by Furnishly | Jan 26, 2022 | DIY, Home Improvement
Creating a clean, on-trend look when replacing balusters just got easier. L.J. Smith® Stair Systems has introduced a new Concealed Iron Baluster Installation Kit, making it simpler for homeowners to tackle the DIY project of installing half-inch hollow square iron balusters.
“A popular practice these days is to remove some (or all) of the old balusters on a stair system to gain a new look in the home,” says Craig Kurtz, president of L.J. Smith Stair Systems. “Oftentimes homeowners change from older-style wooden balusters to newer iron balusters. This gives the entire stairway an upgraded appearance.”
Easy to Install
According to Kurtz, the DIY kit can be used for both open treads and level runs on a stairway. There are no adhesives or shoes involved. After removing the older baluster, homeowners simply slide the plastic insert into the bottom of the hollow trimmed iron baluster. Then, the dowel screw is installed into the tread. The plastic insert and baluster are then screwed onto the tread surface, creating a tight bond.
Each kit includes a tapered plastic insert, dowel screw and instructions. The kits can be used with more than 25 styles of square-designed hollow iron balusters offered by L.J. Smith in Low Sheen Black, Matte Nickel, Oil Rubbed Bronze and Oil Rubbed Copper.
“Whether you choose to replace just a few balusters or all of the balusters, this kit makes the task go smoothly,” says Kurtz. “With just the square baluster coming in contact with the tread surface you’re creating a much cleaner appearance for the overall stairway.”
In Demand
Kurtz emphasizes that requests for iron balusters, combined with wooden handrails and treads, continue as a strong trend in the industry.
“Mixing metals and woods is a popular design element throughout the entire home,” says Kurtz. “Think about wood beams with metals straps on a ceiling or stylish wooden kitchen cabinetry with metal hardware accents.
“The new Concealed Iron Baluster Installation Kit makes it possible for anyone to add sleekness and style to the stairway as a way to complement the other interior design elements of the home.”
L.J. Smith, a Novo Building Products Company, offers a wide variety of products including wooden and ornamental iron balusters. For more information, visit ljsmith.com.
Further Reading
by Furnishly | Jan 25, 2022 | Home Improvement
Can a new stairway system truly set the stage for an entire home remodeling project? Homeowner Joe Hanna believes the answer is yes.
“The horizontal metal panel system was a game-changer,” says Hanna, who resides in Auburn, Ala. “This stairway and the accompanying railing system allowed us to accomplish what we dreamed of. It’s the most impactful part of our entire interior renovations project.”
Opening Up the Floor Plan
Hanna’s home was built in 1996. He and his family moved in three years later. For the next two decades, they lived with the house as it was, making small improvements along the way. Then, in 2019 they decided to make some serious changes.
“We had several contractors working on various things, such as repainting, removing textured ‘popcorn’ ceilings and new lighting,” says Hanna. “These all involved our main living spaces. Our goal was to create a more open floor plan with an enhanced appeal.”
After consulting with an interior designer, the Hannas turned to Will Harrelson for additional assistance. Working through Russell Building Supply, Harrelson came back to Hanna with the recommendation to replace the drywall areas in the kitchen and sides of the stairwell with the Linear Metal Panel System from L.J. Smith® Stair System. This system seemed like the perfect solution for Harrelson to recommend since it was sturdy, customizable, and met the client’s desire to open up the main living spaces.
“We wanted to give the Hannas the open feeling they desired,” says Will Harrelson, owner of Harrelson Homes. “Installing the unique metal panel railing system, replacing some hardwood floors and installing new rear French doors all helped achieve that goal. We also provided them with a new main entry, new mantel and TV location, along with stained concrete on the back patio. Together it makes a stunning transformation.”
Innovative Idea a Winner
The Hannas fell in love with the horizontal metal railing with wood accents. According to Harrelson, this product truly fits the home renovation.
“Joe really loves the metal look even though the house has a lot of wood in it,” says Harrelson. “That’s when I steered him away from vertical balusters toward the clean look of the horizontal system.”
“Given that ours was a renovation of an already existing residence with a somewhat unique design, we needed an innovative solution,” says Hanna. “Will and the L.J. Smith team came up with exactly what we needed. And we’re really impressed with how the Harrelson Homes crew came in, dealt with a challenging situation and gave us stunning results.”
Linear Metal Panels can be pre-built to fit and only require a few screw holes drilled for installation. A special easy-install feature of the system is that no glue is needed, no sanding, no code issues, no drilling of baluster holes, no marking and or cutting to fit. Plus, every rake and level panel is predrilled on the top rung and comes with screws for easy attachment to the handrail. Screws are also included for the bottom of each panel for flush mount or curb wall installations.
