This staircase replacement in Hempstead, Kent started with a fairly common problem: the existing staircase was taking up too much of the space. It was a metal spiral staircase with beech treads, white metal spindles and beech handrails. It had done its time, but it looked dated and made the stairwell feel tighter than it needed to be.

The customer wanted more space through the stairwell and a cleaner, more contemporary look. The brief was for an ash staircase with black metal spindles, keeping the whole thing simple and minimal rather than making it busy.

Designing the new staircase

The new staircase was designed to fit the space properly and open up the area as much as possible. A spiral staircase can be useful in the right setting, but in this house it was creating dead space and making the hallway feel more awkward than it needed to.

The aim was to replace it with something that felt lighter, cleaner and more natural in the space. Ash was a good choice for that because it gives a pale, clear timber finish with enough grain to stop it looking flat.

Selecting the ash

Ash can vary quite a lot in colour, sometimes even within one board. On this job the colour needed to stay as light and even as possible, so the boards were selected carefully before the staircase was made.

That sort of detail matters. If the boards are too mixed, the finished staircase can start to look patchy before anything else has even happened. The timber is a big part of the final look here, so it needed to be right from the start.

Handrail and spindle detail

The handrails were made at 90mm wide, with the top edges sanded back to take away the sharpness. That keeps the profile clean, but makes it feel better in the hand. A hard square edge might look tidy in a drawing. Less useful when someone has to actually use it every day.

The spindles are 14mm black metal rods, drilled directly into the handrail and the nosing. There is no baserail, which keeps the staircase looking simpler and more minimal. It also lets the ash and black metal do the work without adding another line of timber where it was not needed.

The finished result

The finished staircase gives the customer a lot more of an open feel through the stairwell. The light ash works well against the black metal spindles, and the wider handrails give the staircase a solid, contemporary look without making it feel heavy.

The old spiral staircase dominated the space. The new ash staircase sits in it much more naturally, with cleaner lines and a better use of the area around it. Simple enough, which is usually where these jobs end up looking their best.