Style your home with a Stair Runner

It’s massively popular right now to style your home with a stair runner. They are a huge trend in home interiors, with many people doing home renovations or general home improvements turning to a stair runner for their main staircase. We look at the growing trend in stair runners and share all you need to know about them, as well as the many styles and options available.

Bespoke stair runners

The majority of the stair runners we supply and install for our customers are bespoke. That means we have created, from scratch, a narrow stair runner from the customer’s choice of carpet and border or edge finish. And in some cases, the stair runner is made to a bespoke width measurement. The beauty of designing your own stair runner is how creative you can be. We have hundreds of different options for stair runners across different materials, colours, and patterns. We’ll share some more of these options in this blog post.

This is the most recent stair runner we have supplied and installed for our customer in Knutsford. The stair runner is made from a super strong hardwearing look-a-like sisal – it’s New England Contract carpet from Unnatural Flooring in colour Barnesville, with a cotton border, colour Bark. This particular bespoke stair runner flowed into the same full width carpet to the landings and second small set of stairs.

Stair runners made to size

Any carpet can be cut to size to make a runner for the stairs, but this is not always the most economical way to do it. For starters there can be a lot of waste, especially when most carpets come in 4m or 5m widths.
However, we have just started working with Off the Loom, stair runner specialists who offer a growing selection of flatweave stair runners, ready-made and available from stock. These are available in widths from 0.64m up to 1.20m. Their stair runners are all made from a 3 ply, 100% pure New Zealand wool yarn, making them more hardwearing than some other flatweave stair runners on the market. And if it’s colour or pattern you are after for your stair runner, you won’t be disappointed with the runners available from Off the Loom. Plus, the beauty of buying a stair runner from stock is the product wait time is considerably less. Providing we have the availability to install your stair runner when you need it, you can shave 3-4 weeks off your wait time.
You can see samples of the Off the Loom stair runners at our flooring showroom in the centre of Knutsford.   

This is the Stannington – Wren stair runner from Off the Loom in a stunning medley of vibrant colours. Guaranteed to make your stair sing! There are 5 other colour options available with the Stannington, some more muted and understated if you don’t want anything too bright. 
Off the Loom is a definite must-see brand of stair runners if you’re looking for a stair runner for your home!

Go hardwearing or go home

Whether you go full width or a stair runner on the stairs, you need a floorcovering that can withstand heavy footfall. We recommend steering clear of synthetic polypropylene carpets, as they are prone to flattening, bursting the pile and leaving your carpet looking worn and tired quite quickly.
The best options tend to be 100% wool flatweave carpets or even a wool blend. Wool keeps its shape and height well despite all the foot traffic, plus it has natural thermal and sound insulation properties.
But another option that’s growing in popularity are sisal effect carpets. The leading brand behind such carpets is Unnatural Flooring, whose products are so hardwearing, many can be used outside as rugs. These fantastic carpets are made from strong, 100% polypropylene man-made fibres, designed to look like on-trend sisal carpets. And there’s a wealth of choice in the look and type of sisal weave you can have. Unnatural Flooring is just one of a few businesses now offering this style of carpet which can be easily made into rugs and stair runners. In fact, stair runners made from Unnatural Flooring products are some of our most popular here at Flooring 4 You Ltd.

  
Showing a pair of exceptionally hard-wearing yet very stylish stair runners we supplied and fitted for our customers, both made using Unnatural Flooring sisal effect carpets. On the left is New England Bridgeport and the stair runner has a whipped edge. On the right is New England Woodstock with an Alternative Flooring thick black border. There really is no end of choice when it comes to designing your own bespoke stair runner.

The stair runner edges

If you’re having your own bespoke stair runner made, there are two options for finishing the edges. The first is for a simple whipped edge to be done, this is a process where the carpet edges are bound to make them look neat, but importantly to stop them from fraying.
Alternatively, and the most popular option with our customers, is to choose a taped border. From cotton to suede to faux leather, we have a great selection of border edges for stair runners. And within this selection there are plenty of colours, even patterns to choose from. We use a binding supplier who delivers high-quality finishes to all our stair runners, when we need them. You can read more about stair runner and rug edges here.
The only dilemma is deciding how your stair runner will look! 

Here are two quite different stair runners we had made and then installed for our customers in Cheshire. The first on the left is a stair runner made from the Riviera Home Capri flatweave wool loop carpet in colour Blue Grotto. It was finished with a matching blue cotton border as you can see here. And on the right is a stair runner made from the Cormar Pimlico wool rich, loop pile carpet in colour Praline, with a black and white three stripe border to finish.

What's your stair runner loook?

We can help you design any stair runner you like. We have accounts with all the biggest names in floorcoverings, so there’s no limit to what you can achieve. You might have an idea in mind in terms of pattern, stripes or a plain runner.
Stripes are popular, both thin stripes and thick stripes, because the lines work well when it comes to the angles of a staircase. We’ve seen a lot of demand for chevron and herringbone patterns too, again these create a similar angular effect, taking your eyes upwards from the base of the stairs.
And if you want a stair runner to stand out then patterns, and of course colours are great. We have options to create statement-making runners to much more understated, depending on your preference. Sometimes our customers opt for a plain runner, with the idea of carrying the same carpet across the landing and in some cases, into the bedrooms.

Two stair runners in two different patterns we supplied and installed, both made from fibre flooring products. The first one is made from fibre Wool Flatweave Classic Herringbone in colour Dapple and has been finished with a black cotton border and stair rods. The second one is made from fibre Wool Flatweave Classic Diamond in colour Peruzzi. The edges of this stair runner have been whipped and it’s been finished with matt black stair rods.

Decorate with stair rods

The final touch for your stair runner, if you want it to really stand out and look luxurious, is to add stair rods.
These come in a choice of colours, materials and finishes and you can see samples of stair rods at our Knutsford flooring showroom. Whether you want steel, aluminium, brass or even wood, stair rods bring that extra touch to complement your interior.
Some flooring and carpet businesses recommend using stair rods to help keep stair runners in place. We don’t specify them for this reason as we do not use glue or adhesives to lay our carpets or runners. We staple down all our stair runners, so any stair rods used with them are purely for aesthetic, decorative detail.  It’s down to you as the homeowner whether you want that finish – a lot of the time we find people want stair rods but once their runner is in place, it looks fabulous enough without them.

Another two stair runners we supplied and installed; both have had stair rods added for that extra touch of luxury. The stair runner on the left is once again fibre Wool Flatweave Classic Herringbone (a popular choice for stair runners) in colour Chalk, paired with a green linen border and standard gold Homepride stair rods.
The stair runner on the right is made from the wonderful 100% wool Margo Selby Stripe Frolic carpet from Alternative Flooring in colour Pegwell with a rustic copper border and black jubilee stair rods to finish.  

Not only do we have an unrivalled selection of floorcoverings to help you make your perfect stair runner, but we are also experienced at installing stair runners to the highest standards. And we can install stair runners on a range of staircases, including curved, multiple staircases with multiple landings, and staggered width staircases. To get started creating your bespoke stair runner, visit our Knutsford showroom.
Alternatively, you can book your free on-site survey with us today before choosing your perfect stair runner.