The gal I just talked with says she has a lot of it, yay.

I haven't taken pics of my floor yet because I'm still unpacking boxes and putting things back that had to be moved out of the installers' way.

Daisy, thanks for the advice about the seams. Makes sense.

I steam cleaned my rugs. I have a Dirt Devel shampooer and it works pretty well. Yep, Karastan rugs are wonderful!

Well, I'm off to a carpet warehouse that advertised in CL. Looks like they'll do my stairs for about $300+, depending on the carpet I choose. So I'll go take a look. The gal said if I pick something out today they can do my stairs tomorrow. Wow. Cool.

dlm2000, what a BEAUTIFUL meticulous installation!

I met the CL gal at the warehouse, and her carpets were... ordinary. She says she's getting more in tomorrow. Then I stopped at a store and fell in love with some too-expensive carpet.

So I guess my next step is a couple of carpet warehouses, and see if I can find remnants of any of that fancy stuff I like so much, at a bargain.

Since those stairs are the first thing you see when you step into the house, I'm debating about paying $200-300 more for them to make them more of a "wow." Or, just settle for "nice."

I agree with everyone who nixed the berber for stairs. All of the reasons have been stated, & they all have truth!

Get a tight weave - bend the carpet backwards & make sure you don't see any of the backing. Tweedy color mixes are always good for high traffic areas. Carpet like dlm's is ideal.

Good luck!

Good hint on bending it backwards, Moonkat. I wouldn't have thought of that.

It seems unanimous, no berber.

The gal was trying to talk me into a frieze. Good or bad?

The carpet I fell in love with was a low pile with a carved design built in -- swirls. Is a patterned carpet more likely to matt down than any other?

An article I found on the web said find a low profile cut carpet for stairs.

You might want to look at the comercial carpets that are available. Some of them are the low pile carpets that can really take a beating.

Also, you might want to check Craigslist under materials. Sometimes people have new carpeting for sale.

Have any of you tried to redo the treads and risers on your stairs? Isn't that very expensive? I looked at something on the web and for oak treads, they wanted $36 per step -- and that didn't include the risers. Under my carpet, my stairs are just crummy plywood, not made for anything except to be covered with carpet. But I do love the look of a runner.

I just took another look at my staircase thread in the gallery, and I kind of hate to give in and just have a predictable, typical staircase. But budget is tight. :/

oceanna I can relate. I have 2 staircases in my house, both painted. I don't even know what type of wood is under all the paint, but because of the beating the steps have taken, I doubt that it's worth stripping & finishing, so I'm just going to repaint.

But if I were to win the lottery, it would be some combination of beautiful hardwoods, for sure!

And btw, I keep neglecting to tell you, but I love your screen name!

I agree about not using berber (nix) on stairs for above reasons. We also haave plywood stairs - nothing fancy - but we have always had them carpeted with a short, very dense, plush, nylon carpet that is the same color as the dirt in our area...kind of a rusty brown color. Believe me I have blessed it countless times when kids or adults have tripped on the stairs and they've had a "soft" landing.

The current carpeting is ready to be replaced after almost 18 years of hard use by adults, kids, dogs and cats - and we will put in something similar again.

I do vacuum/clean this carpeting on the stairs regularly. A stain release coating (i.e. Stainmaster) on the carpeting helps keep down any uglies and makes it easy to keep clean. One of my son's friends flipped an entire pizza on the stairs a few years ago and after I recovered from the shock, it truly did clean up easily. I was amazed.

Congrats on your new wood floors Oceanna!

oceanna, what hardwood floors did you end up installing? I can't wait to see pics of your new floors! Can you send pictures of the carpet you love that you are considering also for the stairs?

Moonkat, thanks on my "handle." I like yours, too. :) How has paint held up on your stairs? Could you maybe put a runner on them? Might that look okay? Because that's what I'm tempted to do. A neighbor of mine put a runner down over his carpet on his stairs. Instead of those expensive fancy metal rods, he just used quarter round trim pieces stained to just about disappear into the carpet, and it looks just fine and was a whole lot cheaper.

Sippimom, wow, it seems everyone agrees no berber. When I saw the carpet gal today she told me berber wears better than anything on stairs. Go figure. I trust all of you over one of her. Your choice sounds very practical. I should just trot a cup of dirt into the store and match it. Thanks on the floors! I'm really, really happy with them!

Lynn, here are the floors I ended up with:
http://www.hallmarkhardwoods.com/products-heirloom.htm
My floor is the second one down on the left -- "Hard Maple Syrup." You can click on it to get a better picture.

