We could do something with a bit more pizazz like so

Here is a link that might be useful: [Runner with muted pattern[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/entry-victorian-entry-atlanta-phvw-vp~97901)

Or something more structural like so

Here is a link that might be useful: [patterned runner[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/pie-step-stair-runner-installation-traditional-staircase-new-york-phvw-vp~913955)

The stairs are located at the front of our colonial style house, right off of the front entry. I am lost on knowing what would be the right thing to do!. Any guidelines I need to be following? And suggestions?

Hi Kellienoelle,

We've seen your beautiful kitchen. All three examples of runners that you've shared with us could work with the style of your kitchen, with perhaps #1 and #2 the best style match. But I would worry about sisal rugs with dog fur and claws. I'm thinking a wool runner could be spot cleaned more easily than sisal/jute.

Seeing your entry and the rooms that flank your entry would help us with the carpet runner advice.

Can you post pics of the area and the nearby rooms, so we can take their look into consideration?

I have three dogs, and I put a wool Karastan runner on my my stairs. I'd be concerned about the sisal possibly hooking their claws, as well as the hair factor.

Kellie I live in a center entrance colonial too, and we put a runner in years ago for the same reason. Since you can see into our living room and dining room while also seeing the stairs, I didn't want to make that a focal point. My thinking was to get something textural and interesting up close but not featured over the other rooms. To have total control, I picked carpet and had it bound for the runner. It has worn like iron - I'm seriously thinking about replacing the padding on the treads and re-installing the same runner but we're looking at moving and my DH thinks I'm nuts! Probably not worth the money.

I wouldn't use a true sisal - it would not install well over the treads and I doubt it would wear well.

I'm a huge fan of sisal. Ours is a wool blend. We have it as a runner on our stairs, in all bedrooms, and in my office. It is the only carpet we have anywhere in our home.

We have a wonderful Golden retriever. We don't really let her upstairs, where the kids and guest bedrooms are, but she is often in our office and MBR and she hasn't had any impact on the sisal.

I would do sisal,and if you wanted add contrating binding or a border

I like the patterned runner due to practicality seeing that you have dogs. What style of furnishings do you have? That would certainly determine what would fit best.

Thank you so much for the ideas and suggestions (and pictures!) I'll add in some photos. We moved here a few months back so everything is a work in progress. As I mentioned earlier, the house is a small 1920 center hall colonial that had been to the studs remodeled a couple years before we purchased so likely doesn't have the features you would want to associate with a 1920 house. My "style" is all over the place. Some may say devoid of style, but we'll just use the term eclectic.

francoise - that kitchen was likely in my last house as I moved after poring over all the details involved in a kitchen remodel! I hated to leave that kitchen, but love my new house for so many other reasons!

my3dogs - the dogs are my primary concern. They are shelties so their fur is endless, both the tumbleweed type and the fuzz from their undercoats. They also have taken to laying on the stairs so they are elevated enough to look out the windows and park at the people passing by (such watch dogs, those two). So maintenance is a huge concern for me!
dlm - I love that idea! I love the pics as well. Our stairs are a bit wider than you would have expected for a 1920's house so having it made would allow me total control....errrr the ability to customize. Our stairs are almost identical and I really like the looks of what you did. Do you know what type of carpet you used?

mtnrdredux - I'll look into sisal as well. As others have mentioned I do have concerns about heir claws hooking into it, but hearing that yours has worn well is reassuring. Although our dogs fly down the stairs....they walk through the house, but fly down the stairs

yayagal - pics are coming....I wish I new how to add more than one to a post, but I don't so will add individually

We'll start with the stairs themselves. Pretty standard....

And from top of stairs looking down

The living room to the left of the entry (with a look at one of the pups for which this is being done)

And the dining room to the right of the entry.

