DIY Ikea Jute Rug Stair Runner

DIY Ikea Jute Rug Stair Runner

A few years ago, at our old house, I had the idea to use a few runners I found at Home Goods to make a runner for our stairs.  If you missed it you can see it here.  I have to admit–that old post makes me cringe.  The wall art, the stairs…man, my taste has changed a bit over the years.  But there’s something about that DIY project that grabs people’s attention.  I still see it pop up on Pinterest as I’m browsing sometimes.  

I mentioned in the Kitchen Reveal post that my mom is on a mission to update her house, and the foyer was up next.  She used her neighbor/contractor to paint where she couldn’t reach and to change out her dated light fixture, but the rest of the space she was up for DIY-ing.  The stairs were a bit of a conundrum.  We knew they were dated, but how could we update them without breaking the bank?  The stairs were carpeted and the carpet was old and gross.  She certainly didn’t want to spend money on new carpet since she didn’t like the look of carpeted stairs to begin with, and she liked the idea of new treads, but that usually runs $120+ PER STAIR.  That just wasn’t going to cut it with her budget.  So paint, paint, paint, and a DIY runner it is! And she contacted carpet cleaning austin to clean the carpets and make them good as new.

Here’s the best “before” picture I have. It’s a little bit of a cheat, though, because the carpet is already off and the base moulding and risers are primed.

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Using porch paint, she painted the treads, risers, spindles and railing.  Have you ever painted spindles??? Talk about a tedious job!  But my mom persevered and got it all painted, and then it was time for a runner!  Having grandkids at the house often it was obvious to her she’d need something with some traction since bare hardwood stairs can be slippery. This is where it becomes important to get lay carpets and get them cleaned by professionals at carpet cleaning company in st louis.  Remembering what I did at the old house, she decided she wanted to do the same but with a jute rug.

After a trip to IKEA, we came home with three of the OSTED jute runners and 3 grippers that IKEA sells as well. One of the best decisions we made was to get our carpets cleaned by Carpet Cleaning Sacramento

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You can see how she taped off where the runner should go, centering between the spindles and the wall.  On the landing the runner laid right up against the top set of stairs.

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When I did my rug I just used a regular old staple gun to attach it to the stairs.  My mom opted to rent a carpet stapler from Home Depot — something like this. It was only $19 for the day, plus the cost of staples.  I highly encourage this route because I was frequently re-stapling my runner, and this jute material is really thick.

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Can you spy the staples???  I can’t!  They hide perfectly in the jute.

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This photo below shows where one runner ends and another begins.  Can you see it?

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Here’s a little closer look.

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It’s on the underside of the tread, so unless you’re down at eye level and looking for it, you absolutely cannot see it. She folded the runner under before stapling.

 

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So there you have it!  I’d say for the paint and carpets and supplies, this project was less than $250.  What a great way to make a huge impact to your stairs without buying new ones!

 


27 responses to “DIY Ikea Jute Rug Stair Runner”

  1. This is fabulous, I can’t believe this actually works! I’ve thought about this a few times, I think I just may need to pin and try it myself. Awesome!

  2. How did you handle the landing where the stairs do a 90 degree turn? I’ve been wanting to do a diy stair runner and we have 2 landing areas to create a 180 degree turn on our stairs but I’m nervous to tackle that part.

    • We actually started at the landing with an end up against the wall so a finished edge was there (no cutting). Then on the stair against the landing we just folded it under and stapled up against the landing runner. You can see it in one of the pictures.

      We used Ikea’s rug gripper underneath as well and it does a really good job keeping it in place along with the staples.

  3. Hi! Wondering how this has held up now that she has lived with it for a while? Considering the same runner but have kids and dogs and have read some bad reviews about ikeas other sisal rug. Thanks!

    • Hi Eileen! It was held up perfectly so far. She lives alone so it doesn’t get much traffic, but she does have 5 grandchildren that visit often.

  4. Curious? The Ikea tag says the Rug is 4’4 x 6’5…but the width of the stairwell is much narrower than 4’4. I’m confused? Am I missing something…?

  5. Hi! Love this!!

    We have a light oak floor upstairs and an auburn oak floor downstairs. Both are wide plank with a ton of character. The problem is – our stairs are the light oak. We are thinking of doing this to “take the edge off” of 2 woods butting. We have a baby and 2 dogs though – is this slippery at all?

    • Thank you, Nicole!

      It’s not slippery AT ALL. It provides excellent grip for little feet going up and down the stairs. The only downside is that it’s a bit rough when you’re barefoot.

  6. Might do this with their darker color of the Odum. Do you know what length staples your mom used? It may depend on the thickness of the gripper underpayment padding. I can probably just do trial and error.

  7. Great post! I was wondering, did you have to cut any of these runners? I’d like to know what happens when you get to the end any don’t need anymore rug.

    • Yes, we had to cut in several places in order to hide seems under the lip of the treads. You just fold the rug over and staple so there’s no raw edge.

  8. Just found your post as I am thinking about doing something similar. Are the stairs black? Do they show a lot of dirt? Looks amazing…thanks for sharing.

  9. How has this held up in terms of stretching/gapping? I’d love to do a project exactly like this, just want to ensure that the rug stays in place!

  10. The rugs fitted are actually Sisal, which is a much more hard wearing product. Jute would not be suitable for stairs. Laying it like you do, with out pad, will mean that it won’t lady as long as it could.

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