Here are some pictures. It's really hard to get the color correct, and show you the richness and beauty of what I'm seeing, but here goes...

Please pardon my dining room chairs. They need to be replaced, but I'm not sure what style I should get. Suggestions?

That's a neat trick with the quarter round - I've never heard of doing that. I can't believe how similar our new floors look!

Upstairs, where we just installed ours there are two steps up to our gameroom and two steps down to my husband's office. We used the new wood floor to cover those steps and I am considering doing that on our staircase someday.

Oceanna, I just love your floors so much! I love stained hard maple floors that have character with some color variation but that look like your floors! I love their other collection called the Hacienda that has the same Hard Maple floors in the Syrup color but without the handscraping but still the aged color variation. What width are your floors? I just emailed a question to the owner of the website on if he has samples and the approximate cost. What are the lengths of the boards? On my monitor the color is a beautiful reddish brown. What is the coloring of the floors in person? I love the handscraped look also but my home is more modern and I have small dogs so I think the Hacienda collection has smaller bevels with a smooth look but the overall same stain and look of the Maple Floors from the pictures. Did I tell you I LOVE your floors! Thank you for the link to the website. I now have a few options in mind for floors since after my busy season this 18 year old rug MUST go and since now I installed beautiful neutral Porcelain tile in my two foyers, I have more options on the wood stain. I love Maple and I love the Brazilian Cherry floors but I like that stained Maple will not change color as dramatically.

Add me to the Karastan fan list. I had this put in a year ago (Ashara Agra) and despite 3 dogs tearing up and down stairs several times a day, it looks brand new. The walls are not bright blue like that. The flash made them look very off.

Truer shot of the Wythe Blue on the walls. I chose this runner because you can see it has touches of blue in it.
Patterned runners are great when you have dogs!

my3dogs I LOVE your front door! & that runner looks great :)

oceanna I've thought of putting a runner on my stairs, but I wouldn't want carpet on the back stairs, for practical reasons, & the front steps are a little on the steep & narrow side - I actually would be nervous having carpeting there, for safety issues.

The paint actually holds up very well - I have no idea how old the paint on the back steps is, & I've been doing a lot of messy work on the stairwell & not protecting them, because I know that painting them is right around the corner. When I repainted the front steps I used a floor paint, & it's very sturdy. Of course, now that I've reconfigured the LR & repainted & the foyer is gone, I need to repaint the stairs again because the color no longer works.

It NEVER ends lol!

Daisy ~~ then you must love your new floors. I sure do love mine! :) I just checked with another guy this morning on using that same wood to do my stairs, and that would include putting a bullnose on each step, and he wanted $50/step, which would bring it to $650. Ow.

Lynn ~~ thanks! The boards are 5" wide and they vary in length. I hope you can find a good deal on your floor. Try CL. That's where I got my deal. The fellow had installed these floors in some new homes and there were a lot of leftover boxes. He bought them from the builder cheap, then passed on some of the savings to me. New home construction is dropping, so maybe you'd better hurry if you're looking for someone like that in your area. Keep us posted! Oh, and try CL on the rug, too. See that rug under my DR table? $50! I just love it and it's in "like new" condition.

My3dogs ~~ wow, that's beautiful! I would be SO happy if my steps looked like that. Yes, that pattern should be very good about not showing things. How wide is that runner? My stairs are 36" wide and if I could find a wide runner, maybe I could just paint the stairs. I need to see what the wood looks like under there. Where do I find such a runner? Box store? Carpet store? Online?

How much is reasonable to pay for a runner?

oceanna, That Karastan runner is 30 1/2 inches wide. I live in an old cape and the stairs are probably narrower than those in newer homes. It's 100% wool, and if it's anything like my Karastan rugs, it'll last for 20 years or more, as that is their guarantee. I ordered it locally at a small carpet store.

There are stores around here that sell runners by the foot in nice patterns in polypropylene. I had one for 10 years before installing this one. I Googled it and found several sites. This one has quite a selection and wide price range.

Here is a link that might be useful: poly runners by the foot

my3dogs, is that a Britany you have? I have 2 of my own and boy do they tear around the house. I just had new 5 inch quartersawn white oak installed in my addition and had the old pine floors refinished and we desparately need to get some rugs in and a runner up the stairs. This thread has been most helpful.

Yes, donna, that is one of the three Brittanys! We always had one when I was growing up, but somehow, I seem to have them in threes. Sam (on the stairs) Joey and Jenny are my second group of three. People who know Brits think I'm nuts, but I love them!

