You may think of your home’s staircase as a way to get from one room to another, but it’s really much more than that. Your stairs have a significant impact on the way your home flows from area to area. So how do you figure out how to improve the flow of your home with your stairs? The answer may not be an easy one to come by, as figuring out which stair treatment goes best with what kind of flooring can be difficult. Luckily, there are solutions to common stair conundrums.
Upstairs Carpeting
When the upstairs in your home is carpeted, it’s important to create some sort of visual link on your stairway. In this case, carpeting the stairs is the best option. Not only will it allow for flow from your downstairs room to the upstairs, but it will also send a message to those who take the stairs that bedrooms are likely to be found there.
The Power of the Landing
Staircases that have landings provide a great opportunity to get creative. The landing can be used as a ‘transition spot’, where carpeted and bare stairs meet. So if your upstairs is carpeted, you could cover your staircase’s upper portion in seagrass carpet to the landing, and then continue with wood flooring below.
Leave them Bare
There’s no rule that says you have to carpet your stairs if your upstairs is carpeted. You can still create that all-important visual link by leaving your stairs bare. In this scenario, you’ll need to look down at the kind of flooring on your home’s lower level, and match the colour of your stairs to it. Then, all you’ll need to do to care for your stairs is to sweep them, which can be much easier than vacuuming them.
Install a Runner
If you’d rather not cover your entire stair with carpet, consider installing a carpet runner. These don’t cover the entire stair, leaving the edges exposed. You can highlight those edges by choosing a runner in the same shade as upstairs, but with trim in a contrasting colour to add lots of elegance.
You can also go really bold with your runner, choosing unusual patterns or a bright colour. Doing this will cause the edges of your stairs to act as the trim and cause eyes to gaze upward, which can also increase the perceived size of this area of your home.
Dress it up with a Runner
The runner is a very versatile product indeed. In homes with hard flooring only, installing a runner on the stairs will highlight this pathway to other areas in the home, and provide that visual link from upstairs to down by leaving stair edges exposed. As a bonus, the runner will also make your stairs better able to handle wear and tear.
If you Still Want Carpeted Stairs
If your home’s floors are bare but carpeting is what you desire, choose a carpet that has at least one colour in it that can be matched to the flooring in the rest of your home. You can also choose to make your stairway a kind of centrepiece by picking carpet in a bold colour or pattern.
Regardless of the option you’re considering, it’s a good idea to look at your stairs from their base and upward, as this will give you the best idea of what your future stair treatment will look like.