A few years ago, I had several friends over my apartment for drinks. A guy one of my friends was seeing left to go use the bathroom -- when he came out he told me, "Your apartment is the American dream." Confused? So was I, and frankly, I wasn't sure what the hell just happened in my bathroom.He explained that when his parents first came to the U.S. from Russia, they stayed at the home of a wealthy Chicago family who offered to get them on their feet through a church program. Apparently the best part of this family's home was the fact that they had a telephone in the bathroom -- and as embarassed as I am to admit this, my not-renovated-since-Gerald-Ford's-term bathroom did too. (The phone has since been removed from the wall and the jack is covered with an etagere.) From that point on, this guy equated the ability to chat with your relatives while sitting on the toilet with all that is good and great about America. Yeah, make with that what you will.
But the point of this story is that this is how I feel about stairs. I dream about owning a place big enough to warrant stairs. If your house has stairs, I'm pretty sure life can't be all that bad.
Today, I fell in love with the photo above from Marie Claire Maison. The contrast of the mirrored tiles with the old, weathered wood is so gorgeous.
It got me thinking about all of the other ways we can dress up a space with an inventive staircase, like painted or papered steps, nautical roped railings, stenciled words, graphic runners and pull-out storage:
Sources, Left to Right: 1., 4.-6. Marie Claire Maison, 2. House Beautiful, 3. Country LivingAnother interesting riff on this theme was this beautiful public staircase in Germany. Artist Horst Gläsker painted 112 steps, all conveying a different emotion or behavior associated with relationships. Examples include "to forgive", "to cuddle", "to offer resistance","to seduce", "to get the tinglies", "panic", "to flourish" and "love".
(Via Apartment Therapy)