New stairs

This might not look very interesting, but it is. These stairs originally had a 'dog leg' and the bottom four turned at a right angle. This is necessary if it meant continuing down the stairs would put you face first into a wall, but as we had removed the wall it meant we could straighten the stairs out. I prefer this look as it's more modern and streamlined. This was one of Anthony-the-architect's ideas early on in the discussion process and it's really quite satisfying to see it in reality. Dog leg stairs are fine in period homes, but for modernists they're not at the top of anyone's wish list. We'll still have a dog leg upstairs though but it won't be so noticeable as the stairs are now cloaked in the waist height wall (replacing the ugly wooden balustrades, see photo below). This will look fantastic once it's been plastered and "made good". For true fans of alternative stair ideas, check out this photo blog called Stair porn.

Stairs without balustrades

Image from wallpaper.com

Here's an example of a staircase which uses a wall, instead of a balustrade (or banister/baluster combo). I like the clean lines and minimalist aesthetic, and am hopeful that it won't date in the same way that regular balustrades inevitably do. A wall should also be far less bother to maintain. The stairs in our current flat are enclosed by walls and the worst thing that's happened is a bit of green wax crayon from a visiting toddler (my own children, so far, haven't drawn on any walls!).

Proposed ground floor

Not sure how this will look as it's a whole lot of drawing to fit onto a limited space, it'll work better if you click on it.

Anyway, here's how the ground floor will look (sort of). Something I really loved that the architect suggested was ditching the 'return' at the bottom of the stairs. Making the stairs finish in a straight line is a subtle but effective way of immediately updating the style of the house. And fortunately the architect isn't fond of the banisters either. Hubby suggested having a 70s style straight rail running horizontally at the mid point, I'm thinking two rows of highly polished teak would look superb. If anyone has any solutions for funking up stairs I'm all ears.