Has anyone painted their pine staircase?

[PizzaPlanet]

We’ve got an orange pine staircase which is about 30 years old and looking the worse for wear. The parts which get held the most are looking dirty and the varnish faded and they don’t clean up very well. They also look very dated and make the hallway dark but are nevertheless good quality.
I’d like to give it a makeover but am daunted by the task, it is a big staircase and the railing continues along the landing. I wouldn’t be pairing the treads, just the spindles, railings etc.
Is this worth doing? Would a white painted staircase get dirty quickly too and would the paint flake off?
Alternatively could I keep the main part of my staircase and have someone replace the spindles and rail with new ones? Or would this be very expensive?

Or alternatively could I do anything to make the varnish look better?

Hi, we painted our darkbrown (not pine, but some other horride 1970's fabrication) white a few years ago. We didn't bother sanding it down, just used some extra-thick white paint (the kind you get to cover up nicotine smell) - it works really well, though now I can see a bit of the brown hue coming through the paint, so probably time for a freshen-up. We painted the threads and the issue is that you can see every single bit of dust, fluff etc on them! We have an 8-yrs old who has been going up and down the stairs with her friends etc, but paint is holding really well. Alternative is getting some stair/carpet things put on?

There are lots of ideas on Pinterest and other sites, e.g.
www.shawstairs.com/stair-refurbishment-kits-c-335.html

(I removed the paint from our late Victorian staircase; spindles, bannisters and newel posts - not the treads - and it took forever. I haven't had to do much in the 30 years since though)

How old is the house?

If the spindles don't have architectural or historic value, consider replacing them. A carpenter can do this job very quickly and neatly, it will be quicker than trying to sand them or seal the varnish.

The handrails and newels are easier to sand clean (and much more expensive to buy) so I'd probably keep them.

Thanks for the replies, so pigletjohn is it feasible to replace the spindles leaving the treads, newel posts and handrails in situ? This would make it a much easier job because there are about 35 spindles which are carved and they would be a huge job to paint. No artitectural significance to the house, late ‘80s build.

yes

if it is fairly modern they will probably fit straight in. There are grooves in the handrails and stringers that the spindles are sized to fit. The grooves may not be obvious because strips of wood sized to fit are tacked in them between the spindles. Try and find a wrinkly old chippy looking for an indoor winter job

there seem to be a couple of sizes so get him to confirm which before ordering

I'm going to be doing this later in the year, and hadn't thought of replacing the spindles, I'd presumed it would be more expensive than that link shows.

A friend of DP's recommended this stuff, but it looks a bit too good to be true. Have you come across it, PigletJohn?

Owatrol products have a good reputation, though I have no experience of them. Zinsser also do primers that should seal varnish, but they'd still need sanding smooth. I don't like old varnish.

Yes we did ours a few years ago, gets very dirty but I now 'jif' it once a month. Looks so much better than the pine and makes hallway look huge

It does look like a miracle product, just whack it on with a cloth and after two hours you can paint over it. No sanding. Surely it can't be that easy?

if you paint over it without sanding, surely the old drips, runs, brushmarks and chips will still be there?

Hhm. There don't seem to be any very obvious ones, the staircase is only about 15 years old and apart from the original coat of varnish, nothing has been done to it.

Sorry to hijack, OP.

Watching this thread with interest as I am about to do the same thing in our loft conversion.
Sadly, our wood wasn't prepared very well prior to vanishing some 30 years ago so I feel some sanding will be required to give a smooth surface to start with.
The ESP primer looks very interesting though.
Will bear that in mind when I get fed up of sanding.
Good old Mumsnet.
You get help even before you've asked the question!

Feel free to hijack, I don’t mind! Actually I’ve been thinking about this a lot today as have now almost talked myself out of it, mainly because so many parts are high up on the landing and would be difficult for me to access.
Now if anyone has any idea how much Neville Johnson charges for a staircase makeover then perhaps I’ll save up for one of them.
Thanks for the info though everyone, much appreciated!