Designed Stairs

Designed Stairs has the experience to design structural, open-riser staircases that are also beautiful works of contemporary art.

  • Trending Stair Styles

    Are you are looking for a one of a kind look to create that WOW factor as you walk into your home?

    Gold is back — glamorous and bold. Metal suppliers are now offering gold finishes, so we can offer an affordable custom look without the additional cost to custom finish.

    Get creative with a custom milled stair personalized for your client’s specific design.

    Black is here to stay — bold and beautiful paired with white for an elegant finish.

    Minimal lines are huge right now. “Less is more” is definitely what people are looking for.

    Staining an elegant wood rail black or a dark stain can give you a softer elegant look.

    Using iron throughout creates beauty and elegance, bringing a warmth to your home with a contemporary style that will last for years to come.

        

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  • Luxury Staircases Across America — What might surprise you

    Having had the opportunity to work on Luxury stair projects from coast to coast, we have been intrigued by the vast differences in design and construction from one region to another.

    The greatest distinction is shop-built versus site-built. Shop-built stairs are typically milled staircases made by companies that specialize in stairs. They design and build custom hardwood staircases in a shop environment, then transport to the jobsite for installation. The term “milled” staircase refers to the fact that the stringers are milled, or routed. The treads and risers are wedged and glue blocked into the stringers. Most milled staircase builders have their roots in the tradition of European joinery and staircase techniques.

    The East Coast through Pennsylvania, Ohio, and on to Chicago have the highest concentration of milled staircases. Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, and South Florida have some noted stair specialists as well.

    The West Coast and Southwest frequently use masonry stairs over-laid with tile. Since most of this work is done at the job-site, the quality varies greatly from site to site and craftsman to craftsman. Although many of these site-built jobs turn out well, there’s always risk.

    There are vast areas of the country where stair companies are not located, and therefore milled staircases are not available. Throughout much of the country, staircases are framed at the site with standard framing material, and trim carpenters overlay hardwoods and stair parts to finish the job. This can present any number of problems, from squeaks to joint quality issues. It’s never easy to cover up framing with hardwood.

    As in most things in life, if quality is what you are after, it’s best to find a highly skilled professional who has specific experience with the task at hand.

    If you are interested in the finest milled staircase, please contact us with your print or job site information. We are happy to help you — throughout the USA.

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  • Getting the Most from Your Stair Dollar — Material

    Part 4 of 4

    Materials in stock are less expensive — e.g., red oak is the most common hardwood and among the least expensive.

    As with styles, components made from wood species that are stocked will always cost less than custom orders. We have noticed a trend over the past eight to ten years to natural or brown toned species such as walnut and white oak. Within the United States, red oak is the most common hardwood and consequently, one of the least expensive.

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  • Getting the Most from Your Stair Dollar — Style

    Part 3 of 4 — Style

    In the last blog, Getting the Most from Your Stair Dollar (Part 2), we looked at how shape affects your stair budget. Shape is something that is decided very early on in the process. Style, on the other hand, is something that can be upgraded or reigned in at any point in the planning process.

    Components that we manufacture to keep in stock will generally cost less than custom made orders. Smaller dimension rails and newels will generally cost less than their larger counterparts.

    Industrial or glass components, like welded steel rail or balustrade, glass panels, stainless steel cables, or reclaimed materials will all add considerable costs to your stair design.

    Most of our style drawings and components are categorized into Builder’s Choice, Architect’s Choice, and other (like Panel balustrades). Builder’s Choice offers our most cost-effective designs that are currently in high demand or that have proven timeless. Architect’s Choice offers a wide variety of unique components to create a truly unique design. Other components outside of these categories tend to be specialized, more custom pieces, which will generally bring the cost up.

    Straight stairs
    Builder’s Choice

    Straight stairs
    Architect’s Choice

     

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  • Getting the Most from Your Stair Dollar — Shape

    Part 2 of 4 — Shape

    In the last blog, Getting the Most from Your Stair Dollar (Part 1), we introduced the three basic factors to keep in mind when thinking of your stair budget. Here we’ll explore the first of those three factors: Shape.

    A straight stair is the least costly and also takes up the least amount of space. The money saved on a straight stair could be used to upgrade your railing style or material.

    A landing stair will cost more due to the landings themselves and the added newels and rail intersections.

    Winder stairs are more expensive than landing stairs due to the installation of winder treads, winder newels and rail intersections. Winder stairs may also be subject to restrictive building codes. Check with your local building department.

    Curved staircases are the most expensive due to the handmade nature of the components.

    Straight stairs
    Straight

    Straight stairs
    Landing

    Straight stairs
    Winder

    Straight stairs
    Curved

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  • Getting the Most from Your Stair Dollar

    Part 1 of 4 — Overview

    Milled stairs may cost from $2,000 for a hardwood stair with wall rails, to $200,000 on the high end.  Most of us are shopping in the $5,000–20,000 range.

    When designing your stair and railing plan, there are three basic factors to keep in mind in order to use your budget wisely: shape, style, and material.

