We’ve made a decision about our house. Finally. And it’s actually happening. It’s taken us nearly four years and three different extension ideas to get to this point….. we’re converting our loft. Builder found, architect on the case. It’s the exciting bit where we are all full of ideas, requesting samples and spending all of our imaginary money. Always the easiest money to spend isn’t it?

We’ve got a traditional three bed semi. Two large double bedrooms, one family bathroom with separate loo and a teeny tiny box room which is now my small but perfectly formed home office. You can have a nosey parker snoop around our house here. It’s a great size for our family of three. But when it comes to having overnight guests, we’re screwed. We’ve been dragging a mattress down to the living room to make a guest bed for the night. I can attest that it is a) highly inconvenient, b) uncomfortable. Our loft room will become the much needed third double bedroom, give us a second bathroom AND a separate storage space.

So, where did we start? What’s the one bit that HAS to be just right? The piece that affects how the rest of the house flows, functions and feels? The staircase. The new staircase up to our second floor. This post is ALL about staircases people. Stairporn is real. I’m not kidding. Go over to Stair Porn .org and you’ll catch my drift.

Stairworld

Things we don’t want the new staircase to be/do:

• Squeezed in
• Block light
• Eat into the landing too much
• Heavy, chunky, twirly
• Impose

Things we want the new staircase to be/do:

• Feel natural
• Be something beautiful, something you want to look at, but not obtrusive
• Let light pass through
• Have a minimal metal frame with as much exposed as possible
• Blonde wooden treads
• A single integrated piece of “something” to act as the handrail and balustrade on both floors

It’s hard to get out of my head sometimes what i’m visualising, so i’m going to show you some  hardcore #stairporn images. Each design has something I just love. A simplicity and a real beauty. I know we could never afford to have anything exactly like these, but they are here for inspiration and will no doubt inform the final design of our new staircase to be.

Design: Naturehumaine – Image: Adrien Williams

Design: Roberto Murgia and Valentina Ravara – Image: Giovanna Silva

My absolute favourite. Kind of need some banisters though.

 Design: AS/D Asociación de Diseño – Image: Rafael Gamo

Design: Hera 24 / DMP Arquitectura – Image: Onnis Luque

Tamir Addadi Architecture

I adore that huge sheet of glass that seems to have no fixings whatsoever.

Image: Nicolas Grandmaison

Design: Christensen & Co. Architects.

Design: Andrew Maynard Architects – Image: Fraser Marsden

Awesome idea. A solid staircase made from perforated metal so the light and space isn’t broken.

Image: Hanne Fuglbjerg

The profile on that staircase is like a work of art. So good.

Design  Fernlund + Logan – Image Andrew Wood and David Sundberg

Design: Pleysier Perkins – Image Sean Fennessy

Really simple lines and natural materials make for something that’s timeless.

I am so frickin excited about this next project of ours. It’s going to change our home and the way we live in it. We’ve already experienced that real buzz when we had our kitchen knocked through two years ago. But now we’re pulling out the big guns. Loft bedroom here we come. (Insert staircase musical based pun here: “The Only Way Is Up”, “Stairway to Heaven”…)

Featured image: Quick Step Instant Staircases 

 

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