The Job

Carpet on the treads with the risers and strings painted black. A sharp two-tone finish, and one that leaves absolutely nowhere to hide a poor cut — the paint line shows every millimetre.

What We Did

Set the carpet to finish level on every nosing and cut it tight into the string on both sides, so the paintwork stays clean and nothing overhangs the edge to catch a shoe.

The Result

A clean line on every step, and a staircase that still reads as painted timber with carpet in it rather than carpet thrown over the top of a staircase.

The Job

A wool-look runner over bare treads. Runners are fitted one step at a time by hand — there's no quick way through it and no machine that helps.

What We Did

Mallet, bolster and tape, working down from the top. Each tread gets knocked hard into the back angle so the runner holds its line and doesn't creep forward with use.

The Result

Tight into every riser with even pressure down the whole flight, and nothing to work loose later. Those three tools are the entire kit — it's the time taken that makes the difference.

The Job

A striped runner with black bound edges. Stripes are the least forgiving thing you can put on stairs — let a line drift even slightly and you'll see it from the bottom of the hall.

What We Did

Centred the runner on the staircase rather than on the carpet, set the stripe alignment at the top and worked down, keeping the binding an even margin off the string on both sides.

The Result

Stripes running true the whole way down and the binding dead straight either side. A runner lifts a hallway more than almost anything else you can do for the money.

The Job

The same runner taken up the straight flight and on across the landing. Where a runner meets a landing is the join people actually look at, because it's at eye level from the hall.

What We Did

Kept an equal margin of painted timber showing on both sides all the way up, and ran the stripe through the landing in the same direction so the two read as one piece.

The Result

Even margins top to bottom on a staircase where the walls aren't quite parallel, which is most Bristol houses of any age.

The Job

The look of light oak boards in a room where benches and chairs get dragged in and out every mealtime. Real wood would be marked inside a year in a room used like this.

What We Did

Levelled the subfloor first, because anything underneath telegraphs straight through, then ran the planks the length of the room so the joints follow the light from the window.

The Result

A warm oak finish that wipes clean, takes bench legs and spilt dinners without a mark, and keeps its colour in a room that gets a lot of daylight.

The Job

A period encaustic-tile look without the cold, the cost or the grout lines to scrub. Popular in Bristol terraces where the original floor is long gone but the style still suits the house.

What We Did

Set the pattern square to the longest run rather than to the wall. In an older house the walls are rarely square, and the eye follows the pattern, not the skirting.

The Result

Pattern running true across the room, in one continuous sheet with no joints for water to get into — warm underfoot and it mops in seconds.

The Job

A deep plain carpet laid inside a painted border of original boards. Plush shows everything — every cut, every seam, and any change in the direction of the pile.

What We Did

Ran the pile one way throughout so the landing doesn't shade differently to the stairs, and cut tight to the painted edge so the line between carpet and timber stays sharp.

The Result

Even colour from any angle in the room, which is the thing people notice on a plain carpet and the thing a rushed fit always gets wrong.