Bannisters - glass or wood ?

[didireallysaythat]

Has anyone bought glass bannisters and would recommend them ? Assuming we can get the angle, we should be looking at a standard 45 so we could use the small glass panels rather than having to get them made specifically.

Or is there an interesting wood spindle option I'm missing ?

[Tubbybells]

How about the modern style but rather than glass try brushed steel.
Much less cleaning I suppose

[GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER]

For anyone with young children (maybe you don't have any) I would have thought glass banisters would be a nightmare - you'd be endlessly wiping away finger marks all the way up.

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

'What a bitch to clean' is the first thing that popped into my head. And it doesn't matter how much you do it, it will always have fingerprints and stuff seconds later.

[SoupDragon]

I always think of greasy smudges whenever I see these on design programmes. They do look nice on TV though!

[Pointlessfan]

Ours are wooden. They were a pain to sand down a paint when we redecorated but we only had to do that once. The glass ones do look lovely but you'd be constantly cleaning them.

[SoupDragon]

I've just googled brushed steel spindles and I love these. If I had a modern house, I think I'd have something like this.

[SoupDragon]

I also like this but it would need dusting.

[shovetheholly]

soupdragon - where are those first set from?

My friend has the glass panels and they are a nightmare to keep clean. One side is always covered with fingerprints, the other is out of reach without a ladder!

[zeddybrek]

I am currently doing up our house and I have decided to go for glass. Opens up the hallway and lets in so mich light and gives the wow factor to my boring house. We have young kids and ccleaning it won't be that much extra on top of what I do anyway.

[SoupDragon]

I don't know, I just took the image from Google. Let me see if I can find it again... It might not say...

Amazingly it seems to be on the website of a UK stair company Stairs etc

[wonkylegs]

My dads got similar ones to these sidrapmadani.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Wire-Railing-4.jpg which are lovely, they keep the space nice and open but the oak handrail and mid supports stop it looking too commercial.
Google wire banisters for various options.

[sparechange]

I've got glass ones, but they were in the house when we moved in, rather than having them installed.
I'll try and upload a pic...

Pros:
They let lots of light in and are harder wearing than the wooden ones in my last place, which got bashed by laundry baskets, people etc coming up and down stairs.
They make the stairs look a lot lighter and brighter

Cons:
Fingerprints, obviously! Although the glass is quite thick, which masks them a bit. And they are pretty easy to wipe off. I think fingerprints show up more on our white gloss kitchen units than they do on the glass, so a quick wipe with a cloth or wetwipe does the job
There is nothing for children to grip on to, so unless you are tall enough to hold the top of the glass like a banister, you have you lean against the glass or the wall to get downstairs
There is a small gap between the glass and the side of the staircase which is a dust magnet. The only way I've found to clean it is to cover a bread knife with a j-cloth and wave it over the dust. I can't find a hoover attachment thin enough to fit down the gap, and removing the panel is possible but would be a 3 person job because of the weight of the glass

[didireallysaythat]

My brain has been away with the fairies - I hadn't even thought about the cleaning ! Doh ! I guess I was obsessing getting more light into the downstairs hall. Plus I'm rubbish at painting woodwork.

[Coldtoeswarmheart]

If you go for glass find a properly reputable fitter. Badly installed glass is more prone to breakage after minor knocks to the edges of the panel.

[sparechange]

This is my bannister, if it helps at all... I can do a close up of the dust trapped down the side if you want

[JillyTheDependableBoot]

I do love the look of glass and we considered it. But it would be a bit weird in our Victorian house and Dcat wouldn't be able to stick her head cutely around to see what's going on downstairs, so we're keeping the wooden spindles. Also £££.

[didireallysaythat]

Ok. You fantastic lot have made my mind up. It's wood spindles. Currently I have an unattractive hardboard sheet (hence dark hall way as the window is on the upstairs landing) but the stairs will be replaced so I need to come up with something.

When I look for spindles I get the standard, rather moulded, bit fussy maybe, need painting, sort. I'd like something light, preferably not painted (can you stain them perhaps), plain without detailing. The hallway is an 1950s parquet floor which when everything else is finished I plan to get sanded, repaired and oiled so I'd like that to be the detailing in the space, not molded spindles.

I'm over thinking this, aren't I ?

The stairs will be made by a joiners so I'm assuming I can get them to do this, but they respond better to pictures (I'm rather academic (!) and I don't have the right vocab for them).

[SoupDragon]

There's no need to paint the spindles - mine aren't, they're just stained.

Google "plain wooden spindles" you can get ones that are purely a square column of wood, ones with a small amount of detail, ones that are round in the middle... lots of plainer choices. I'm sure they could be stained/oiled to be a similar colour to the floor.

[vienaa]

i really like that, thanks for posting a picture, I use my hand held steam cleaner a lot so I don't think it will much of a bother