Choosing the right staircase for your home

With a wide range of staircase designs available, which type should you choose for your home?

Renovating your home, building a property from scratch, adding a loft room or converting a cellar may all require that you incorporate a new staircase. The space and shape of your property will likely dictate the type of stairs you can accommodate, but always talk to your architect or contact specialist staircase manufacturers such as Fontanot for advice – they could come up with an option you hadn’t thought of before. Using their online staircase planner is a useful way to create a custom staircase for your home or business, too and you can choose from a wide range of designs in quality materials and finishes to suit your interior design style.

If you are at the research stage, this post may help, too.

Types of Staircase

There’s a diverse range of materials and styles you can choose for your stairs. You might want to add contemporary glass balustrades, for example, or keep things traditional with wood. But before you hunt for a wood staircase for sale, or marble, concrete or any of the other materials and finishes available, you’ll need to decide on the overall style and design of your stairs. These are some of the staircase shapes you might consider:

Straight

Straightforward and simple, many homes have a classic straight staircase. Usually leading from the entrance area, situated near the front door, this commonly found long and linear design is both easy to build and easy to use.

Quarter Turn (L Shaped) and Winder

In some properties, there may need to be a 90 degree turn in a staircase to create an L Shape – or a slightly more complex winder staircase where the stair treads become wider at one end to accommodate a turn in the stairs. These ‘winder’ treads take the place of a flat landing to save space. Again both these designs are quite common in a variety of homes.

U Shaped

In a larger house, where there are several flights of stairs leading to different floors, a popular design is the U Shape staircase. Many office buildings incorporate this style of staircase where flights of steps run parallel to each other, with flat landings in between to change the users direction by 180 degrees.

Spiral and Ladder Stairs

Both spiral and ‘lean to’ ladder designs are aimed at space saving and can look really interesting and quirky. However, they are better suited to occasional use as treads are generally smaller so may not be as easy to navigate by users, as some of the alternative stair designs. They can often be best suited as an secondary stair option or in a holiday home, rather than as a main use staircase. Bear in mind they can present a challenge when carrying large items, but as a style statement a spiral design twirling around a central pole or a rustic ladder stair will add charm and character to a property.

Grand Curved or Central Stairs

Architecturally elegant with a flowing quality, as there are no landings to break up the stairs, a curved staircase provides a sense of grandeur. Often situated to one side of a large entrance hall, it draws the eye up. Similarly, a sweeping central staircase befits a substantial home, creating an imposing and dramatic entrance to impress any visitors.