Wallpapered stairs

I'm trying to think of ways to make stairs interesting. We've got three flights of the things in the new house (needless to say, I expect to have a bum like Kylie's within the first month) and as they take up so much space as a main feature of the house, I want to do something unusual with them. I really love these wallpapered and tiled staircases, especially the ones that only cover the risers rather than the whole stair (I'd be worried about them getting torn and it seems a shame to cover the old wood):

Photos from The Haystack Needle, Door Sixteen, Pappapak4, Houseobsession and Modellodesigns.