Has anyone replaced the spindles on their staircase?

[BelfastSmile]

We moved into this house a few years ago, and it had a regular staircase, painted white. The spindles are just plain rectangular.

In the process of stripping the paint to re-paint it, I discovered that the handrail and the uprights at the ends are actually a really nice wood, so I sanded them down and stained them to show off the grain. The problem is the spindles - these seem to be just pine, and the paint is hard to remove. I’m wondering about just replacing the spindles with a wood to match the handrail, and staining them to the same colour.

Has anyone done this, and is it relatively straightforward? I’ve tried to get a man in to do it, but can’t find anyone who’s interested and available! I’m reasonably competent at DIY, but not an expert. Happy to spend a bit of time on it.

Leave the spindles white, or paint them a recessive colour.

I think painted spindles look good with wooden handrails.

I did have new spindles made in the same design as my existing ones as we got another floor to our edwardian house. But that was for a new staircase with a new handrail.

You need a builder and it will be expensive. Also I'd worry that they will damage your handrail trying to replace spindles.

Should have said, DH doesn’t like the white spindles with wooden handrail. Nor will he accept black or grey.

Is there any chance the current pine spindles are a more recent addition, 'boxing in' the original spindles that might be made out of the nicer wood?

They’re almost certainly newer, but I don’t think they’re boxing anything in - they seems like solid rectangular posts.

Labour of love and likely very frustrating to do with uncertain success. If hubby doesn't like them painted maybe he could try stripping a few to see how it goes. Maybe paint them another colour not white, black or grey but something that works with your decor and maybe matte or eggshell rather than gloss. Keep the handrail natural timber. Good luck.

Yes! We had ours done by a local carpenter. It was a bit of a faff for him getting the spacing right but they did look lovely. Sadly though the spindle oak and the original oak bannister and end posts did not quite match, he warned me it could happen. I ended up painting the spindles which looks much better. As you are not wanting that look I would try getting one spindle to match first.

We took all the spindles out and replaced them with glass panels, it's made the hall much lighter and brighter.

We replaced ours. It was over 20 years ago but cost £7k even then. It was worth it though. We had mahogany end posts and white spindles. It was a bigger job than I expected, but had three tiny dc at the time so anything was a challenge!