Stair Riser Approaches With Style

The useful part is the sizing, the storage, and what still worked after the first month. The house is single level living except for a room above the garage that we use as an office (and to be honest, several boxes of stuff that have yet to find a home since our move ). You access that room via stairs behind a pocket door off of our entryway and let me tell you… those stairs are super sorry looking. They're covered with old, stained carpet and are on the ever-growing list of things we need to make-over!

Since the staircase is hidden behind a pocket door, it's the perfect opportunity to have some fun and do something a little different than I might for a main staircase. Today I'm sharing five stair riser approaches for creating stairs worth staring at. (post includes commissionable links; for more information, see my full disclosure statement {here})

Wallpapered Stair Risers

One of the stair riser approaches A strong choice is most is to cover them with wallpaper. You could make your stairs uniform with a single pattern of wallpaper like they did in this Serena & Lily store:

or mix things up by using several different wallpaper patterns like they did with these fun wallpapered stairs:

It's such a fun stairway, isn't it?!

If you're not comfortable using traditional pasted wallpaper, consider peel and stick wallpaper like this colorful mix from Spoonflower (you can shop their peel & stick wallpapers {here}):

If you're mixing multiple patterns, the key is to pick 1-2 consistent colors that tie them all together (you'll notice that there's blue and/or yellow in every pattern on the above staircase). If you've wallpapered several rooms in your home, it would be a fun way to put your wallpaper remnants to use!

Want other approaches for using wallpaper in your home? Look at my post on wallpaper approaches!

Stenciled Stair Risers

Another stair riser idea that can give you a similar look is adding pattern with stencils such as {this stencil that gives you the look of tile}:

or {this Tuscan tile stencil}:

One of the advantages of using stenciled stair risers instead of wallpaper is that you can choose your exact colors, customizing them to the color palette and decor of your home.

If you're thinking that having to crouch down to create stenciled stair risers might be a back breaker, Royal Design Studio came up with a genius solution! You can cut {this adhesive-backed canvas} to fit your stair risers, stencil your design onto the canvas, peel off the backing, and place them on your stair risers. Not only is it easier to stencil this way, but the peel & stick canvas is removable so you can easily remove or swap out your stair riser design whenever you're ready for a change. It's a DIY project that I'd love to try!

Painted Stair Risers

A third stair riser idea is to paint your stair risers a color rather than having standard white risers. You could paint just your risers or the entire staircase, including the treads too. A strong choice is what my friend Lisa of Shine Your Light did using paint on the stairs leading from her garage into her home:

Such a cute idea! And all it took was some primer, paint, & painter's tape!

Stair Runner

I looove the look of a stair runner installed on wood stairs. And having a runner gives you better traction on the stair treads than bare wood treads which is especially important if you have kids or pets. Some of the preferred stair runners are Dash & Albert runners such as {this indigo herringbone runner},

{this ticking stripe runner},

{this navy geometric patterned stair runner},

{this blue diamond runner},

and {this green stripe runner}:

I'm not sure what's lurking below the carpet on the stairs up to our office but A strong choice is how they painted the staircase white before adding the runner in the above inspiration pic. It would be a great solution for stairs that are in poor shape.

Vinyl Stair Risers

If you've seen my post on vinyl wall decals in our laundry room, you know that decals can be used to mimic the look of wallpaper. Plus they have the added benefits of being easier & faster to apply and remove. You don't have to limit your use of vinyl decals to walls – why not use them to create decorative stair risers too!

Etsy is a great place to shop for these – there are tons of options! A few of my favorites are {these chevron stair risers},

{these tile-like patterned stair risers} that look like mosaic tiles,

and {these cane pattern stair risers} that can be ordered in over 50 color options:

There are a TON of peel and stick stair riser options so whether your style is farmhouse, coastal, boho, or classic, you'll have plenty of options to choose from.

So now that you've seen all five stair riser approaches, which one is your kept?