Help! We've had a brand new staircase put in and I would like to paint it all white with the exception of the treads and the handrail. The painting part I can do but when it comes to the treads and handrail I'm very nervous - because it's all new I just don't want to ruin it!
I've looked around at stains, dyes, oils, varnishes, waxes and all sorts of other things and to be honest, I'm just completely confused!
The end goal is for them to look nice and not wear too quickly (there will be a runner on the stairs one day, but that's definitely a while away so for now, they'll be used with no carpet).
I'm looking for a colour that is similar to our floors and I've done test patches on the underside of the stairs with dyes and oils so far... the dye seemed to come out very patchy but that could have been me applying it poorly! I'm even finding the colour matching difficult because the lighting is different. Small pots of stain don't seem to exist either and where they do they're fairly expensive and I also don't want to shed out lots of money on stains that I might not like!
My other concern is that the stairs are pine and whilst I like to see the grain, I want the finish to be as even as possible... this also adds to my colour choice confusion and as I think the pine will affect the final look of the stairs?
So I guess my questions are:
What would people reccommend? A stain, a dye, oil, straight in with a coloured varnish, a stain and then varnish, a stain and wax?
And secondly, can anyone recommend a colour that they've used that has come out quite well? I've attached a picture is the stairs and our floors for reference.
I'm very confused so any help at all would be appreciated!!
Many thanks
