This process could be a 500 page book. The most boring book ever, but a must-read for design geeks like me. I had never done a stair runner before so I learned so much, but it was a pretty difficult process as you go through so many options and get told ‘no’ over and over again. The progress is as follows.
We stripped the carpet and found the wood floors to be perfectly fine (classic 2 inch fir) and decided to paint rather than replace. wonderful. We have always aimed for stair runners that are intended for comfort, glide and noise reduction. It’s easy? not much. It was much more complicated than it looked. As you can see, our stairs have two different widths. The bottom part is 70.5 inches wide, but then rotates to narrow to 47 inches wide. I wanted to buy a ready-made runner and install it, but it was very troublesome because the width is different.
Idea #1: Make a runner and wide rug with a clean weave
I wasn’t necessarily gradual (that much) affected by this size difference. He bought 3 long runners and thought to buy bigger rugs for her landing and wide first 3 steps. Cut the larger rug and have them tie it up. I needed at least 9ft long and the rug I wanted wasn’t 6ft x 9ft so I thought I would order an 8ft x 10ft and cut it to 4ft x 10ft. I was going to run straight to the landing steps and stop when the runners started climbing the second step (does that make sense??). wonderful. I ordered a rug and called to have it cut and stitched. As soon as I started making phone calls, I got a backlash about the rug I had chosen and was told it was “what decorators want to do” but the installer wouldn’t do it because it wouldn’t last as a stair runner. I was admittedly frustrated by mansplaining, but I also like to take expert advice. I sent pictures and videos of the rug to see how it was woven, but they said it was too loose and that if I pushed it down too hard, the stripes would become unstable. These seemed like valid points. Of course, they wanted us to go down the commercial path, which I wasn’t against, but I wasn’t inspired by. I wanted a cute rug!
Idea #2: Handwoven rug (not woven) runner + rug combination
I still wanted to work with Rejuvenation and thought maybe their more tied and hand woven Persian rugs would work.i had one on hand I went out of the pantry and saw them on the stairs. It was beautiful, but they didn’t sell 3’x5″ or 4’x6″ rugs, so I had to cut down another larger rug. Also, these patterns are much more difficult to cut and paste than border and field patterns.
Idea #3: Enkei, textured solids
Around the same time, Enkei our family room rug It looked so great that I wondered if I would use it on the stairs. They sold runners that worked (I thought they did), but again required a larger rug to be trimmed down to fit the large landing. I put a sample on the stairs and it was beautiful, soothing, with a wide variety of colors and soft. But again, I ran into the same problem as soon as I started making calls (too loose). Also, the binding is self-bonding (with the same yarn as the rug) so it doesn’t match. I could rebind them all (including runners) to match the bindings, but this is getting complicated.
Idea #4: Vintage Persian rug
I didn’t want this rug to be flashy or patterned, but of course I love vintage/antique Persian rugs. Well, I thought I’d collect some vintage Persian rugs and put them together. The reason I didn’t explore this long enough is that I found it virtually impossible to find 5 that looked good together (3 runners and 2 landing lugs). Otherwise, he’ll end up spending $15,000. I am very picky about vintage/antique rugs and prefer muted rugs. I also didn’t want it to look like a carpet showroom. If this isn’t done perfectly, that’s what happens. Another problem is that vintage runners are not all the same width and are usually off by a few inches. Some rugs were cut in odd positions, or the pattern of the field was sometimes cut without a border. All of this may be fine, but it felt like it would take months, or even years, to gather the right stuff. Tens of thousands get what I want, troubleshoot the installation and I run the risk of it not looking good. If I had infinite budget and time, I probably would have done this, but it would have taken far too much money and time to do what I wanted to do. I could have bought a lot and shaved and dyed them to match, but was it worth it? The idea is no longer valid.
Idea #5: Wall to Wall Bound Carpet – IE Commercial/Residential Grade
We finally started to give up on cute rugs and went to a carpet store in town. I was really impressed with the many options and took some samples home with me. The carpet itself was fine although I didn’t like it as much as the other options above. A salesman came to take measurements, and I ran into the problem of where to stop the carpet on the landing. I had assumed that the lower carpet would essentially meet the bottom stair of the landing. A very experienced salesman said he had never done it before and advised, “It’s just done differently.” Folks, I love to hear from experts, people who have been repeating one thing for 20 years. We don’t often share the same style, but their expertise is invaluable. At that meeting, we finally got a quote for the light blue binding option and decided to have the carpet in order up the stairs. are you OK.