From the back of the dining room looking through to the entry with the living room on the other side

and living room looking across

Kellie - someone else asked me a while back for the carpet info and I couldn't find it then but will check again and let you know if I find it. There are a million options out there. If I were you, I'd focus on something extremely durable with a really tight weave so it doesn't "smile" when it goes over the stairs and the loops are tight enough not to catch dog nails. Our dog does the same thing, flying down the stairs when the bell rings or he sees someone outside and we don't have a single pulled loop on ours. Sisal is wonderful (real sisal I mean) but when you think about the action of how you go UP stairs, your footfall is not flat onto the stair, it has a forward pushing motion that kind of drags a bit across the carpet with increasing force until you have your weight on that foot and bring the other up to the next step. I don't think real sisal will hold up well to that and the fibers will fray. A sisal-like weave in a blend or in wool in whatever color you want is a different matter and could look wonderful, be very durable and blend well with your two adjacent rooms.

I think there may be some need to define sisal. I suspect that the natural sisal is what Francoise was talking about in her post whereas Mtn seems to be talking about a wool rug in a sisal-type weave or pattern which many now just seem to call sisal. It is not. Wool wears much differently than the natural rugs like sisal from the agave plant or coir or seagrass. Correct me if I am wrong, but I do think the term is sometimes used interchangeably when people are speaking of two completely different products. Just thought clarification might help when you are interpreting comments.

I also like the sisal-type wools and am planning to replace the stair carpet and that in the basement library with it when I feel up to moving hundreds of books and the bookshelves to have it done. Ugh. Should have done built-ins.

Hi Kellienoelle,

I've been intrigued by the synthetic sisal that Curran offers. Perhaps this would give you the simple vibe of sisal without the concerns about durability?

I've never purchased from Curran, but love browsing their website which has lots of different kinds of rugs. Perhaps other Gardenwebbers have experiences to share if they have purchased from Curran?

We did have a 100% natural sisal rug under our dining room table back in the 1990s. It was a disaster because you couldn't spot treat it with water since it can't get wet. Plus, you couldn't even very easily dry scrub the stains from the natural fibers.

Here is a link that might be useful: Curran

This is an easy, portable option. They come in several colors and styles, available from different vendors, but here's just one:
http://www.improvementscatalog.com/weave-washable-stair-treads-set-of-4/267927

This post was edited by ruthie51 on Sat, Sep 7, 13 at 14:18

I'm not familiar with sisal...it looks like it could be coarse, but maybe not if its wool. Since the dogs lay on the steps I thing I would go with a subtle pattern (for the hair) and wool for comfort (for doggies joints and won't be hot for them like nylon or poly) and durability.

Thank you for all the suggestions and information! My husband and I are going to head out to a carpet store this afternoon and I think I know what we should look for. A tightly woven textural wool fabric that is similar in look to sisal. Thanks joanie, dlm and cyn for adding your thoughts and experiences because you all addressed many of my concerns. My dogs are "seniors" so I want what we choose to be comfortable enough for them, but look nice enough for me!

ruthie - I had been considering those since the price is right, and had actually found a site to custom order, but my dogs are so quirky that I can just see them trying to walk to the side to avoid "that thing in the middle of the stairs". We had similar to a runner in our last house so think they'll adapt well to it. Plus I must say I like the look of a runner better even though it is much more spendy

francoise - I love that site! I'll be interested to see if anybody has any personal experiences.

Now need to think about what color would be best!

One more question now as I am headed out to look at options....so the entry floor is a dark slate with varied colors of browns and greys. I was leaning toward a medium brown runner, but now fear that this will basically end up being a big dark stripe that you see when you first walk in. Here is the "view" from walking in the front door....you see what I mean? Would a subtle pattern be too busy or help break up the "stripe"

In re sisal, the mfr we used refers to is as "sisal loop", which is apt.

It is not made of sisal, it is a wool blend. We had it in our last house in pure wool and it wore like iron. This time we decided a wool blend, I think we did 70/30, was good enough and cost a little less as I said it is everywhere we dont have stone or wood, a lot of sq ft).

I've linked to the company below.

Btw, I was coming home from the store todayand I went to let the dog out of the back. I noticed that where she travels in the back of our SUV, DH put a carpet remnant. It is this sisal stuff! He probably chose it because it went with her fur, LOL. No loops were pulled, fwiw

Here is a link that might be useful: Sisal-loop wool blends

We purchased 2 sisal rugs from this company. They were wonderful to deal with. Sent samples, were great on the phone answering questions etc.