DML3000 & my3dogs - are your stair runners attached to the stairs with rods? I didn't notice them in the photos. Thanks.

Your stairs look lovely. I'm wondering what to eventually do w/ our stairs when we finish our flooring project and this was what I was considering since leaving our steep stairs w/ wood only seems like an accident waiting to happen.

Thanks for the neat link, My3dogs. Loved your pretty dog, btw. :-) Your Karastan runner is just breathtaking.

Have any of you installed your own stair runners?

DLM, didn't you fix up your lovely staircase from plain plywood stairs? Or am I remembering incorrectly?

I'm curious about the stair rods too. We don't need them? They can easily double the price of putting in a runner, looks to me. I see neither of you two have them. How come the staples don't show?

Moonkat, thanks about the paint being durable. No, it never ends! But I'm sure your place is looking better and bettter. Floor paint... hmmmm... I'll have to check into that.

For safety sake, they say that carpet or runner is safer than bare stairs... especially in your socks. But they give more traction. So I don't understand your comment about wanting it not carpeted for safety.

oceanna, you know, I've been thinking about that ever since I posted it. I've had it in my head that carpet would be to easy to slip on, & I wonder if it's because, before I painted this last time, I sprinkled some glitter on the edges of the stairs & it really gave some grip to slippery socks. (Please, don't ask about the glitter lol. I will readily admit that, yes, it was indeed me who did that :D ) & the paint on the back steps is so old that they're not very slippery either.

But I HAVE slipped on the front steps since I repainted!

I'll have to start conisdering carpet for them, as well. hmmmmmmmmm

Isn't it funny what we get in our minds for some oddball reason & then, forevermore, think of it as true?

Am I following along correctly? It sounds as if the price of a "wow" runner and having wood stairs installed are fairly close? Carpet $300, "wow" carpet an additional $200-300, wood $650? I would shop around to see what "floors" me, sorry, and factor in the price vs long-term enjoyment. my3dogs-beautiful runner! Makes me want to rip out my own off white berber. Mine suffers from stains- no runs, but it has received more than its fair share of abuse, previous owners had many, many poorly cared for dogs.

Ooops, forgot- Your floors look rich and warm and I love the chest next to your DR table too!

Moonkat ~~ love it with the glitter! I used to sprinkle glitter on my patio and up my front stairs. Why? Bring a little magic into the house. :-) You can buy a fine sand meant to go into paint to give foot-grip, wherever you buy your paint. But that way the sand would be on the risers as well as the steps. (shrug) One thing, and I don't know your design style, is you can get braided rug treads that just sit on the stairs. I think it's socks on hard stairs that are the most dangerous. I'm hashing what to do with these stairs every which-way in my mind. Looks like prepping the stairs for painting is a mega-job, including removing a kazillion staples and buying a fortune in sandpaper. sigh. I want to twinkle my nose like Samantha or cross my arms like Genie. Outside of that, painting the stairs is certainly the economical way to go. Painted stairs are not very impressive in and of themselves, though, are they?

Furletcity, carpet costs vary greatly, depending on what yu choose and who to install. Same with having them done in wood, really, though the carpet can be quite a bit cheaper than wood. Having them coated with pretty wood is very pricey. Then you'd have the runner cost on top of that. I dunno. The more I learn, the more confused and frustrated I get.

My runner has no rods. I had it installed by the store I bought it through, and it's there to stay. It hasn't moved a millimeter, despite being the occasional canine race track.

The previous poly runner I had was installed by a big box store. It started to come undone shortly after and I had to tack it down frequently. Get a reputable pro to do it.

My3, I'm glad your current one has stayed put. It is just gorgeous.

I went to a carpet remnants store today. I fell in love with a color\-patterned rug. The main color is green. It's hard to describe it. I'm getting it installed wall\-to\-wall on the stairs on Friday morning. The means I won't have to fuss with all those staples and sanding. I think I'm going to positively love it. I'm hoping there's enough left over to get bound for a little rug for the landing, or that will be my next quest. The cost is very close to what it would have cost me to go with a boring beige with the warehouse gal I met the other day. But I think the impact is going to be way better. I hope so. I'm excited! I'll post pics after the install. :\-)

Hey! I did respond to oceanna and kim on Saturday - what happened??

No you don't need stair rods. The staples don't show at all - they are tucked under the nosing and buried where the tread and riser meet. My stairs are original to the house - someone else must have had the plywood.