The pre-assembled nature of the panels speeds up installation. The system also includes fast-install spacer newels, panel posts, square nose-designed treads and handrails.
The Linear Metal Panel System comes with Low Sheen Black as a standard finish. Additional powder-coated and Pantone® paint colors can be ordered so that the rail system complements the home interior. Handrail options come in many different wood species to create a clean, refined look for the stair system.
Homeowner’s Perspective
With the renovation now complete, the Hannas are basking in their open spaces. And, the stairway system continues to be the main focus when visitors come to see the remodeled home.
“Guests — especially those who have been in the house previously — are amazed by the new ‘welded look’ of the stair and railing system,” says Hanna. “They believe it has transformed the entire main living space of our home. I tend to agree. The updated stairs and staircase are so impactful they draw immediate attention.
“This part of the renovation also allows for the other parts of the project to be more prominently displayed. That’s because the railing system opens up the sightlines of the main living space in the house, making the other renovations more visible from any area of the home.”
Contractor’s Perspective
For the team at Harrelson Homes, the project fulfills their company goal of bringing homeowners’ visions to life.
“A ‘home’ means a great deal more to us than just the materials put together to construct a house,” says Harrelson. “Home is where families are made and nurtured. It’s where life-changing moments happen, and it’s a safe place for all. That principle inspires us every day to provide an amazing customer experience.
“The Linear Metal Panel System is a quality product that makes a strong impression. I’ve worked with other L.J. Smith products in the past and they’re always a game-changer for a project. For the Hanna home, we’re thrilled that we were able to provide them with the enhancements they desired for their family to grow and thrive.”
L.J. Smith, a Novo Building Products Company, offers a wide variety of products including wooden and ornamental iron balusters. For more information, visit ljsmith.com.
Further Reading
by Furnishly | Sep 27, 2021 | Design Inspiration
Indoor courtyards add pockets of greenery to these two luxury modern interiors, where modern staircases thread a line of luxury and elegance. The courtyards are small and arid designs where mature cacti rule with tall and intriguing forms. Home design number one also features a central terrarium for the family pet, accomplishing one beautiful and practical statement. The courtyard in our second featured home offers inspiration for an indoor reflection pool that’s crossed by luxurious white marble stepping stones and flanked by eye-catching modern art. In each home, we’ll discover inspiring staircases that show off their full beauty through clear glass balustrades, highlighted under mellow mood lighting.
In Cairo, this private residence features a large terrarium at the core of a luxurious living room. The pocket of greenery divides two spacious lounge areas that are flooded with natural daylight from wraparound windows.
A round ottoman coffee table injects black and white pattern into the centre of the lounge. Matching scatter cushions style the plain grey modern sofa.
Oversized pendant lights drop clusters of illumination over the conversational seating area.
A large area rug holds the lounge furniture arrangement together. A recessed track lighting system draws a mirrored outline of the area rug on the ceiling directly above, creating the effect of a room within a room.
The lounge space on the opposite side of the terrarium is an impressive double height room. A low relief decorative wall panel towers the full height of the lofty void.
Two sculptural chairs are placed at the end of the room, where they silhouette against the bright window.
An eye-catching modern chandelier explodes a bright brass accent into the grey and white decor scheme.
A modern brass floor lamp stylishly coordinates with the ceiling light fixture.
The large living room stands open to a modern staircase with a clear glass balustrade. A small, arid courtyard adorns the base of the stairwell, adding a splash of uplifting greenery, texture and natural interest.
A pet chameleon lazily explores the central terrarium, where he can keep a watchful eye over each side of the living space.
Abstract wall decoration enhances the staircase design, where circular panels appear to extrude from the same wall colour. Some of the circular panels serve as wall sconces that glow mysteriously through the glass balustrades.
The formal dining room unfolds at the base of the open concept staircase.
Chic brass and glass pendant lights are paired up along the length of the fashionable racetrack-shaped dining table. Rounded-back dining chairs complement the table’s modern curves.
The modern kitchen is a clean white and textured wood tone design, accented with a sleek beige kitchen island.
Wooden kitchen accessories warm up the white kitchen core and draw textural links with the wood grain appliance housing units.
White marble kitchen backsplashes and countertops thread a look of luxury through the spacious layout.
A small glass kitchen table makes a lightweight addition by the window. A dainty white pendant light visually anchors the neat eating area in place.
The circular modern wall sconces that illuminate the glass-sided staircase in the living room also make an appearance alongside the concrete entryway stairs.
The modern home exterior is a linear, white rendered volume with immense cutaways that reveal the sky.
Glass balconies overlook the sparkling water.
Sheer white voiles filter the influx of bright sunlight.
Our second modern home interior benefits from an injection of bold colour, in the shape of abstract modern art over the sectional sofa. The rest of the living room decor palette is peacefully grey and white, which allows the art piece to truly shine.
