Stairs

A single staircase connects the home’s three levels. The wood screen separating it from the living area is original. The Eames lounge chair, Eames storage unit, and framed art by Wrong Shop are from Design Within Reach. The vase is Heath Ceramics, the planter is from Flora Grubb Gardens, and the black and white print is by HardRoadStudio.

Steps with storage that lead up to the balcony.

"White space was preserved in the kitchen by creating a pantry in the addition," say the architects. They continued the "language" of the cabinetry, which also conceals the refrigerator, and inserted a custom spiral staircase to connect the main floor to the garden level. An enlarged rear window that can be seen from the entry brightens up the space.

This wooden staircase doubles as kitchen shelving in the English designer's home. Tyler hired David Restorick, a furniture maker and friend, to build a staircase that doubles as display space for Tyler's vast collection of colorful cookware.

This reconfigured Craftsman home in Portland, Oregon, designed by Beebe Skidmore Architects, includes a highly functional mudroom. The exterior siding and windows were kept in place to reference the house’s previous incarnation. Built-in cabinetry with exposed plywood edges and laminate fronts are now up to the task of handling the family’s gear. The mudroom has sight lines to the family nook at the back corner.

New ash wood “stairage” (stairs with built-in storage)

A view of the staircase leading up to the second floor, where the architects built a home office for Julián Romera, an art director, as well as a primary suite and a bedroom for the couple’s son, Félix.

The kitchen’s wood-framed glass doors are original to the house, and the wood used to build the island was taken from old ceiling beams. One section of the island is topped with counter-height granite.

The custom staircases by Kable Design Build feature white oak treads and a powder-coated steel handrail with perforated metal guardrail by Seattle Metal Fabrication.

A metal balustrade was a simple solution to upgrade the existing stair.

A custom metal mesh balustrade wraps around the staircase to give it the spiral feel the owners were looking for. The timber was resurfaced to get it looking good as new.

Although the width of the stairway walls didn't change, new wood treads and a wider extension at the bottom of the space help make it feel both brighter and less confining.

“The challenge was updating the house without removing its roots, which was something that Sean was very much keen on,” says Thayná Alves and Taryn Echeverry of the L.A. design studio The Curator. Consequently, Designer Christopher Cahill of CASC Design Inc. made only a few architectural interventions.

Storage is built in wherever possible throughout the home—including in this nook underneath the stairs—allowing the family to optimize the space