    If you have the luxury of starting from the general shape of your stair (new construction in the blueprint design stage) consider the shape first.  If your space/shape is already defined, it may limit controlling that aspect of your budget, but there are still two aspects to consider.

    Which is more important to you: style or material?  If are you are dead set on walnut, you may need to look at mixing it with stocked poplar parts for balusters and newels. If you have a style you are set on, such as stainless cable, most of your budget will go to that, and you may consider a simpler oak stair.

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  • Should painted balusters be installed at the same time as the stair?

    Painted balusters

    If you are buying a stair with balusters in a contrasting material, such as painted balusters on an oak stair, questions will likely arise regarding the finishing of the stair. “Should my painter finish the balusters separately from the stair, then have the balusters installed when the stair is finished?

    Here are some things to consider:

    • Your painter will generally opt for painting the balusters before installation. This allows them to be sprayed instead of brushed and eliminates a lot of “cut-in” work.

    • Painting balusters separately also means that the stair installers will have to come back to the site, remove the railings and install the balusters. There will be charge for this “second trip” to the jobsite. You will have to remember to schedule this “second trip” in coordination with the completion of the finish.

    • Leaving your balusters out for painting means that they are more likely to be lost or stolen during this time. You will be responsible for balusters left at the jobsite.

    • Once the painted balusters are finally installed, there will be additional “touch-up finishing required at the rail joints. Holes will have to be filled and stain and finish re-applied for the final finish.

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  • Victorian Stairs and Rails — Features That Make Them Grand

    Victorian-Era foyers tended to be rather narrow and deep. Despite the frequent space challenges, they managed to fit some amazing stairs and rails into that space.

    The most prominent feature of a Victorian staircase is a very large starting newel. Victorian newels would have been either turned on a lathe, or, most commonly, built as an octagon. The amount of detail on these newels just never seemed to end. It can be surprising that an octagon newel can take anywhere from 4 hours to 40 hours to build by hand. The base of a Victorian newel can range in size from 6″ to 10″. Many Victorian staircases feature one large starting newel with a large rail cap bolted to the top of the newel. The stair rails commonly ascend and twist to the upper floors without the occurrence of intermediate newels.


    Hand Carved Curved Rail

    Perhaps the most beautiful feature of the Victorian balustrade was the large hand-carved rail sections. These hand-carved sections were necessary to eliminate intermediate newels and fit the railings into confined spaces. Today, few stair shops can replicate these hand carved rail sections which require many years of specialized training.

    Victorian Era railings are often in need of repair as they tend to loosen with age. This is due to failure of the antiquated “hide glue” and the lack of intermediate newels. Most modern stair designs would use more newels within the rail system and much improved wood adhesives. Victorian era railings were also very short — typically from 27-30″ high. Today rake rail height required by code is 34″ to 38″.

    Large Newels Typical of Victorian Era

    Large newel typical of Victorian Era

    Large newel typical of Victorian Era

    See more Victorian newels on our Wood, Turned Newels page or on our Wood, Boxed/Trimmed Newels page.

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  • Curb Appeal Moves Indoors

    Entry stair as viewed from front door

    We often talk curb appeal the first thing a prospective home buyer sees. Real Estate professionals say a buyer makes up their mind if they will buy a home in the first 3 minutes of walking through your front door. So how important are the stairs just inside your front door?

    • The entry sets expectations for what your visitor will experience in the rest of your home.
    • It is the first and last impression you make to your guests.

    Designer kitchens and baths have become the ‘foundation’ of value in a home. Once that foundation is built. The entry and stair is the next logical step. At times we may decorate all our rooms, and treat our entry as a ‘walk through’, not giving full decorating attention. Treat it as a room. Decorate it with furnishings as you would any other room. The natural focal point of the entry is the stair. It sets the tone for the room. Increasing the WOW of your entry will not only create a more inviting welcome for your guests, it will enhance the marketability of your home.

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  • What space is required to fit a curved stair?

    A curved stair takes far more floor space than other types of stairs. Ideally you want a large square space to allow for the most gracious and elegant curved stair. You can narrow and tighten up the space, which will require your radius to get tighter. As your radius gets tighter your stair will not look as grand and elegant. Additionally a tight radius will likely require hand carved railings and therefore become more costly.

    You will first need to know how many treads or steps needed. To figure the quantity of treads:

    • Take your overall rise floor to floor — including finished flooring — and divide it by the ideal riser height, say 7.6″
    • You will need to round up or down (high riser, or lower rise) to select your total number of rise

    For example: Overall rise is 133″ / 7.6 = 17.5. I can make the risers lower: 133/18 = 7.39, so 17 treads, or taller 133/17 = 7.82, so 16 treads. Less treads will take less floor space, which typically ends up being needed. Subtract 1 from your tread count and that is the number of risers. Now that we know the # of risers and treads, we can look up a curved stair layout and see how that fits to our space.

    curved stair layouts

    To find curved layouts (based on the total number of rises you need), like those shown here, request a free Ideal Curved Stair Plans download.

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