Painting wooden stairs with chalk paint - good idea?

[MariaWaria]

My wooden staircase is about 20 years old and has a dated pine look following staining and a coat of matt varnish many years ago.

There's no heavy traffic or DCs going up and down so no need for an industrial finish.

I've recently discovered the joy of chalk paint and am seriously considering painting my stairs. Is this a good idea?

Thinking of one coat of chalk paint as this has always looked better than two on everything I've painted so far, then wax the banister and balustrades.

And and then maybe matt varnish the steps - it's an open staircase so no carpet. Does this sound like a good plan? What could possibly go wrong?

Thoughts and guidance greatly appreciated

I love chalk paint, but it does get easily knocked or scratched, and even though you may think your stairs are low traffic, they probably get more traffic than other walk ways in your house. Maybe chalk paint and wax the banister and balustrades and have some heavier duty matt floor paint colour matched for the stair treads?

Or maybe putting AS laquer on them would make them longer lasting. I've never worked with that but would love to hear from anyone who tried. :-)

You need non-slip paint on the actual treads, and I wouldn't do chalkpaint on the handrail or anything. But if you don't mind the possibility of having to do touch ups every now and then if you get a knock or a dent, go for it.

All good points - thank you.

Hadn't thought about the slipping issue or the possibility of matching a different paint for the treads.
I don't really mind if it gets chipped - thinking that might add to the charm

What is AS laquer Tika?

A S - Annie Sloane lacquer probably? I haven't tried using it yet either. Thing is, if you use a chalk paint on the stair treads within a couple of years there won't be any actual paint left to scuff.

We have cabinets in Annie Sloane chalk paint (then waxed) - the wardrobes are fine but the bedside cabinet tops are trashed. I'd seriously avoid stair treads. We painted our stairs with paint specially designed for stairs. No idea what it was called now. We've 3 DCs and I guess we used to have the stairs repainted every 3 to 4 years. They never looked perfect as already chipped etc prior to painting / original Georgian house so after 150 years they weren't going to look perfect.

How do you intend to clean the stairs?

They will get dusty if not dirty

Completely agree with PP - the wax will be slippy and the paint will wear off very quickly. Better to get a proper floor paint in a chalky colour.

Yes, I meant the Annie Sloan laquer, it's meant for stairs and floors.

Many thanks for all your comments - I need to investigate stair paint I think, but I want it to be easy to apply with the thereaputic quality of chalk paint and I guess it won't be.