A Couple Added Wood Trim Around Their Staircase and Made the Walls Look Paneled
Wood railings, white spindles, and gray walls framed this staircase, but the large wall sections around the steps remained bare. Tracy Laverty of Right Up My Alley and her husband Steve changed those surfaces with narrow strips of pine, creating raised rectangular sections that look like built-in wall paneling.
The project was part of a larger staircase update that included white risers and dark-stained railings. Rather than removing the existing staircase or covering the walls with full panels, the couple worked with the structure already in place and used trim to give the entry more architectural detail.
Wood Railings and Plain Walls Defined the Original Staircase
Warm wood covered the handrails, newel posts, stair treads, and risers before the makeover. White spindles provided contrast, while uninterrupted gray walls filled the tall sections surrounding the stairs.
Green painter’s tape along the steps shows work had already started when this photo was taken. Painting the risers white became the first change before attention shifted to the railings and walls.
Dark Stain Changed the Existing Railings
The handrails were sanded enough to rough up the surface, then the white spindles were protected with painter’s tape. Classic Black Minwax PolyShades supplied the new finish, combining stain and polyurethane in one product.
Dark rails create a stronger line through the staircase while preserving the white spindles between them.
White Risers Broke Up the Original Wood Staircase
Painting the risers white left the wood treads exposed, creating alternating bands of white and brown from the bottom step to the landing.
Black-stained railings added another contrast against the white spindles, setting up the color combination that would continue across the wall treatment.
Pine Boards Created the Panel Layout
The wall treatment began with 1-by-6 pine boards ripped lengthwise to produce trim about 2.5 inches wide. Before attaching anything, the couple marked possible layouts on the walls and adjusted the spacing until the sections worked across different parts of the staircase.
Spacing between boards was set at 22 inches in the shortest section and carried across the other walls, while the upper edge aligned with the height of the banisters.
Stair Angles Required Custom Cuts
Straight sections could follow the floor and landing, but boards meeting the staircase had to match its slope. Angles were calculated before the pieces were cut on a miter saw.
Trim that projected farther than the existing baseboards also received tapered ends, including compound miter cuts where the pieces met an incline.
Trim Was Attached Directly to the Existing Walls
Rather than installing sheets of wood behind the trim, the pine pieces went onto the painted drywall. Liquid Nails and a trim nail gun secured each section after the layout and cuts were finished.
The wall itself remains visible inside each rectangle, which reduces the amount of lumber needed to create the paneled effect.
Rectangular Sections Followed the Shape of the Staircase
Vertical and horizontal boards divide the tall landing wall into large framed sections. On the right, another piece follows the stair angle and connects the treatment with the railing.
Varying shapes allow the trim to respond to the architecture rather than forcing identical rectangles into every section.
White Paint Blended the Pine Into the Walls
After installation, joints were caulked and rough edges sanded. One coat of water-based primer and two coats of white trim paint covered the new wood.
Painting the trim and lower wall the same color removes the visual separation between added lumber and existing drywall, leaving the raised edges to define each panel.
Finished Trim Continues Beyond the Main Stair Wall
Paneling extends beneath the upper railing and along the walls beside the steps, so the treatment is visible from several points in the entry.
Black rails frame the white spindles above, while the new white wall sections continue that contrast below.
Narrow Trim Frames the Sloped Wall
One of the clearest details appears beside the upper run of stairs, where vertical boards meet a long piece cut to follow the handrail angle.
Keeping the center of each section as painted drywall creates depth from the raised pine without adding full wood panels.
Paneling Connects Both Levels of the Staircase
From the upper landing, the pattern continues beneath the railing and down the tall stairwell wall. Rectangular sections change size as the available wall area changes, but the trim width and white finish remain consistent.
Dark wood along the railing forms a border above the new treatment, separating the white panel effect from the spindles.
Plain Walls Now Look Like Built-In Panels
From the entry, the finished staircase combines white risers, wood treads, black railings, white spindles, and raised wall trim. Existing gray paint remains above the panel treatment, preserving contrast between the upper and lower sections.
Materials for the broader staircase project, including wood, stain, paint, caulk, and adhesive, cost under $100 at the time.
Before and After Shows What the Trim Changed
No walls had to be rebuilt to create the paneled appearance. Narrow pine strips changed the flat surfaces around the staircase, while paint tied the added pieces into the existing trim and risers.
The before-and-after also shows how the dark railing redirects attention through the entry, with the white wall treatment filling areas that had been left plain.
Would you add trim like this around a staircase, or keep the walls plain?
Image credits go to Right Up My Alley .