Updating Stair Treads and Risers is such a high impact way to transform your space. I almost couldn’t believe how different our stairs looked! The best part is that it’s a fairly simple process that packs a huge punch.
Have you ever walked up your stairs and felt like they were desperately in need of a makeover? Well, you’re definitely not alone! As we’ve been updating our home, updating stair treads and risers was a project I knew I wanted to tackle, but I kept putting it off. We’d never done any stair projects before! Once we started though, I was surprised by how this project came together!
I knew what I was looking for when I started this project. I pictured black risers with light wood treads. The process of getting the perfect wood color was an adventure, for sure! But when I finally got the perfect color, it was time to create the staircase of my dreams. And this project definitely transformed the space! I love the way it turned out, and it was a project that anyone can do who’s willing to put in the time and work.
How to Update Stair Treads and Risers
- Your first step is going to be getting your wood prepared. If you’re not keeping the existing risers and stair treads (ours were just cheap particle board that had been covered with carpet), you’re going to need new risers and stair treads. I bought unfinished risers and treads from Lowe’s. I decided to paint my risers black and went with a light wood paintwash for my treads. After I did three coats of paint and paintwash, I then sealed all my boards with several coats of polycrylic.
- Next, you’ll need to remove your old treads and risers. Most of the time, they’ll be glued with a few screws, so just a little muscle and you’ll be able to get them off.
- Now you need to measure your stair treads. This is much easier with a stair tread template because your walls will not be square. You could also use paper or another method, but we loved using our template.
- Line up your template to your stair tread, then measure. You’ll want to measure twice and cut once! Cut your wood down, lining your mark up with the edge of your blade instead of the center. If you center it, your treads will be short. Make sure to keep in mind which stair tread goes on which step. It’s likely they won’t match perfectly.
- Add glue to your stairs. You’ll want to use quite a bit! Be sure to get all the edges where the treads will touch the stairs.
- Place your treads on the stairs, securing with 3 screws, through to the stringers underneath.
- I painted my risers black. My risers were pre-sanded and primed, so this was very easy to do.
- Now it’s time to get the risers on. We used little pieces of backer board behind the risers so that our risers would cover the holes from the screws that we used to secure the treads. If your holes are far enough back, or if you don’t mind filling in and staining all the holes, you could add your riser directly to the stairs.
- We used the same template tool to measure the length of the risers. Be sure you are cutting the risers the same way that you did the tread, lining the blade up with the edge of your measurement to ensure that you have the correct measurement.
- Attach the risers with a little glue, and nails. I didn’t mind filling the nail holes and repainting because it’s easier than staining wood filler.
- When your risers are on, your stairs are done!
Tips and Tricks
- DIY projects are always about learning! You pivot when something comes up. We weren’t planning on adding the backer board, but needed to cover the holes, so we pivoted. This always happens with a DIY project. Don’t worry about it!
- I highly suggest grabbing yourself a stair tread template tool. This made everything so much easier and we were able to get through all our cuts without needing to buy more wood because of bad cuts!
How do you modernize your stairs?
I think that this project is perfect for modernizing your stairs! Even just removing your carpet takes it up a step. Adding a high contrast riser like black and a light wood tread is a great way to add a modern touch to your stairs. These small projects can make a huge difference.
Can you put new stair treads over old treads?
I think there are specific products made to do this, but I have never used them. This was our first stair project and we were going from carpet with particle board stairs underneath, so we needed to do all our treads from scratch. It wasn’t too hard to pull up the wood that was under our carpet, and it was fun to completely transform the space.
There you have it! Updating stair treads and risers really is a very doable DIY project. If you decided to update your stairs, we’d love to see how it turns out! If you have carpet to remove first like we did, you might find this post to be helpful! Be sure to use #howwedoandyoucantoo on Instagram so we can see your beautiful space. And check out this one-minute video of the entire stair transformation from start to finish!
