Staircase Design Ideas That Transform a Dull Stairwell

Why staircases get ignored

Nobody sits in a stairwell, so it never makes the list. And yet it is the most-passed-through space in the house, it is usually double-height, and it is the first significant piece of architecture a visitor sees.

It is also the space where builders' defaults survive longest. Most staircases in most homes are exactly as the developer left them: pine spindles varnished orange, a carpet chosen for wear rather than looks, and a single pendant hanging in the void.

The good news is that the fixes are unusually cost-effective, because you are working with a shape that is already interesting.

The balustrade decision

This is the strongest visual element and the one with the biggest range of outcomes.

• Paint what you have. Spindles, newel posts and strings in one deep colour, charcoal, black, forest green, with the handrail either matching or left as oiled timber. Transforms a builder-standard flight for the cost of a tin of paint.
• Replace spindles with a simple square profile. Turned spindles read as period; plain square ones read as contemporary. A joiner can swap them without touching the structure.
• Metal balustrade. Slim vertical bars or a flat steel panel, powder-coated black. Modern, sees more light through, and costs considerably more.
• Glass panels. Maximum light, minimum obstruction, and the version that best suits a small dark stairwell. Also the version that shows every fingerprint.
• Open risers. A structural decision rather than a finish, and only viable if the stair is being rebuilt, but it lets light through a stairwell like nothing else.

Runner or carpet?

A runner is nearly always the better answer if the treads underneath are sound.

Full carpet covers the whole stair including the sides of the treads, which hides the shape of the staircase entirely. A runner leaves a margin of painted or stained timber either side, which reveals the geometry, looks considerably more expensive, and is the reason a runner reads as a design decision rather than a floor covering.

Practically, a runner is easier to replace when it wears, since only the centre gets traffic. Held with brass or black stair rods it looks deliberate, and it is one of the few places where a bold pattern is genuinely low-risk, because you never look at it for long.

If the treads underneath are chipped or mismatched softwood, paint them rather than replacing them. Two coats of hard-wearing floor paint in a dark colour either side of the runner looks intentional and costs very little.

Lighting a stairwell

Almost every stairwell is lit by one pendant hanging in the void, which is both a maintenance problem and a poor lighting solution.

The alternative is wall lights up the flight, spaced so each one lights a section of stair, mounted at around 1.6 metres above the pitch line. This lights the treads where you need it, creates rhythm up the wall, and means no ladder-over-a-staircase moment when a bulb goes.

For a double-height void, a long pendant or a cluster at different drops is genuinely the right dramatic gesture, provided you have a plan for changing the bulb. Recessed step lights in the wall at ankle height are the quiet, modern option and are excellent at night.

The stairwell wall

The wall alongside a staircase is one of the largest uninterrupted surfaces in most homes and is usually blank.

A gallery arrangement that climbs with the stair is the classic answer, and the rule that makes it work is to follow the pitch: draw an imaginary line parallel to the handrail and centre the arrangement on it, rather than hanging everything at a level height.

The alternatives are a single very large piece, which suits a double-height wall better than several small ones, or treating the wall as colour and texture instead, limewash, panelling, or a deep colour that carries up through the whole stairwell including the ceiling.

Our gallery wall guide covers spacing.

Using the space under the stairs

The understairs void is the most wasted volume in a typical house, and the standard cupboard with a door in the tallest part uses maybe half of it.

The better answer is pull-out drawers or a bank of pull-out units, so the deepest, lowest part of the void is reachable. In a hallway, a run of shoe drawers under the stairs solves the hallway's worst problem. Other good uses: a compact home office nook, a downstairs WC if the drainage allows, a wine store, or open shelving in the taller section for books.

Whatever goes there, light it. An unlit understairs cupboard is where things go to be forgotten.

Colour strategy for the whole stairwell

Stairwells are a special case for colour because they connect floors, which means the decision interacts with two or three other rooms.

The approach that works is to treat the stairwell as one volume and paint it as a single space, walls, ceiling and often the woodwork, rather than trying to match whatever is on each landing. A deep, enveloping colour works particularly well because you pass through quickly, and it makes the doorways off it read as bright.

The alternative is to keep the walls neutral and put all the colour into the joinery: a dark balustrade against a pale wall, which is graphic, timeless and easier to live with if you are unsure.

See it before you paint

Stairwells are unusually hard to picture because of the double height and the awkward angles.

With Decorly you can photograph your staircase from the hallway and compare a painted balustrade against the current one, a runner against full carpet, and different wall colours at your real proportions. For the space it opens off, see hallway decorating ideas.

Frequently asked questions