Both of ours are the same color/binding - one is a standard 8x10 and the other we had custom made to fit the space.

They have wool sisals - I only saw samples - but they were really nice. I felt they were reasonably priced as well - I shopped around.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sisal rug

Hi Kellie,

Julie here.

Just wanted to say to check out the Southside carpet place at 74th and Wornall and see if you can find what you want there. They are able to bind carpeting.

Hope you are enjoying Brookside. I love seeing your furniture in the house.

(And we moved south about a month ago, but I remember touring your house when it was for sale and we were getting ideas for staging ours for sale.)

Sigh - did a bit of looking yesterday and my husband really doesn't like the sisal look, he wants something with a bit of a pattern. I told him that I don't care for the large floral pattern that seems to be the norm for stairs these days so am looking for a compromise. It was also a bit frustrating because the sales person kept trying to steer us to a low cut pile and said that would be fine on stairs. We did find a nice one in Shaw Caress line that had more of a linear textural pattern. I also quite like this one that I found on Houzz (linked below) but didn't see anything similar in the store.

Hello from Brookside Julie! We are loving the new house and neighborhood. We have been to Bella Napoli several times, I recall you saying that it was one of your favorites. We went to Southside yesterday, our first stop. They were going to call us after talking to one of their dealers who carries a wool blend carpet, so we'll see what they come up with.

Here is a link that might be useful: [anybody know where to find a similar runner?[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/fremont-georgian-residence-traditional-staircase-minneapolis-phvw-vp~4577709)

Hi Kellienoelle,

I love the runner you posted from Houzz -- seems like a great choice for your house.

When I was shopping for a runner for our center hall colonial last year we couldn't find any ready made runners we liked.
But we did see many beautiful neutral patterns, like the custom made Houzz runner, in the Merida Meridian and Karastan galleries that could be made into a runner.

Alas, we gave up on the staircase runner project because most of the quotes we got for a custom runner and installation were a bit high for our budget at the time (~ 2,000 dollars).

Here is a link that might be useful: Merida Meridian

Alright, I am going today to a different carpet store to find something to similar to the one I posted earlier. Here is a pic, my husband and I even agree on it (a small miracle). But of course GW gets a vote too, so if going this direction is a design mistake, please let me know! I am hoping that it will look as nice in a space without all of the beautiful architecture and woodwork.

[Traditional Staircase[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-staircase-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_745~s_2107) by Minneapolis Architects & Designers Peterssen/Keller Architecture

Boy, I hope it isn't $2,000. Guess that knocks out 100% wool for me. I can't tell from the pic if it is a loop or a pile. Is there a strong reason to have one over the other?

kellienoelle, thanks for posting this. I have the exact same problem, only my house has two livingrooms on each side of the staircase. It's a nightmare. At the base of the stairs there's ceramic which I want to remove and replace to match wood floors on either side of staircase. I love the picture posted above and will look for something like that.
I thought of sisal but I was told that it can get slippery overtime.

I just wanted to add a few slightly more functional notes, because I have had stair runners for a long time and have a dog that runs up the stairs. You will get the most wear on the leading edge of the first and last steps. The treads themselves are usually okay.

Wool in a very tight loop will wear best but can be very pricey. Having a runner bound from broadloom can start to add up, btw, due to the binding/serging costs. Keep an open mind and check out the remnants, with an eye towards the best crush/wear warranty. Keep in mind commercial grades come in some lovely patterns and colors as well.

Zen- I'll keep you posted on what I pick, we have about 10 carpet swatches ordered that we should get by the end of the week, from wool to nylon. We'll see what "speaks to me". Who am I kidding, I will be picking my favorites and posting here for help. I almost hate having an "inspiration" picture because it is so difficult to replicate. I did find myself selecting the diamond shape pattern a lot. And truth be told, even if I found that exact carpet, it wouldn't look nearly as nice in my much more modest home.

Gooster - commercial grade is an interesting idea. You know that it will certainly wear well! If none of these samples work, or if the price is too much I'll certainly go down this path.