Trick to Try: Rainbow Balustrade

The staircase is one of the first things you usually see when walking into your home – so why not add a little colour to turn it into an eye-pleasing focal point?

Adding your favourite colour is a failsafe way to make a real statement. Take it one step further and paint your banister rails in harmonising shades to turn it into a rainbow, ombre-effect balustrade like this one above from Living Etc. The beauty of using Dulux Quick Dry Satinwood is that it’s self-priming and can be mixed up in a spectrum of beautiful shades at our MixLab stockists. It’s also wipe-clean and super hard wearing, so just right for high-traffic zones like your stairs.

Read on for your step-by-step guide.

Difficulty: Not too complicated

Time: Weekend project

What you’ll need:

• Small brush
• Quick Dry Satinwood Paint colours in your chosen shades
• Sandpaper

Step 1: Using a fine sandpaper, sand down your balusters to make sure they are smooth and paint-ready.

Step 2: Then, using your choice of Dulux Quick Dry Satinwood, give your railings a first coat.. It is up to your personal taste, but we’d recommend painting each shade over two or three balusters, so that the colours gradually intensify to create a gentle colour fade.

Step 3: Once the first coat has dried, give it a light sand and dust off the excess. This will give it a super-smooth finish.

Step 4. Now it’s time to go over it again for a second coating. Each coat takes around six hours to dry completely, so take care when using the stairs to avoid a disaster!

Step 4: We recommend going for a neutral colour for your handrail, such as White Cotton to polish off the whole look. Ta-da! Your staircase is ready for treading.

Watch our How-to Paint your Handrails and Balusters video to see all the steps in action and more handy tips. Find your shade of Quick Dry Satinwood.