Tiny

Your staircase design can offer scope for reading nooks. Picture: iStock

When you’re planning to build or renovate a small space, stairs pose a problem. They take up a lot of space, and their placement is important because the entrance and exit points need to be kept clear.

Putting them in the wrong place can really impact the usefulness of your available space. However, stairs have come a long way and there are plenty of available options to help you maximise your space and even add excellent style and storage to your home.

SPIRAL STAIRS

When thinking of stairs with the smallest footprint, spiral staircases immediately come to mind. For good reason — they take up the smallest space possible, they’re affordable and easy to install, and they (usually) look great. On average, you need just over one square meter of floor space to install a spiral staircase — allow for between 1.2 and 1.5 in practice.

In addition to taking up very little space, they can also be rotated such that the entry and exit points can be positioned wherever suits best, which gives you valuable flexibility in how you design the areas immediately surrounding your staircase.

If you’re any way handy, spiral staircases are very straightforward to install yourself and complete kits are widely available for not much more than €1000 — check out valentineladders.ie for starters.

Any basic kit can be easily upgraded to suit your personal style with a little imagination and elbow grease — think metallic paint, linoleum, or even a mix of tiling samples to transform the design.

But nothing in this life is ever perfect is it, and spiral staircases are no exception.

Their drawback is that it is difficult to carry stuff up and down them. Imagine coming home from a long holiday and trying to lug your heavy suitcase up a narrow spiral staircase.

They’re also often too narrow for larger items such as beds or wardrobes — you’ll likely need to lift these in through an upstairs window instead. They are not suitable for many mobility impairments and don't offer the opportunity to install things like stairlifts if needed. They’re also clearly not ideal for anyone experiencing vertigo!

FLOATING STAIRS

Floating stairs are those very chic, modern stairs that seem to float in space with nothing underneath to support them.

They are usually attached to the wall, or may have one narrow spine holding the whole show together. Floating stairs offer two desirable qualities for the small-home owner — they take up very little visual space, and they leave room underneath to fill how you please.

Visual space is an important feature; leaving space for light to come through objects tricks the eye into thinking the object in question is taking up much less space than it actually is. And of course, with all that space left underneath you are free to put anything you like there — perhaps a little reading nook, a coat rack, or bookshelves.

The main drawback to floating stairs is that they are more expensive than your regular staircase, and may need specialist installation in the form of reinforced attachments to the wall.

Some people don't like stairs without risers — it can feel like you might slip right through them, although I can't say I’ve ever actually heard of that happening! With floating stairs, an appropriately minimalist bannister is essential to honour the look.

STORAGE UNDER STAIRS

If spiral or floating stairs aren't your thing, a regular auld staircase will do grand because you can always build storage into it. Classically, people (including me) put little downstairs loos under their staircase, which really is an ideal use of space if I do say so myself. With any remaining space, you can install presses or even drawers to use every available inch.

If I had to add one thing to my home it would be drawers in my stair risers — the perfect shoe storage solution. Drawers are not hard to install — just add tracks inside the stairs when building, and the front of the drawer becomes the stair riser. For a more modern aesthetic, keep the shelves underneath open to display your gorgeous shelf styling underneath. Anything can go here, from books to even kitchen presses when space is very tight.

LADDERS

Ok so I’m not talking about a sliding metal ladder like one you’d pick up in Woodies, but hear me out — if space is extremely tight or awkward, and mobility is not a constraint, a ladder-style stairs may be the last remaining option.

In reality ladders don't take up much less space than a spiral staircase; however they do offer flexibility for really teeny tiny homes — retractable or sliding ladders can be moved to free up space for other things when the stairs are not in use.

Ladders really need two handrails to be usable in a home, and can be a great solution for a small loft or mezzanine space.

SLIDES

If you have a big house and spare cash, please install a slide beside your stairs. I don't have the space to do it in my own house, so do it for me. Have fun. Invite me over.

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