Inspiration: Bold Staircases

Stairwells are an oft-neglected part of the home.

Many people treat their staircase space as a simple place to pass from one floor of a house to another and maybe hang a picture or two to "decorate." But stairwells can be so much more. Treat your staircase like you would any other room in the house and consider how you can make the most of the space.

The stairs themselves are a great opportunity for a design statement. As you can see with stylist Matthew Mead's stenciled stairs at right, the risers of the stairs are like a blank canvas waiting for your touch.

Stenciling is one (painstaking) way to get pattern onto your stairs. According to the now-defunct Country Home magazine (where the stairs appeared), "Matthew used a stencil that was 3-feet wide and then reduced the width by taping off the edges to create a narrow design."

Two other ideas are to install a patterned stair runner or to wallpaper the face of the stairs.
The stairs at left were wallpapered with an Orla Kiely 'Stem Print' wallpaper, and the stairs at right were carpeted with six IKEA Barnslig Rand rugs that the home owner sewed together.
A simpler option is to paint your stairs a bold color. The stairs at left are actually in designer Orla Kiely's own home; the red paint is Dulux's 'Poppy Red.' We love the "red carpet" effect of this paint job. The stairs at right were painted only on their fronts with a bright tangerine hue -- The homeowner created a clever graphic statement by making a diagonal line of color.

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