The estimate was around $5,000, which not only felt high, but more importantly, I wasn’t thrilled with it. I spent hours searching the internet for stair runners that I liked, but most of the stair runners that I liked weren’t tied with a wall-to-wall carpet. Or at least it didn’t look like it. It didn’t have to be flashy, but we didn’t want it to look like a commercial space. When I told Brian about this, he supported me and said, “Do whatever you want, do whatever makes you the most beautiful and happiest.” Right now, I don’t want to go for something that I’ll have to replace in five years, but I feel like I could go for a clean rug that lasts 10 years (reasonable for a carpet, right?).
i contacted the contact Annie Serke They then sent in their choices and asked what they thought would be the longest lifespan for a stair-runner. She sent me back these two options of hers.
Maltese navy handwoven wool rug | Denim check handwoven cotton rug
Idea #5: Winner!!! Tight Weave Runner + Bound Rug
These felt durable and stiff when I tried to stretch them.Anything could work, but in the end I chose this one This one. we partnered with Annie Serke I ordered 3 2.5′ x 8′ runners and 2 3′ x 5′ rugs. We finally decided that it was enough for him to be 6 inches wider than the narrow staircase on the landing. Therefore, two 3×5 rugs are enough. If you paid full price for this, the rug itself would cost him $1,058. Keep that in mind when adding effort…
bind time
After several “no” and “impossible” tasks to bundle the rugs, Gretchen found a guy who not only did it, but documented everything. He had to match the pattern and ideally make it look seamless. Wahoo! This cost him $180 and was completed in a few days by great people. Raibert’s. He also suggested having the carpet pad cut to lay underneath it, which cost an additional $165. So at this point he has spent $345.
Preparing for installation
I finally found a team of installers to install this carpet (they had previously said no to woven carpet). They found it solid and durable enough. They had to troubleshoot a bit (we started out at the top so the gap didn’t bother us) but they were very professional and made it look good. They laid the carpet padding down (not on the treads, only on the treads) and began neatly stapling. It matched the stripes on the long stairs. Wahoo. The installation took him 4 hours and cost him $600.
then they added stair stick, with a cute little finial (no real function, but very nice and decorative looking to keep it from looking like a stitched carpet). I noticed that I was missing two of the 36″ ones I currently ordered from Rejuvenation. I chose black so as not to be too flashy (rejuvenation All metal finishes are different), but brass can be very beautiful too.
The Reveal
I love the result and am much happier than if I had made a commercial carpet. We took a 3′ x 5′ runner that bounced (so a 3′ x 10′ runner) and decided to put a gap in the landing in front of the riser and straighten it back out. I really like this look, even though it’s not “standard”. If that makes sense and the look we were going for, I think it would just look like a stair rug instead of commercial carpet. We love listening to experts, but they are often stuck in their usual ways. I personally think that rethinking the perspective yields something more interesting.
I also want to acknowledge that this process took a lot of my (and my team’s) time. If I had burdened myself (or had a designer), I knew that troubleshooting these things to do “something interesting” could cost me thousands of dollars in time. So we know how and why a contractor or designer can bring in a carpet rep with a sample and finish it in one appointment. I’m glad I went this route and thought it would be helpful for people at home trying to do something similar, but it certainly took a while. many I don’t have enough time to troubleshoot, but many people don’t.
It is very firm and non-slip even when walking on stairs. This is probably due to the staples and the non-slip carpet pads, but if I had to guess, I’d say this will last for years. It is also dark and very forgiving. The carpet itself is wool so it doesn’t have such a soft texture, but I knew that when I got inside and it’s still very soft. Even though wearing shoes inside the house is prohibited, we also know that sometimes children forget. So I love this first line of defense before the kids get to the landing (it has light patterns on it) and the light carpet in the bedroom (which is really scary).
how much was it
So $1,058 for rugs, $180 for bindings, $165 for carpet pads, $600 for installation. So, in total, it will be about 20,000 yen. Much cheaper than his $5,000 quote for a product I wasn’t too interested in. If I were to do this again, I would skip all troubleshooting ideas and choose a very tight woven or handwoven rug/runner combination, have them tied up (as needed – gaps can be hit on risers and work, but ours could be hit on landings, so had to be tied), and call a small personal installer who isn’t trying to make money selling commercial carpet. The landing was weird, but most people have all the stairs the same width, which makes troubleshooting a lot easier. Also, I want to be clear that there is nothing wrong with commercial grade bound carpet, what I don’t really like is the ‘turns’ in the stairs that follow too perfectly and can end up looking very corporate (personal opinion). I like the simplicity that makes it look like a stair rug instead of a pretentious design installation if it makes sense.
Thank you for coming to my one-woman show on Stairrunner. If you have other insights about others, please leave them in the comments. I’ve only been once, so I only have information based on my personal experience in Portland. xx
Means:
Lag: Annie Serke
Stair Color: Smokey Blue sherwin williams
wallpaper: nordic wallpaper
Wall and Trim Color: Extra White sherwin william
Picture light: rejuvenation
All hardware: rejuvenation
Wood Floors: Oregon White Oak Zena Flooring
*Photo provider Kaitlyn Green