The art-infused sitting area is situated in a quiet location at the back of the larger living room, which makes it a great spot for reading. Deeper into the centre of the social space, a channel tufted sofa forms a snug arrangement around the TV.
A beautiful wood cantilevered staircase design is illuminated along the treads. An arid courtyard grows cacti beneath the rise of the staircase.
A reflection pool shimmers prettily beside the understair courtyard design, flowing a blue river toward a piece of intriguing photographic art. A complementary blue accent covers a Platner armchair designed by Warren Platner for Knoll.
The courtyard and pool divides the kitchen from the formal dining room. White marble stepping stones provide dry passage between the two.
The kitchen occupies an elevated position that overlooks the surrounding living space.
Three black metal kitchen bar stools contrast against the white marble island. A ribbon of LED light illuminates the stunning marble vein.
A luxury console table adds the white marble decor element to the hallway of the home, beneath an attractive set of freeform wall mirrors.
Inside the first bedroom, a 4 poster bed with flowing white curtains creates a romantic look. See more inspiration for 4 poster beds here.
The second double bedroom features a unique suspended bed design with a modern wood slatted headboard. A swing chair follows on with the suspended theme by the window, where it forms an inviting reading nook.
The enormous luxury bathroom has a double sink bathroom vanity setup in the window, where tropical plants loll at the edges of tall bathroom vanity mirrors and marble pedestal sinks. Colourful artwork makes an unexpected addition to the bathroom wall.
On the balcony, sheer white drapes can be drawn to keep out bugs whilst the homeowners enjoy a little TV in the fresh air. A white marble television mount and media shelf build a luxurious indoor-outdoor feel. Crisp white upholstered furniture lay out a dreamy ethereal aesthetic.
Recommended Reading: 4 Homes That Feature Green Spaces Inside, With Courtyards & Terrariums
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by Furnishly | Aug 11, 2021 | Design Inspiration
Often, spiral staircases are installed simply as a way to combat the issue of limited space, since they typically take up less room than a straight set. Thanks to their curvaceous shape, they are also more suited to a more centralised position without causing an awkward break in a free-flowing layout. With that said, the spiral staircase designs that we’re looking at here are either big in impact or huge in their elegant modern stature. We’ll be taking a look at narrow wheels that explode with colour, style and innovation, some larger spirals and helical staircases that cut extraordinarily beautiful and sculptural silhouettes into their surroundings, plus a selection of colossal feats of magnificent engineering.
A cool cascade. This solid swirling white balustrade breaks into a cascade of concrete at its base, where heavy treads appear to float absolutely weightlessly.
Turn up the heat to amp up the colour. Tempered steel shimmers an incredible shade of deep purple with rainbow flares, which makes this heat-treated balustrade into a startling focal piece within a subdued monochrome setting.
If you’re hungry for even more colour, then step up your bright spiral staircase design with a graduated rainbow finish around the winders.
Looking like it has burst from the swirling sky of Edvard Munch’s painting, The Scream, this artistic freeform staircase is striped with eye-catching cuts of colour.
Rails of red. Bright red treads hang free of risers in this fabulously unique spiral staircase design, which is suspended above a contrasting green courtyard with its own stepped border. Colour coordinated furniture rallies a supporting palette nearby.
Melted gold. This seductive staircase design drips a luxurious melt of gold through a light-filled stairwell, where sunrays accentuate its magnificently rich lustre.
Like a pristine play on Picasso’s Girl with a Mandolin, this abstract modern staircase combines curves with the cubism of straight closed risers and boxed landing areas.
Layers of luxury. An eye-catching feature wall or a bespoke floor to ceiling bookcase makes the ideal tall accompaniment to an elegant spiral staircase installation.
Snail shell chic. The indents underneath this fabulous wheeling staircase installation create the aesthetic of an unravelling snail shell.
Rising like a tendril of exhaled smoke, the wind of this slinky staircase is showcased within a chimney of alluring atmospheric light.
Curvaceous complements. Not only is this wooden spiral staircase finished with artfully crafted adjoining curves to its mezzanine, but the living room furniture imitates its grace in curvaceous silhouettes below.
Clean meets complexity in a fresh white, minimalist spiral staircase concept.
Maximise light in a limited space with an open tread, small spiral staircase. This piece has a pause in the slimline balustrade halfway up to give access to a partially elevated room.
A twist in the tale. This helical staircase is constructed with one solid side and one glass side to create an exaggerated twist.
The tighter twist. Here, we step away from the loose helical to an uber tight torsion. A glossy black finish dramatises the piece.
Matt black and meandering, a stretched helical staircase dominates a wide open floor plan in an expression of complete professionalism.
