Ever have one of those moments when you desperately want to renovate or update your home, but a major renovation just isn’t in the budget? Next time the mood strikes you, take a good, hard look at your staircase. What does it say about you? Is it cluttered, outdated or simply unremarkable?
For many homeowners, it’s not so much about a staircase being unappealing so much as underutilized, and if you are among them, know that there are some very simple, and mostly inexpensive, steps you can take to change that. Here’s a look at how today’s homeowners are fulfilling their urge to update and elevating the style of one of their home’s primary focal points at the same time.
Rejuvenate with a runner
If your stairs are old or scratched (or you just want to make sure they never look that way), adding runners is a great way to hide – or reduce – wear and tear. As an added bonus, runners can improve traction, which is especially important if you have little socked feet pounding up and down your steps all day.
Enhance them with art
Odds are, you take a great many trips up and down your stairs each day, so give yourself something to look at (other than dust bunnies) while you make all those climbs and descents. Opt for family photos, paintings, nature-scapes or what have you, and consider using frames that complement your hand rails or other elements of your stairs to effectively draw the area together.
Rise above the ordinary
Another often-underutilized part of the staircase is the riser itself. Consider adding patterned tiles, coordinating colors or other unconventional design elements and create an eye-catcher and an undeniable conversation piece in the process.
These stair trends have two main things in common. First, they’re attainable for the average homeowner, and second, they have the capacity to transform something you once saw as nothing more than a means of getting up and down into a point of pride you’ll appreciate with every step.