Railings and banisters

[Mitchell Ristine]

Good morning all. My wife and I are in the middle of a whole home update. Next on deck are railings, spindles and banisters. We have a house in the midwest that was built in the early 90s, which means every piece of wood in the place is honey oak. She wants to do a gel stain on the railings and banisters and white paint on the spindles and floor trim. Like this:
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Would you do the white paint or the gel stain first?

[Jim Morgan]

If you are working in place, it is generally best to proceed from the top down - finishes don't drip up.

[Jim Becker]

Along the same lines as James's comments, doing the gel stain first allows you to "clean up" at the edges with the white paint since you WILL get stain on the balusters as you do the underside of the bannister. I'd also get your clear on the bannister/newel before you do the white.

[John TenEyck]

Tape is your friend. I would tape off the top of the balusters before applying gel stain to the handrails. That way you can focus on doing a good job of staining and finishing those w/o worrying about what gets onto the balusters. When the handrail finish has cured a couple of days you can tape off where they balusters and then paint.

John