Wooden staircase design: classic, rustic or modern

9 November 2022

A well thought-out interior staircase design, properly designed for a specific space, is able to enrich and amplify the desired style. As in a reflective effect, the well-made interior staircases enhance the remaining furniture and outline its mood.

Modern interior staircase designs, in particular, try to combine aesthetics to their primary function, that is the connection between different levels of the same building. Focus on various aspects related to the installation (see for instance space saving stairs ideas that minimize the footprint when the problem of the size becomes pressing, opting for example for a spiral stair case), is really fundamental.

Whatever the characteristics of your home or office, the room in which you would need to place your staircase, you could hardly go wrong by orienting yourself between internal iron stairs and internal wooden stairs, among all the internal stairs on the market. In particular, we will now talk about a hypothetical wooden staircase design, how a wood modern  staircase design can prove beautiful, comfortable and above all versatile compared to a multiplicity of different atmospheres.

Depending on the characteristics in fact, the wooden stairs for interior can be modern or  traditional, but you can find also an elaborate wooden stair case full of details or basic and essential, contemporary or classic etc. for example with railings for internal stairs in contrasting materials or always in wood. Below we analyze some wooden staircase design from various points of view, starting from the material and its peculiarities, and you will find a modern staircase design gallery for inspiration.

Features, advantages and disadvantages of wooden staircase design

Staircase design ideas, how much variety! It is now possible to conceive all kinds of staircases, from staircase ideas in natural stone to internal glass staircase designs for home, from internal iron stairs to high-tech plastic staircases ideas, internal wooden stairs in wood, spiral installations with different stair panels ideas or suspended stairs ideas in Dupont Corian and so on.

But if we focus on the wooden ones, we must first understand if we are talking about completely wooden stairs or with covered steps: both options are possible, in the second case it could be internal masonry stairs or internal iron or steel stairs with, for example, wooden covered steps.

But there’s wood and wood! First of all, planning on a wooden staircase design, it is good to choose noble woods, with a compact texture (technically with a specific weight exceeding 0.55 Kg/dm³).

Actually wood is a soft material compared to others such as marble or granite, but the small signs that can be produced over time represent a characteristic that those who love this material will appreciate.

Interior stairs made entirely of wood or with covered steps, whether they are rustic or super modern internal wooden stairs, all have something in common: the warmth and the beautiful imperfection.

In addition to being a renewable and recyclable material, wood creates a sense of welcome, of warm energy; is adaptable to extremely different styles and wonderful in contrast to other raw materials, such as metal.

The wood is practical, aesthetically warm, adaptable to classic or contemporary styles, can be appreciated in its neutrality (in a thousand ranges of colors and veins) but also dyed to taste. 

In short, it is a material with high functional performance but also aesthetic.

Oak for wooden staircase design

The existing essences are the most varied but not all are suitable as stair panels ideas,perhaps not suited to be stepped on because of their characteristics. Some varieties, on the other hand, are more suitable to be used for stairs design such as iroko, beech, maple and especially oak wood, which has several features that make it really suitable for indoor stairs, also for a modern stairway design or contemporary staircase design:

• excellent resistance (mechanical) to stress
• excellent hardness
• excellent resistance to humidity (and even salt)
• stability and durability, to time and to agents such as mold etc.
• easy cutting and processing, easy assembly and also predisposition to finishing

Perhaps the only disadvantage is price, it is certainly not a cheap wood, but really given the qualities it is still well worth. It is used for fine furniture, for parquet floors but also for load-bearing structures in the construction industry (and this says a lot about its distinctive features). Basically oak can be found in Europe, USA and Japan, and this origin already characterizes a subdivision.

It can be treated in various ways to be adapted to your interior classic or modern staircase with extremely different results: if the starting color is brown that turns to yellow, the effect will differ if left natural or brushed, bleached or sandblasted and antiqued. And of course oak wood can be dyed in any color, losing maybe a little of its natural beauty.

