matching oak staircase to a walnut floor

[brian paris]

We have installed a natural walnut floor. We are looking for options for matching an oak staircase to the walnut floor. We know that a walnut staircase would be ideal, but the cost would be far to great. Any ideas or pictures would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Jim Becker]

Welcome to SMC, Brian.

Honestly, "matching" and oak stairway to a walnut floor will be challenging. They have different textures and grain patterns which is the hardest to deal with. Then you have walnut, which gets lighter over time and oak, which tends darker over time. It may be better to make them complimentary, using walnut to accent the stairway, such as for the balusters and other components. And then use oak for accents in the flooring...

If you are having the stairway custom built, the cost differential shouldn't be as great between the two species, however, since you're mostly paying for quality labor. If you're buying "stock" stairways, then maybe there will be a bigger delta since walnut is much less common for this application.

[Brad Shipton]

Which parts of the stairs? Just the treads or the railings and pickets too? A good place to do some cost comparisons is the stair supplies site. They have quite a few options and all the prices online.

How much work are you willing to do? I am almost complete my stairs and started from rough lumber I bought wholesale. Cherry stringers, Jatoba treads and cherry box newels and pickets. Dont ask me about the hours, but the lumber was around $2,500.

Brad