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Painting and Staining Pine Stair Treads

February 9, 2023Uncategorized

Staining pine stair treads can be tricky, this paint + stain combo will show you how you can make pine stairs beautiful on a budget.

The second step of this staircase makeover is staining pine stair treads. If you’ve successfully removed the carpet from your staircase and uncovered a pine staircase, you might feel discouraged as pine can be hard to work with when staining. This tutorial will give you an easy way to get the wood stain look you want even on a pine stair tread.

Read First: How to Remove Carpet from Stairs

Staining pine stair treads can be tricky, this paint + stain combo will show you how you can make pine stairs beautiful on a budget.

How to Prep a Pine Staircase for Staining

The first step to staining a pine staircase is prep. This is such an important one though quite annoying.

Do this by filling in any cracks or dents or staple holes with wood filler. Be sure to buy one that is paintable and stainable as you don’t want to wood filler to show through your work when finished.

Once all of the holes have been filled, get to work with the sander. Sanding this pine down is going to be essential to getting a nice, smooth finish on your stair treads.

When sanding, begin with a coarse grit sandpaper like 60 or 80 grit. Then, work up to 120 grit, and finally to 180 or 220 grit. This will take some time to go through the three levels of sanding but after each time you will see how nice and smooth the pine is. This will help with an even application of your paint and stain, and will also make the treads nice to walk on.

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What you need for staining pine stair treads:

I add an extra step which is painting my staircase prior to adding the stain. This isn’t a necessary step but it’s how I completed my staircase so I’ll walk you through that process and explain why.

Paint the Pine Staircase Before Staining

  • orbital sander or sandpaper blocks (80, 120 and 180)
  • wood filler
  • Benjamin Moore paint in ‘Brown Tar’
  • Varathane Gel Stain in ‘Dark Walnut’
  • Stain brush
  • Rag
  • Paintbrush
  • face mask
  • fan
  • gloves

Pine is a soft and porous wood that pulls very orange when stained. Before going with the paint and stain method, I tried a pre-stain wood conditioner with the gel stain over the top.

Even after two coats with this method, the wood still pulled very orange and didn’t have the exact walnut color that I was attempting to create.

Gel stain on pine stair tread even after treated with pre-stain wood conditioner

In order to get rid of the orange undertone, I first painted all of the treads in ‘brown tar’ by Benjamin Moore. Did you know you can use gel stain over paint like this? Only gel stain which is oil based will work over the paint, a water-based stain won’t have the same outcome.

Sampling different brown paints under the gel stain. ‘Brown Tar’ is in the middle.

Staining Pine Stair Treads

Once the pine stair treads are painted they are ready for gel stain.

*Gel stain has very strong fumes and is not good to breathe in. Use a face mask and properly ventilate the space, in addition to using fans.

Apply the gel stain across the stair tread in an even motion with the wood grain, creating lines with the brush. This will help mimic the look of the wood grain over the paint.

Let the stain sit for 5-10 minutes, then wipe with a rag in the direction of the brush strokes.

Gel stain takes quite a while to dry, let the tread dry completely overnight until it is no longer tacky, then decide if you want to do another coat or not. I only used one coat of gel stain as I was happy with the outcome of the color.

TIP: if doing this method on a staircase that you are currently using, do every other tread on the first day, this way you can still walk on the other unfinished treads. Once dry, do the remaining treads so that you can walk only on the dried treads. With three kids in my house this method worked well and I used blue painters tape on the wall next to the wet treads so they knew where to walk on which days.

Once all of the stairs have dried the treads are done! If you need to touch up any spots, do so with a small paintbrush and the same method as above.

Staining pine stair treads can be tricky, this paint + stain combo will show you how you can make pine stairs beautiful on a budget.

Next, your staircase makeover is ready for DIY risers!

Related Posts:

How to Remove Carpet from a Staircase

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Next Post: DIY Stair Risers on a Budget »

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Find inspiration for DIY home projects and crafts on a budget! You can usually find me with either a hot glue gun or a can of spray paint in hand 🙂

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makeitwithkate

🪚 Transforming builder grade into modern colonial
🔨 DIY builds and decor
🪑 Furniture flips

Make it with Kate | DIY Blog
These motorized roller shades from @smartwingshome These motorized roller shades from @smartwingshome are the final missing piece to this living room makeover! I just love how easy they are to use with the remote or as part of my home automation. The color is the perfect neutral and the linen provides great light-filtering. These are the SmartWings Motorized Light Filtering Roller Shades 70% Blackout Linen, color Caramel.
🌟🌟 L I V I N G  R O O M  R E V E A L 🌟🌟 what’s new? Wall treatment, door and window trim, stained beams, updated doors, lighting and paint! DIY is too much fun 🥰 do you have a favorite part? ➡️➡️ swipe to see some progress/before pics! #diyhome #livingroomdecor #moderntraditional #diydecor
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3️⃣ Layering: Place larger items at the back and smaller items in front to create depth and visual intrigue, or small items on top of large. 

4️⃣ Negative Space: Leave some empty space to allow the eye to rest and to highlight the items you’ve chosen to display.

5️⃣ Personal Touches: Incorporate items personal to you such as photos, artwork, or keepsakes to make the shelves feel more personal and reflective of your style and interests.
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I’m switching out the trim work in my living roo I’m switching out the trim work in my living room to add Craftsman moulding to the doorway and window! This is part of a living room refresh, stay tuned for box moulding and updated doors and beams next! #craftsmantrim #craftsmanmoulding #doortrim #diy #doityourself
Sometimes, you just have to go for it. 🔨 🪚🪛
Load More... Follow on Instagram
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