Adding color to your space via paint is hands down one of our favorite ways to transform any environment. Painting a staircase is a budget-friendly, approachable DIY project that can instantly add some fun to your home. We’ve partnered with Sherwin-Williams® to show you eight ways to paint your staircase that are guaranteed to breathe new life into your space. Using bright colors and some imagination, we’ve revamped one staircase eight different ways here at the B+C headquarters!
*Pro Tip*: If you are a renter, you can still accomplish these looks without putting your deposit at risk. Just measure the height and width of each stair panel and get thin plywood panels cut to size. Add small strips of removable adhesive to the cut wood panels and to the original panels of your staircase, and pop into place. Now you have a blank canvas on which you can paint however you please. For these projects, we used one staircase with MFD boards to complete each look.
SOLID POP OF COLOR
To pick the color for this look, we took one of our favorite photos and used the Sherwin-Williams ColorSnap Visualizer® app. The app helps you create a color palette from your own photos by capturing hues from the photo and matching them to Sherwin-Williams paint colors. Here’s how it works: Simply upload the photo of your choice, and the ColorSnap Visualizer app will automatically create a color palette for you. You can then customize the palette to your liking by moving the color bubbles around.
A pop of color instantly adds timeless charm to any home and is so easy to achieve. All you have to do is tape off neighboring surfaces that are in contact with what you are going to paint: along the base of the panel, the side walls, and the top stair lip. We painted these panels with Youthful Coral SW 6604.
HORIZONTAL STRIPES
This is a simple design that can be created with our string and level technique. Like with the solid pop of color above, tape off neighboring areas and paint. Create a horizontal line and paint the bottom half of the panel. Once it dries, move the tape and paint the top half. We went with Gusto Gold SW 6904 and High Reflective White SW 7757.
FAUX RUNNER
Enjoy the style of a stair runner without the upkeep of vacuuming it with this faux runner design. Start by taping off neighboring surfaces and tape off the section for your first color — we worked from the outside edges in. Use a level, a straight edge, and painter’s tape to create your vertical lines. Our paint color of choice Fun Yellow SW 6908. Patience is key here; make sure the paint has completely dried before moving onto the next stripe. Once it’s dry, remove the tape and place new tape on the edge of the fun yellow stripe. Repeat the steps for the remaining colors you’ve chosen. We went with Azalea Flower SW 6576 and High Reflective White SW 7757.
GRID STYLE
Achieving this trendy grid look is much easier than it seems. Begin by painting a base color, such as High Reflective White SW 7757. Once the paint has dried, tape a horizontal line in the center panel of each stair. Next, add evenly spaced vertical lines of tape along the length of the panel, and paint over them with Mythical SW 6550, or your paint color of choice. After the paint is dry, remove the tape, which we found oddly satisfying.
COLOR BLOCK GRADIENT
Although this design looks like it's multiple paint colors, it’s actually made by gradually mixing just two colors: Honorable Blue SW 6811 and High Reflective White SW 7757. Start your first panel with Honorable Blue and gradually mix in more High Reflective White for the next panels. As you move down to the lighter shades, use less blue and more white paint. It’s best to let each panel dry before moving on to the next to see its truest color.
DIAGONAL COLOR BLOCK
We employed our trusty string and level technique for this diagonal color block. Check out the slideshow tutorial below for the how-to.
VERTICAL RAINBOW STRIPES
For this super fun, bold design, we’ll use a similar taping technique as we did for the faux runner stripe to achieve clean vertical lines. Tape off and paint one color at a time, allowing time for the color to dry before moving on to the next color. We mixed warm and cool colors for this: Youthful Coral SW 6604, Gusto Gold SW 6904, Sleepy Blue SW 6225, and Bunglehouse Blue SW 0048.
RANDOMIZED COLOR BLOCK
Similar to the solid pop of color stairs, tape off all neighboring surfaces and paint two coats of each color of paint. The paint colors for this design are Osage Orange SW 6890, Fun Yellow SW 6908, Azalea Flower SW 6576, Honorable Blue SW 6811, BungleHouse Blue SW 0048, Mythical SW 6550, and Real Red SW 6868.
It was so much fun transforming the stairs here at B+C HQ and we can’t wait to see what you do with yours! Share on social and make sure to tag us on Instagram using @Britandco, @SherwinWilliams, and #SWColorLove.
DIY Production + Styling: Kayla Haykin + Cassidy Miller
Photography: Brittany Griffin
This post was empowered by Sherwin-Williams®.
