7 Wooden Stair Railing Ideas

I know what you’re thinking, “these railings aren’t made of wood!” To which I will say, yes you are correct, but don’t click away just yet! 

Let me show you how your wooden steps can be made better, safer, and look a little cooler with a railing designed to do just that. 

Dual Handrails for Wood Stairs

Let’s kick it off with this unique dual railing for this deck’s wooden steps. 

What’s unique about these handrails, other than the fact that there’s two of them, is that our Surface 567 Handrail uses our End Post Handrail Return and Internal Couplings to create a smooth and continuous handrail.

Additionally, this handrail has been powder coated black. All our handrail kits offer four different color finishes and could even be customized to different colors. Reach out to our project specialists to see if your color is available!

Wooden Deck Stair Railing

Let’s stick with the deck steps them and look at this very simple railing (that’s a pun that I’ll explain in a second).

This railing comes from our line of Simple Rail Kits (told you I’d explain it). This Surface L160 Handrail utilizes our Smooth Handrail Fittings to create an offset railing that provides a smooth handrail.

This type of railing is perfect for when you want to mount posts further toward the edges of your wood stairs but want the railing to be a little closer to make it easier for someone to grab on.

Wooden Porch Stair Railing

Now let’s venture from back decks to the front of the house and look at some wood porch steps. 

Here our customer custom designed their porch railing to be both for their steps and for the sides of the porch to help protect people. Some key fittings to point out here are the 90 Degree Elbow which does what its name implies which is create a 90 degree turn at the top of the stairs to go mount into the wall.

Additionally, the railing utilizes the Single Swivel Socket which is an adjustable fitting that can change the angle of the railing. Atop the posts at the base of the railing, you can adjust these fittings to change the slope of the handrail to meet your needs.

Interior Wood Stair Railing

Woah, how’d we get inside? We must’ve safely entered through the wooden front steps that have those nice railings! Too much? Okay, I’ll tone it down.

Here we have a nice interior wooden staircase which is slightly terrifying with how steep it is and having no backing on the stairs. This uses our Adjustable Swivel Socket which is very similar to the Single Swivel Socket as mentioned in the above example. These fittings allow for adjustable and customizable angles to match your wood stairs angle.

Retrofit Metal Railing for Wood Steps

Let’s head back outside to showcase another unique wooden stair railing that has been retrofitted with our railing. Well, I basically explained it all in that first sentence. There isn’t much to elaborate but I’ll do my best.

Wooden railings are good enough to do the job, we aren’t here to bash wood railings, however, the handrail portions of wood railings can be difficult to grab and may leave you with splinters, ouchie.

This retrofitted handrail uses our Wall Mounted End Return and Wall Mounted Handrail Bracket fittings to seamlessly mount to the existing railing and give enough space for a user to safely and securely grab onto the railing.

Long Wooden Steps Railing

Now I promise you, this isn’t the same dual wood deck step handrails you saw in the beginning of this article, I pinky swear. 

This here is our Surface 29 Handrail which uses a 30 – 60 Degree Single Socket Tee designed to keep your handrail sturdy with an easy installation.

These steps are also pretty long, at least in comparison, but that’s no problem for our Simple Rail Kits that can be purchased online all the way up to 19 feet!

Front Porch Wooden Steps Railing

Lastly, we have this very basic railing for wooden stairs. Now, why would I point this one out? There’s nothing special about it, it basically blends right in with the deck!

Well, that’s exactly the point! Our simple rail kits, including this Surface C50 Handrail, will perfectly blend in and match your homes aesthetic. It does the job of keeping users safe while also not drawing too much attention.

However, if you do want your railing to stand out, as we mentioned earlier there are different powder coating options that allow for your railing to stand out and be the focal point of your deck, porch, or front steps.

In Review

Your wooden stairs don’t have to be tied down to the conventions of wooden railings that, while functional, could be improved upon with a simple metal railing that you can install yourself!

Orders your new railing online or contact a project specialist to start designing today!