How to stain timber stairs?

georginabower

Hi there, I am sending my stairs back because they were painted this gross grey colour when we moved in. I am wondering what I should use to stain them to be a similar tone to the flooring that we have already. It doesn’t have to exactly match, I actually like what the stairs are but it doesn’t quite look cohesive enough. I’m a stay at home mum and have no idea what I am doing 😂

EricL

Hello @georginabower 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. it's sensational to have you join us and thanks for sharing your question about staining your stairs.

You've done an excellent job of sanding; from my perspective your floor and the timber steps are very close in colour tone. If you were to place Cabot's 4L Clear Water Based CFP Floor Satin you might get a very close match. Please note that getting an exact colour match with your floor is not possible as it has faded away from its original finish. The best you can hope for is a close match in colour tone.

However, it might be totally different, and the timber tone is not even close. This is why photographs can't be used as a colour reference as they don't represent the actual colour accurately. I suggest going to your local store and having a look at the clear sealers along with the stain and varnish sample board. This will give you a much better idea of what the stain and sealers look like when applied to timber.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric