Friday, April 1, 2011

Step It Up

Eric and I are trying to sell our house right now and I have been obsessed with perusing the internet at all the houses that are on the market. Now, I know I am a picky person, I don't deny it, but what is up with all these houses looking exactly the same. It seems that everything that is being built these days in the DFW area is some sort of cheap version of Tuscan style. There is no character, no design and you may or may not have seen your exact house 4 doors down on the left.

I don't feel like I am asking for too much here. Cut down on the 4,000 square feet of blah and build a quality home with some character and nice finishes. I have discovered that in order to find something with some quality and workmanship you either have to fork over a lot more cash or buy an older home.

One thing that is exactly the same in all of these houses is the staircase. Every one of them has the same black iron spindles, cheap carpet treads and they usually hit you in the face as soon as you walk in the front door. I know why builders do this, MONEY! It is definitely cheaper to come up with a few designs and then build a whole lot of them instead of really customizing each home. If I have to look at one more carpeted dining room with fake wainscoting (ie shoe molding trim pieces glued to the wall in rectangles and painted so it looks like paneling, except wait, it's not!) I might just pass out.

So, I kinda went off on a little bit of tangent because believe or not this post is supposed to be about staircases. It happens, ...a lot.

I wanted to share with you some fabulous staircases that I have come across.

The first idea is to cover your treads with some not so typical carpet. I absolutely love all of these stairs! Forget the plain old beige and step it up with some pop of pattern or color.

1


2


3


4


5


6
For carpeted stairs, you can either buy carpet that is made to be a stair runner, which would sit on top of your wood stair treads (see picture # 1 & 5) or you can have carpet that is inset and covers the whole tread. (See picture #3) For inset, you can pick from any carpet to cover your stairs but for the runner, it has to be a special carpet for stair runners (bound and seamed edges) or you can have something custom made.

Next up, painted stairs. For just a little bit fun, try painting the treads a fun color or paint a runner down the middle.

You can even try stripes!




We recently wrote a post about stenciling walls and fabrics and floors, but what about stairs? Yes, stenciling works on stairs too and looks fabulous!






These stencils are from the Moroccan collection at Royal Design Studio.






If you don't trust your hand to stenciling, you can try using wallpaper on the stair risers. This is a great way to add a lot interest to your staircase.





Another fun painted trend is to number your stairs. I love this idea!!



Another way to update your staircase or just make it more unique is to do something creative with the banister.


Love Love Love this!!!



So Creative!


And now for a look at some really creative staircases!!


This is so beautiful! I love how fluid the design is and how it looks like it's moving.




Very cool staircase out of shipping crates.


This looks awesome! So much fun!


Great for storage.

A bookshelf and stairs in one!


Creative storage solution.



So does this inspire you step it up on your staircase? I know I am inspired! I am really wanting to try out that stenciling!
~Jessica

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love all stairs! I was looking for something to help me out with mine and you really gave me loads of ideas. Thanks!

Studio B Designs said...

Your welcome! Send us a pic to post when you're finished!

jane said...

great stair pictures! Any ideas where we can find some good carpet stair runners? So far tried Alternative Flooring, but was looking for other options.
Thanks for your help
Jane

Jeni Ervine said...

Jessica, inspirational, you've solved all my stair colour and carpet issues in one foul swoop. Happy me and Happy Monday for a change :) Thank you, Jeni*

Studio B Designs said...

Jane,

Try your local flooring stores and they will have specific carpet for runners. Also, high end carpet companies like Stark, Shaw and Karastan will also have runners. You can have most carpets made into a runner by the flooring store or they will know someone who can bind them for you. You can also try rug companies like Feizy, Rug Studio, The Rug Company and Tufen Kian.

Jeni,

Thanks! Send us pics of your final design!

Jessica

Anonymous said...

I love the stairs with slides. Same with my imagination. All the stairs are amazing.

Anonymous said...

Lovely stairs...I love the numbered steps! I'm trying to find sisal stair pads at the right size for our old London stairs it is impossible to find!

forjaloaisa said...

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francesca said...

So many good pictures! I loved the bookshelf/stair and the numbered one! Hope your house looks great!

Anonymous said...

Number 5., the vines climbing up the stairs is exactly the look I'm seeking. Where, oh where, did they get that carpet?

Studio B Designs said...

Yes, it's beautiful and most likely a custom pattern. Stark, edward field and many other rug companies do custom designs.

kitty crafter said...

beautiful pictures! I too love the runner ideas. Right now I have plain, boring builder-grade beige carpeting on my stairs. It's completelt filthy thanks to my kids and cats, and is the first thing people see when they walk into our house, ugh! Under the carpet, it's not wood. I wonder if I would be able to somehow put a thin wool rug/runner on top of the carpet? Or is that crazy talk? Hmmmm.....

Studio B Designs said...

Yes you can use a rug over a carpeted stair but your carpeting can't be too thick or the rug will move and cause tripping. You have to use stair rods to keep it in place.

Anonymous said...

I too have boring taupe carpet on my stairs, which have walls both sides so cant do any interesting bannisters. Although its rough wood underneath, everyone is telling me it's soft pine so I can't paint or refinish them. I don't want to spend the cash on wood stairs, but I want wood flooring downstairs, so I need the stairway- the transition to carpet upstairs to be eye catching. the only thing that might work is doing a pattern wall to wall carpeting in something durable and beachy??? but that won't fight the upstairs carpeting plain carpeting. Now that's a real challenge!!

Anonymous said...

We are looking to buy something similar to #5--Any ideas where it can be found?

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