in search of a stair runner
in my house, we fall down the stairs a lot. and it sucks.
having never lived in a house with uncarpeted wooden stairs, i had no idea why people had those funny little mini-rugs on each tread, or long oriental runners. i thought they were decorative, and silly, not to mention hard to clean. then shortly after we moved into our house, with it’s beautiful new bare wooden stairs, i fell down. i thought it was the floor cleaner i had been using, so i switched brands. a few weeks later it happened again. well, i said, we just shouldn’t run in our socks, we have to be more careful. so we acquired some slipper socks (not joking). clearly, i was in denial. we need stair runners.
two painful years later, i am having someone come out to measure for stair runners this afternoon! if you’ve been following me on pinterest, you may have noticed some runner options and inspiration popping up. i’ve long loved these rugs from dash and albert, and the indoor/outdoor material should be great for the basement stairs, which run down to our back door. i’ll probably do the same for the other set of stairs, just for continuity, since our house is quite small.
Source: dashandalbert.com via courtney on Pinterest
here’s my most favorite inspiration image, lately.
Source: ariannabelle.com via courtney on Pinterest
can you handle how good that is? i can’t. unfortunately, i might have to do something a little more neutral, A) because this isn’t our forever home, and B) because of budget. basically, i want the most durable thing in america, and i want it cheap. we’ll see what the carpet guy has to show me!
oh, and if you’re wondering if i’ve investigated DIY options, the answer is of course, yes. laying a runner on straight stairs seems pretty, well, straight-forward. however, both of my stairs have landings, and one turns and then widens to about 4 feet at the bottom. sounds fancy, eh? it’s not.
my mom found these instructions for me (thanks mom!), and after i reread them about 7 times i understood them. but they’re still kind of scary.
what do you think? anyone else a stair runner believer? would you be brave enough to DIY?
Posted: February 16th, 2012 under Uncategorized.