Living Art
A stairway could be a surprisingly up-beat part of your house if you look beyond a plain approach. In one way, a stair serves you as a simple architectural work horse by providing access between one floor and another. However, decorated with accent color or wall design of some sort, it can allow for use of stronger colors at the core of your home.
In traditional house plans this becomes easier with a clearly defined core that features square corners, offering simple starting and stopping points. In a more modern or complex layout that features bull- nose drywall corners and more unusual angles, it is not as evident how to phase in accent colors.
The most basic and inexpensive way to apply some noticeable change is with paint. Try out an accent color that compliments the rest of your décor in some way. This might be a repetition of the color of your living room furniture or, if you have neutral fabrics, try to pull out a hue from artwork or flooring. For instance, if your floor is brick and the furniture is off white, test some variation of terra cotta on one wall of the staircase.
Once color is up on one wall you might better determine if the situation can handle the same color on all of the surfaces. This is often the favorite spot for a display of vintage family photos and they will pop off the wall when placed against a pleasing color. If in doubt, go softer on the color. You can always apply another coat of more intense color is you feel that the result is too bashful.
Another popular idea is to arrange a display of a collection, such as wall clocks. When a stairwell is narrow, it is best to take careful note of the depth of arranged items and remember that anything that projects more than a couple of inches might be an elbow. A bruiser. An active family bouncing up and down the stairs could knock off delicate items lightly secured to the wall. For this reason consider all the ways in which you might decorate the staircase in “zero-clearance” ways.
Demonstrated in an elegant rendition is a classical wall mural painted right onto the walls. Artist Dana Westring blends the baseboard and walls together with faux marble texture. This ancient technique, used since Roman times in Italy, makes an ordinary drywall or plaster wall appear ancient. Wall frescoes were popular in Greece, Rome, Byzantium, and the far flung Roman colonies. In this example the rest of the décor supports the whimsical feeling of the wall art. A light fixture that appears like an inverted parasol adds a light hearted sensation. The crisp horizontal striped window covering is non-traditional in design and pillows onto the wood floorboards. Nothing in this particular design solution invades the spare space of the staircase, yet all of the pieces fit together in an atypical way to make the space wonderful. An artist like Westring might be employed to paint a wide variety of other images or natural textures on the narrow walls of your stair. Local artists most likely advertise in your yellow pages.
You might contact your local ASID office (the American Society of Interior Designers) to learn about artists registered as Industry Partners. You would be wise to ask to see the individual portfolio of any artist you are considering and check out their references. Most faux artists can provide you with your individualized sample before you begin of how your own wall finish will appear. If you don’t like that sample, do yourself the favor of asking for another. Expect to pay either by the hour or by the square foot for this type of custom work.
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