I am delighted to find myself living in a two storey house, because it affords me the need for a staircase. I love houses with staircases. All my childhood homes had wonderful old staircases, but as a grown up I've always lived in apartments or single storey houses. Sadly Charlie, 4yo, is less enthused about the stairs and says it's the one thing he most dislikes about the house. All the climbing apparently makes his knees sore. Not much I can do there, I'm afraid.
This is the staircase we inherited when we bought our house last year. Not great I know, but it does the job. The main problem is that it takes up valuable space in the best room of the house - the only one with northern sunlight (that's a good thing in Australia, for you northern hemisphere dwellers).
It looks particularly fetching at the moment because we had to run plastic fencing along it to keep Poppy from falling between the banisters, the spacing of which clearly isn't code compliant.
The other reason we are relocating it, is because it currently pops out here, in the former "teen retreat", but what is now our master bedroom, and as such a public thoroughfare.
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| Images by Melinda Hartwright |
So I've been collecting all sorts of staircase inspiration and thought I'd share my thoughts.
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| via Velvet and Linen |
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| via Traditional Home |
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| Phoebe Howard |
I'm definitely a dark stained treads/white risers kind of girl, along with white banisters and dark hand rail. I think also square rather than round.
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| Phoebe Howard |
We will have dark stained wide timber floors, which will hopefully look a bit like this.
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| Phoebe Howard |
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| via House and Garden |
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| Emily Todhunter |
A fabulous iron pendant light.
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| Muse Interiors |
The stairs will have a return like this, and we are installing a new window in the stairway to let in light.
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| Centsational Girl |
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| Elsa Soyers |
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| via Traditional Home |
I'd love some timber panelling too.
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| via Style at Home |
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| via The Enchanted Home |
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| Tom Scheerer |
A fabulous hall table with chairs, mirror, rug and gorgeous lamps.
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| Catalano Architects Inc. |
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| Sarah Richardson |
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| via House Beautiful |
Sisal or carpet runners are a must, along with some great artwork and feature light in foyer.
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| Meg Braff |
Then there's the banister/baluster. I was going for straight timber poles, but recently spotted this Meg Braff creation and am thinking I can't live without it.
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| via Flickr |
Here's another example of a very creative and striking balustrade. What do you think? Do you prefer plain or patterned?
