8 Beautiful Staircase Ideas For Your Home

Staircase design varies not merely in material choice, size and style, but in structure too. When the staircase is built-in, there’s often temptation to make the most of the cavity, transforming it into an under-the-stairs storage area. This approach is worthwhile and grants you with valuable capacity, but there is another option for how to best use the available space.

Look into whether a recess is achievable within which you can display a piece of art or precious ornament (safely enclosed within the wall it’s much less likely to be knocked off).

Depending on the material used, it might be possible to fill it with pillar candles of varying heights, providing the lining is heat-safe and non-flammable of course. The point being, the depth below the staircase doesn’t have to be consumed as functional storage and can give rise to a decorative feature opportunity.

This beautiful staircase in Bangkok’s 98 Wireless development is an object of desire for more than one reason. The intricate metalwork of sophisticated curves and swirls on the black iron balustrade is what first draws the eye, but it is the series of angle changes that are just as noteworthy.

Quarter-turn staircases are those that feature a small landing area, requiring you to make a 90-degree turn before continuing to the next portion of staircase. Some staircases contain more than one turn however, but providing they don’t involve you rotating body position to turn back on yourself, then it remains a quarter-turn staircase. This is what you think you’re witnessing at 90 Wireless, but look closer and as you approach the first landing area, you stand in front of a full-height mirrored wall, which produces a trompe l’œil effect.

Continue up the stairs and instead of a second quarter-turn, the staircase leads to the left, asking you to move in fact 180-degrees from your first position. And so the quarter-turn staircase becomes quite the shapeshifter into…

Typically however, the half-turn staircase is less angular than the quarter-turn. Instead, it’s more common to see it as a smooth arc that ultimately sways 180-degrees from its starting point but in a graceful sweep rather than a stark switchback style.

The classic formation is shown in this glamorous Laura Hammett staircase. With no central axis in a half-turn staircase, it leaves a chasm in the middle that’s ripe for filling with a cascading crystal chandelier. Light the way further still by adding strips of luminous LED at the base of each upstand and the effect with this shape of staircase is as though you’re walking on air.

Katharine Pooley’s marble helical staircase moves the conversation onto the topic of materials.

Some staircases are crafted from traditional timber, some from smooth iron or polished concrete, but then there are those at the most luxurious end of the staircase spectrum sculpted from magnificent marble.

Indeed, marble is a showstopper of a stone to grace your hallway on such a grand scale, but it’s also enormously hardwearing, making it score highly in terms of practicality as stairs are such a high traffic part of the home. To factor a marble staircase into interior design is not just to make an unforgettable first impression, but is to promise endurance for decades to come.

Staircase ideas also reach into texture and decorative touches, which is where carpets come into the question.

If a full carpeted look doesn’t suit your taste (see point seven), then you can meet in the middle – literally – and opt for a staircase runner, as per Finachatton’s gloss white and dark wood scheme. With the surrounding setting being one of hard, smooth stone and a stairway of white-painted wood and fine spindles, the contrasting carpet is a welcome addition, bringing much-needed softness.

Be sure to choose a durable runner though that can withstand the high impact of feet coming down at speed or trudging up slowly.

And the final point to think about is whether you prefer the loose waterfall look or the more tailored French Cap where the carpet is tucked tightly around the tread and pulled taut against the upstand with an optional stair rod for extra security (and to achieve a more traditional look).

Not everybody is keen on a halfway house, and so the prospect of a runner might not satisfy your personal character or that of your home’s, preferring to go for all or nothing.

A fully carpeted staircase has two major benefits:

1: It significantly reduces noise and absorbs the pressure of feet hitting the deck.

2: It’s a more comfortable, cushioned experience.

While it’s often said that carpet on the stairs is a traditional choice, this is entirely dependent on the sort of carpet. For example, a natural fibre like jute will achieve a Scandinavian and even Minimalist look than a deep-pile or plush carpet. The balustrade, banister and spindles all have a role to play too.

This second Finachatton staircase is carpeted across the entirety of the tread and up each riser, yet the geometric design of the balustrade and mixed material approach convincingly contemporises the look.

And finally, a staircase design that you can master using contrasting materials – as you saw in the first Finachatton staircase with white wooden stairs and dark runner – or simply polar opposite finishes.

Carlyle Designs shows how this is done with sheer sophistication, taking its cue from the polished monochrome marble hallway floor and repeating this classic colour contrast on the stairs.

With the upstands painted one colour and the treads another, the difference is strong but the steady repeat lends it a soothing, familiar quality as the design produces a steady rhythm. The handrail and balustrade being in black iron maintains the flow – adding in a third colour would alter the atmosphere of the space quite significantly, pushing it into overwhelming territory. Two-tone may cause a stir, but it’s all about less-is-more – restrained, repeated, rhythmic applications of hue on beautiful hue.