the stairs

I love our stairs.  Really and truly.  

Initially we had considered a ship's ladder to get upstairs (in hindsight I am shaking my head in disbelief)...

image from dwell
I still think that for older kids this would be fantastic!

and then we thought we could do skinny stairs...

image from Mister Step

and eventually we realized we could do full sized stairs (yay!).  The full width is so much more practical, and I am thrilled that we have room for them.

no they're not crooked, that's just my photography skills

They are clad in white birch ply, with maple stair nosing.  The posts and rails are hemlock, and the railing panels are birch (although I don't know what species).  The different woods work together beautifully and just blend into blond loveliness.

  

exposed lag bolts 

sure doesn't look like three wood species

The round edge was trimmed off the stair nosing in favour of a square edge, and the risers are kicked back at an angle.

the landing.. ignore the green tape on the left (that railing is the last thing still to be oiled!)

Our finishing carpenter James Ball once again worked his magic, and turned our homely looking staircase into a work of art.  I think it turned out pretty darn stunning.

the stair nosing before - stock Maple

the stair nosing after

I could not be happier.  They are lovely, soft, warm, and unlike any staircase we have had before.  Perfection.

Misstep

The stairs has been a much discussed topic ever since we decided to put the loft area in.  We thought we didn't have room for a conventional staircase, so initially we were considering something like this...

image from Dwell

which I love so much, but visions of little ones tumbling down forced us to come up with something more practical.  That led to considering this..

misterstep

or this...

boingboing

ok, maybe we didn't really consider the last one.. but it is so cool I just had to show you.  I am not sure how the BC building code applies to any of the above solutions anyway.

the stairs before

In the end what did we end up building?  A boring old set of stairs... with support posts no less. 

Had we been more decisive and organized, we could have at least cantilevered the landing so that the stairs looked like they were floating.  In fact, we planned so poorly that we didn't even have enough head room to walk up the stairs without ducking.  Oops.

the stairs before

 And so two risers were removed, and it is so much better. (Sorry Johnny and Lucas)

the stairs after

Now we just need to jazz them up.  Make them look less conventional, and maximize their potential.

the stairs after

We have some ideas... we'll know more this week.  Don't worry, I'll show you the progress as we go.  What would you do, if these stairs were yours??