Should I change the color of my stairs?

A natural wood looks good with white risers.

Hello Margarite, I absolutely love your stair runner (the design is different in mine but the colors are the same and it goes up the stairs and all the way down my hallway) ;) You don't say what color you are staining your banister, but I believe I would leave the stairs white and perhaps match the woodwork along the side of the steps to the color of the banister. Whatever your decision, I hope you enjoy the results of your labor :) Thanks for using Hometalk for suggestions.

I would tend to do the stair trim to match in with the decor too.

Take a little time an check out DIYnetwork.com or HGTV.com or Pinterest.com and see what others have done... Fixer Upper, Good Bones, Home Town... have done multiple versions of what you want to do.... check them out... and you should be able to find a look that will work for you.

If the wood is in good shape underneath, wood treads would look great with the railing. If not, the same color as your trim always looks nice!

The runner will be your pop of color on the stairs. The stain will look good.

If you stain or paint, I say go black or black walnut. Real wood is great, but anything that contrasts all the white would be good. ☺️

I like a wood tread and balisters.

Margarite, the stairs at my own home, as well as ALL of the woodwork, are a beautiful mahogany color applied over the original color as a protectant when we moved into the house 55 years ago! Have you thought of perhaps also just turning those white stairs into a natural wood stair with color matching your hardwood floors? I will admit that white stairs do add a pop of brightness with the dark carpeting on it, but you are so right when you say white steps are hard to kep clean! (My daughter has white steps, period, no carpeting, and she has all but given up on trying to keep them nice looking after 8 years of 2 kids and 3 dogs plus her husband, herself, and any company or repairmen they may have. It's crazy) I am going to post below a link to a chart you can use to identify colors of stains in case you might want to go with the cherry or try a different color ... or not, LOL but at least it will be handy to use if you want to (it is actually an ordering page from a store that I use for smaller things around the house ;) It comes in handy even though I don't place any orders. I just use it to decide about colors LOL) This is such a personal choice that you will ultimately have to make the decision because you are the one who has to live with it. I was raised with dark woods so I have a lean toward them. However, I do agree with the above response by Mog, that a natural stain would look good under the carpet on the stairs. I do believe that I would go ahead and match all the wood to that of your hardwood floors, though, or as close to their color as possible, just for the consistency factor. Probably an old - fashioned thing, but that's how I roll. HAH! ;) Whatever you decision, Margarite, it will be a lot of work, but you are going to derive so much satisfaction from it, I am sure. Good Luck and with all sincerity thanks for coming to Hometalk for ideas to think about. ;)

Here is the color chart I forgot to add above LOL (sorry about that)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/495000375/herringbone-stain-samples?ref=related-1

Thank you. This project is a bit more time consuming than I thought. Baby steps and patience.