Painting stairs, banisters with chalk paint?

[nutelladipper]

Hi there,
We live in a three story house a four stairs banisters is all a dark orangey type wood and I'd like them white. I've had a quote and it's very expensive so I thought I'd look into doing It myself. The thought of sanding is what's putting me off. I've just heard if you use chalk paint you don't need to sand etc but I know very little about the finished look etc
I'm not after a vintage/distressed look.

Any experience or advice would be appreciated.

X

A four = and our! Sorry for typos.

You only need to lightly sand, the new paint needs something to grip onto. Chalk paint isn't hardwearing

I'm a great fan of chalk paint but wouldn't recommend it for banisters. It's not great in high traffic areas, especially if you don't want a distressed look. It's not a hard job to do yourself with eggshell paint, though - you don't need to sand back to the wood.

Oh that's interesting. I'll have a looks to Eggshell paint. Thank you

Having done this - and we only have 2 floors and one set of stairs / bannister, it takes quite a few coats and is really time consuming. Agree that you need to use eggshell though, not chalk paint. It is not difficult though, just takes forever. Definitely worth it though, brightens up the whole space. We didn't paint the stairs themselves though (the treads), even with good paint I don't suspect it could stand up to normal wear and tear.

I love chalk paint, but if you want a clean, long lasting finish, you won't get that with chalk paint in such a high traffic area.

Get moving, girl....

lightly sand and paint and don't look back until you are finish. There. I hope I helped.

Don't use chalk paint unless you like the colour 'grubby hand grey'.

I speak from experience.

my husband has done a very good job of painting our stairs including the bannisters and hand rail. We used egg shell paint and he has put about 3 layers of varnish on the treads. So far so good. We thought if it looked bad too quickly we could decide to carpet in future but I love it as it is. We have painted each riser a different shade - all F & B pastel colours which we have used in the rest of the house.

Clive is so right. I have used chalk paint in a number of places round the house. On side tables etc, it is absolutely lovely and I don't regret it. But I also used it for my kitchen chairs. Ah. It seems to suck in and hold onto filth (and my children are very generous in sharing their filth). I'm still calm about that, because it's only chairs and I'm happy to repaint once a year (anything to get out of sanding the treacly varnish beneath). But on a bannister: no way.

If it's for three floors worth of woodwork you could justify buying a decent detail sander with a DECENT dust extraction system. (One that connects yo a vacuum cleaner) You could then get a decent finish with a bog standard eggshell or gloss paint. Chalk paint is expensive so you would probably save more than the cost of the sander.

I use a lot of chalk paint on furniture but I like a smooth finish so I have to sand anyhow. I don't like the rough waxed chalk paint finish that so many shabby chic'ers like. I like to use a satin finish polyurethane varnish to give a durable finish.

Sorry missed all these!
So I am not use chalk paint - thanks for talking sense into me.
I best get going then........

Can anyone explain why I'd use eggshell and not satinwood? I definitely don't want to use gloss. (Unless you guys tell me otherwise!).

Whilst I'm asking you knowledges peeps - would you paint your bannister a different colour to the spindles!? I'm thinking all white with a pale grey handrail/bannister?

Thanks again all.

It all depends on how wipe-able/ cleanable you like your paint to be. Or shiny.

Flat paint tend to cover up most nicks and dents. Glossy show them more but easier to clean. But if you like the look of flat and cleanable as gloss (but it won't be as easy as gloss) you can pick eggshell or satin

Never heard of chalk paint, but I am a lazy and rubbish at sanding and use liquid sander instead.

Does that really work Hugo? Could I use it for a whole wall of built in wardrobes & two wooden bedroom doors painted a beautiful shade of sickly green?!

I used it on our bathroom which was covered in horrible, orangey pine tongue and groove- its still pretty horrible, but a least it's white

Nutella satinwood or eggshell are both fine. Look for something hard wearing and use a wood primer. Make sure you clean the banisters first. Personally I'd paint the whole thing the same colour. It would be neater and easier.
My white banisters get a bit grubby - a light grey would be practical.

Thanks all. I best get started!
Last question - is there anything I need to consider when choosing a undercoat?
X

I found the waxing to be just as taxing as sanding would have been

Do you have a decent builders merchant near you? They would be able to advise you on which undercoat to use.

It's going to be a big job.

I'm not sure we do but I'll google. Thanks