A staircase is often one of the most ignored parts of the home when it comes to redecorating, yet it is one of the most heavily used areas of the home. Many people avoid decorating a stairway because they simply have no idea how to make it better. Fortunately, transforming your stairway into a focal point of your home can be a simple task that won’t take a whole lot of time or money.

Let’s start with the flooring on your stairway. If you have carpeting on your stairs, you might want to consider removing the carpeting all together and refinishing the wood below. Depending on the state of the wood, you might want to stain it, paint it, or even tile it. You can create a beautiful mosaic using colorful tiles on your staircase steps by painting the horizontal portions that you step on and tiling the vertical portions all the way up to create a visual masterpiece. If you have wood floors that you want to cover up you can install wall-to-wall carpeting on the staircase to cover them up completely or install a decorative runner up the middle of the stairs.

To break up a large, tall wall next to a staircase you can install a chair rail using wood trim that is at about the same height as the handrail. You can then decorate the area below the chair rail by installing wallpaper, tile, or paint. A textured wallpaper works particularly well on a staircase. You can also decorate the area above the handrail with treasured family photos, framed wall art, or a collection of mirrors to reflect the light. For large landings or hallways leading up to your staircase, you might also want to incorporate a small table, bench, or hall seat to give it a little extra style and added storage or function.

Tags: Amish Furniture Styles, Hallway, Interior Decorating, Interior Design, Staircase, Stairs

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 10:41 am and is filed under DIY Projects, Decorating Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.