The color of LED strips for stair lighting mostly depends on your personal preference. Yet, if you have wooden stairs or want to bring coziness to the stair area, warm color LED strips work best. However, you can use cool bluish-tone LED strips for a more modern and minimal look. Such lighting will suit you best if you have glass or open-rise stairs. Besides, you can also go for RGB LED strips to bring color to your stairs.

When lighting the stair walls with LED strips, most of us target the top or upper portion of the wall. But you can go differently. Instead of mounting the strips at the top of the sidewalls, go for the bottom part. Line the stripes along the wall following the decile step of the stairs. This will give a unique and aesthetic look to your staircase. Besides, if you have brick walls, this will also work great to highlight the textures. 

If you have an open riser staircase, a hidden lighting effect is the best option for creating a soft floating effect. Install LED strips below each stair tread so the strips aren’t visible from the top. Such hidden stair lighting will create a shadow beneath the open riser providing an outstanding ambiance. This will also bring a dramatic effect on the wall below the stair. So, implement this technique to make a statement with your stair lighting. 

If you have textured side walls along the stairs, don’t skip a bit to pop it up. It could be a brick wall, stoned wall, or paperwork patterns; the option for highlighting them is endless. You can mount the LED strips in the upper walls outlining the ceiling area or the bottom wall lining the foot area. This will highlight the wall’s textures, enhancing the space’s appearance. You can also try mounting LED strips from both sides of the walls in a vertical direction. Such lighting will not only bring out the wall patterns but also create an illusion of space and make your stair area appear more prominent. 

Stair treads are the horizontal plane where you set your footstep. Lighting these treads is very common. But you can take this to the next level by outlining the sides/edges of the treads with LED strips. This will create a hidden glow from the corner of the stair, making your stairs appear like they are floating in gravity. You can experiment with such lighting using cool or warm white LED strips or colorful ones; both options will work great.