Alternative to carpeting for stairs?

RainbowsInTheSpray

I'm looking to update and give a fresh look to many parts of my house and this one is proving a headache.

I've always used carpeting to cover the front hall floor and then up the stairs and across the first floor landing. Not long ago we decided to have tiling instead on the hall floor and this is now in place... but the stairs and landing now look all the more tired and dated by comparison.

Replacing with new carpet apart, what if any alternatives are there to consider..? Any suggestions gratefully received!

TELLIT01

If the wood is good enough you could stain the stairs and the landing floor.  I don't know if that would potentially make the stairs too slippery.  You may need anti-slip edging which may look a bit industrial.  If you have attached neighbours they may not be too happy with the noise from uncarpeted stairs.

Ebe_Scrooge

Assuming the wood is OK, you could sand it off and either paint, stain or varnish it.

Do consider the safety aspect though.  Plain wood can be slippery, especially if you're just wearing socks.  This may not be an issue for you, but it's an important consideration if there are either small children or elderly people in the household.  Slipping and falling down a whole flight of stairs can cause some pretty nasty injuries.

Brie

To get around the slippery wood you could get it all prepped, put on one layer of varnish and then sprinkle some sharp sand on the steps before the varnish dries.  Then apply a second layer of varnish to make it easier on your bare feet.

FaceHead

A runner is a nice (I think) transition from carpet at one end of the stairs to hard floor at the other. 

It's also the maximum effort option: you need to prepare the stairs, as they are half on show, and still have a strip of carpet put down them. It does however mean the stairs don't have to be prepared beautifully.

Runners with a patten can lead to an inordinate amount of waste to get the pattern to match up. 

Chickereeeee

Bare wooden stairs can be incredibly noisy!

DRP

+1 for a runner, can be done in a modern or period style depending on your house. 

Slinky

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Slipping and falling down a whole flight of stairs can cause some pretty nasty injuries.

Cracked skull, bleed on the brain and two cracked vertabrae in my case. To be fair I didn't slip ON the stairs, but fell down uncarpeted ones in the dark. Broke a stair tread out of the staircase too.....

Ebe_Scrooge

Slinky said:

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Slipping and falling down a whole flight of stairs can cause some pretty nasty injuries.

Cracked skull, bleed on the brain and two cracked vertabrae in my case.

Ouch !!! :-(   Did you survive?

Joking apart, it really is a serious consideration if the OP is considering any sort of surface that is at all slippery.  Some good suggestions have already been put forwards.

I do like the runner idea.  Years ago we rented a beautiful old house that had stair runners.  The house was very old (the old Vicarage), and the runner kind of worked well with the look of the house.  Maybe it would look out of place in a modern house, I don't know?  But it's certainly an option.

GaleSF63

Put in "carpet stair treads" in Google and look at Google Images. See if there are any ideas that appeal to you there. Carpet just on the tread looks completely different and not as heavy as full carpet but you are still walking on carpet. 

Bendy_House

Some of these look really good, Gale.

There's also Dohump - stick-on non-slip pads.