Staining or varnishing staircase, help needed!

[Vix1980]

Hi,
Im currently renovating our house and am up to the staircase part, ive been stripping the millions of layers of paint of the skirting board running up the stairs as well as the large balistraudes, thinking it would be a lovely oak colour underneath, no such luck, its more pink reddy, im no good with wood types but really would love them to be of an oak-ish colour so was thinking of getting the varnish thats like a paint. I dont want them really glossy more of an eggshell look. i plan on putting the spindles back in and just eggshelling them so it looks a bit like this

Has anyone either varnished or stained a piece of wood before, if so what colour was it to begin with and what did it turn out like. havent really got the money to waste trying out colours, so i really need help as to which would be best for me to get for the look i want to achieve?? any help much appreciated, thanks x

The wood is pine - much used for staircases . Of course you can stain it - it will not be glossy if you use a stain as opposed to a varnish.

Eggshell is a nightmare wherever there is traffic IMO.

Hi, thanks for that, is there anything i need to do pre staining it then or is it just a sand down job then apply, what would you use on the stair parts i wanted to paint white, i really dont want to gloss them and if eggshell is going to be constantly chipping and need re-painting what else can i use?? thanks

For the wood-effect parts, a satin varnish (e.g Ronseal). Balustrades tend to polish up with use, ours has, but it started with a matt stain. Just have a look in B&Q in the wood finishes aisle. As long as you've sanded down smooth just paint it straight on. Sometimes the colours are a bit orangy so you may not end up getting "oak" but just whatever looks right.

For painting white, use a primer/undercoat (if bare wood) plus two coats of water based eggshell, should be fine. I'm not sure about "traffic", maybe the hallway skirting boards would be a bit vulnerable but it's easy enough to touch up. On stairs people tend to walk on the carpeted bit.

We did similar in a previous, house, it made a world of difference stripping off yellowy brown paint and ending up with white spindles and a dark wood handrail on top.

This on the other hand is a good supplier of wood stains/waxes that has a good range of natural looking colours especially for pine.