What happens to a stair runner when it gets to the top of the stairs?

[Mijkl]

Just thinking about replacing / updating carpets in a house which needs a lot of updating. We have a small hall which is tiled. In most rooms we want oiled or painted floor boards, not fitted carpet. If we put a carpet runner and rods up the stairs, what then happens on the landing above? Does it have to be carpeted the same style? I can't quite picture it in my imagination.

We have runner up the stairs and fitted carpet on the landing.

A neat trick that older carpetlayers will know, is to have a yard or so of extra runner, and hide it under the landing at the top of the stairs. The carpet will tend to wear on the stair noses, and if you can be bothered, you can release a few inches of slack at the top, and move the carpet downwards a bit so the worn nose is now on the riser of the stair below. You can do this several times until the worn parts start to appear on the next step down.

I suppose this used to be done more when carpet was very expensive and labour was cheap. It's not too hard when you have stair rods.

You need your best and densest carpet on the stairs, it will wear more than any other carpet in the house.

Sand and paint or varnish the stairs before the rods and runner go down. It is impossible to do a neat job afterwards.

Thanks for the advice.