Modern or classic wooden staircase design ideas, new or renovated

A modern staircase design, which among internal stairs is the one most in demand today even in case of renovation of pre-existing structures, can have many different prerogatives. Modernity is sought through various devices such as: cleaning of minimal lines, innovative details, modern staircase railing designs, special risers, combinations of strong materials, particular staircase decorating ideas, modern staircase wallpaper designs, even a modern staircase window design could make the whole area more modern, ando so on. 

Modern staircase designs made of iron are well suited to industrial-style environments, for example, in combination with wooden furniture, staircases ideas that can be open stairway or even spiral/ helical, in these cases also space-saving internal stairs. Marble modern staircase ideas such as suspended, modern internal stone stairs with LEDs inserted at each step, or staircases ideas in structural glass can easily renew any apartment…but playing with wood is more sophisticated!

In fact, thanks to the neutrality of this material with a very long tradition, you could decide to design, depending on your needs, wooden stairs for super classic interiors with an antique flavor. Instead you could decide to focus on something very current with relatively little effort, even changing something you already own. 

Thanks to a steel modern stair railing or a glass balustrade for instance, or you could cover the individual steps of your internal masonry stairs or internal iron stairs, leaving their structure as it is – the former are perhaps heavier to the eye but less noisy than the latter. Clearly, depending on the chosen wood essence, the size of steps and the particular shapes of them, such as the fan shape in a change of direction in an open stairway design, the final expense can change a lot. 

The assembly of the wood and the installation could be unexpectedly a little more expensive than other materials for technical reasons, but the vitality and the imperfect charm of the wood over time will not make you regret the choice, whatever were the style needs you wanted to adhere to.

Staircase decorating ideas for a wood modern staircase design and more (and if you do not have a new one maybe you can renew the existing one!)

Customization is the key word for your interior to talk about you, your style, so that a wooden staircase design for interior represents your direct emanation and make you and your family always feel at ease. You can give a personal touch with very small details but also with more noticeable decorations; this also applies to a modern staircase design, that may become a real piece of furniture of the house. 

You can think of some details for a stairs design during the planning, you can figure out how to embellish an open stairway, to make it less dangerous to pass through with LED strips for internal stairs. You could think of a modern handrail for internal stairs that is a little special (e.g. covered in leather or illuminated) that is not the usual basic steel handrail for an internal stair case.

You could simply renovate classic interior stair railings by replacing them with something state-of-the-art (a modern stair railing can really make a difference and there are some amazing modern staircase railing designs examples). Personalizing means finding some modern staircase ideas, including stair panel ideas not necessarily economically burdensome, or easy tricks on how to adorn with modern staircase wallpaper designs: let’s see some tricks!

• Focusing attention on the steps can prove to be a great tool to renew internal stairs; in addition to coating them to give a different look, with particular materials or even with decorative tiles, you can think of painting them creatively, or just contrast.

The integration of LEDs or steel elements at each step then, for example, could bring a significant element of modernity to the entire installation.

Traditionally the carpet has been used on the steps, adapting from time to time and renewing itself according to various styles; a decorative carpet, with customized dimensions to your liking, could be useful to preserve you from some dangers if elderly and/or children will use stairs.

• Beautifying the sidewall as a part of staircase designs for home or other particular contexts is really simple! With a particular wallpaper you could create a focal point even in the presence of an anonymous staircase. 

Or you could enrich the wall, symmetrically or asymmetrically, with photographs, prints or paintings; in this case the object of the images and the frames even with different formats will create the atmosphere you desire.

• Space under the staircase: if, as often happens, your wooden staircase for the interior have an unused space underneath, I recommend you to imagine a functional use, with furniture to measure, plants or space type closet, or combining utility and aesthetics you could create a bookcase, ideal with wood but also in continuation of an internal iron staircase.

Embellishing or renovating an interior stair case can make crossing the same suggestive but also make modern what is a little old style and awaken a new air, a new atmosphere for your interior.

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