A bronze beauty enchants a double height living space with dark, lustrous allure. A wall of glass bricks allows light to enter behind the construction to further illuminate the show.
A colour blocked caracol staircase can be achieved with contrasting treads that cut through to the back of the wind.
The monumental modernist stairs in Palácio Itamaraty by Brazilian legend Oscar Niemeyer.
Created in contemporary French limestone, this is the world’s first freestanding, 320-degree stone staircase, built by The Stonemasonry Company for a private house in Cheshire.
Life is full of twists and turns, so why not your staircase? Handrails roam free of balustrades here to fully let loose on those curves.
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- Designer: YYDG Interiors
Another disconnected design works with two different materials to accentuate twin twisted tracks.
Boxed edges draw focus to the widest ends of wooden winders here, which make the staircase appear as a piece of intricately crafted furniture.
Stepping stones. Step off your staircase onto a pebbled bed–or at least create the illusion of doing so with a bridging tread over a textured floor treatment that’s confined within a suitably rounded border.
A different kind of rounded stone bed is achieved here, with stone tiles cut on their axis to create textural contrast. A rounded stone wall encases the stairwell to exaggerate the effect.
Create a welcoming highlight. Underlit handrails draw a ribbon of warming illumination that highlights a curving staircase from base to brow.
Perfectly polished. A combo of smooth wood and polished stone builds a sophisticated statement.
A Danish architect and developer built a house for himself and his family in Denmark, which features a spectacular spiral staircase design that’s made from a staggering 630 pieces of CNC-cut plywood.
Curves and core courtyards. An open core is just begging to be filled with an eye-catching focal piece, so why not make it a piece of mother nature’s own architecture with a layered courtyard design.
This remarkable spiral staircase and courtyard combination tucks textured greenery all the way around the base to peek through the bottom treads.
The halfway hangout. When a spiral staircase is this big, you might as well make a pitstop. Add some shapely benches where creative colleagues can hang out and collaborate within the inspiring surroundings.
A low hanging chandelier adds an elegant column of illumination down the centre of a spiralled ascent. Glass sided balustrades allow the glow to pass all the way through, safely highlighting the twisting treads underfoot.
Make waves with a water feature. The sound of rippling water will carry all the way up the open stairwell to the second floor to create a serene connection across all levels.
Tactile twists. Cut deep at the risers and shallow underneath, this columnar design is pieced together with hundreds of layers that you just can’t help but want to touch.
Another chandelier bejewelled spiral, where luxurious black marble steps cut darkly and LED ribbons shine bright.
With an ET sucked up in a tractor beam, we know we’ve gone space age now. Spaceship-like moulded sides encapsulate a futuristic staircase that would look at home on Star Trek… Or in a cool white minimalist pad invaded by Smart Home add-ons and cutting-edge furniture design.
Named the Interstellar stairs, optical illusion and awe-inspiring symmetry orbit a core that suggests a floating celestial body.
Wooden vertebrae make an enormous snaking backbone, like the fossilised remains of an ancient serpent.
Stacked like thatched straw but as strong as a house of bricks, this extraordinary construction is unfathomable both in scale and in strength.
Contoured fins mould a freeform outer shell around regular treads and risers here, creating a truly amazing design piece where there could have stood mundanity.
Spinning out from a central column, steps emerge like wide propellor blades, charged with energy.
In the community focussed M.I. bookstore in Harbin, China, HMA architects & designers conceived a colossal staircase design and various spatial experiences that all centre around a love for books.
Material contradiction. An unfeasibly lightweight wireframe column forms the heart of a solid stone staircase, fashioning an interesting contradiction in visual weight.
This exquisitely detailed spiral is Leonardo da Vinci’s double helix staircase, built in 1520. You can find it inside of the Château de Chambord in France.
Stacked to the rafters. This wood framed spiralling construction features open sided book stacks that provide colour both inside and outside of the enormous stairwell.
Jogging up and down these stairs would be a little like jumping out of a jet plane… Sleek white streamlined metal spinning from view, and not totally safe.
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- Visualizer: Andrew McConnell
Is it a cool balustrade of a dinosaur rib cage? Either way, it would look totally awesome next to a fierce recreation of a velociraptor.
Petals of solid wood flower into a naturally beautiful spiral design.
The stuff treehouse dreams are made of. Canopystair is a modular system that attaches around a tree trunk without the use of tools to form an exterior spiral staircase. The system is lightweight and designed to leave the tree free of any damage or marks.
Railway sleepers stack up a chunky wood grain finish.
Amazingly, this unusual piece begins its day as an ordinary (extremely tall) chest of drawers. With the push of a button, the chest of drawers swivels out to form a spiral staircase– storage and space saving ingenuity in one.
See the stairs in action here:
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Recommended Reading: 51 Stunning Staircase Design Ideas
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