Modern interior featuring a staircase-shaped black bookshelf against a concrete wall offers innovative home storage design ideas. Shelves are filled with colorful books, red boxes, and decorative objects like vases and a mirror. Two small framed artworks hang beside the shelf.

6 Tips to a Modern Staircase Design

ByKerr Design Build

When you are looking at redoing your staircase in a modern style, use these 6 tips below to get the right look.

1. Treads and risers
To create a simple and clean look you typically see these done in the same material for tread and riser. You can also remove the nosing, built-up edge detail, and simply angle the top of the stair tread down to the crutch of the lower stair tread for a super sleek look. I also love the look of a floating tread where there is no riser. In this case, you need to do very chunky treads, around 3” thick to complete the look.

  • A modern staircase design with wooden steps and glass railings leads to an upper floor. Below, a kitchen area is visible, featuring bar stools and pendant lights, with a large window providing natural light. The floor is wooden.
  • A modern staircase design showcases a carpeted staircase with a sleek wooden handrail. Wooden shelves above display a plant and decorative items. To the left, a small console table holds books and sculpture. The white walls contribute to the bright, airy atmosphere.
  • A modern staircase design takes center stage in this white-walled interior, featuring glass railings and wooden handrails. Hanging lights illuminate the space, where sunlight streaming in highlights the artwork, fireplace, and a sculptural piece on a glass table.
  • A modern staircase design features glass panels and wooden handrails. Below, a glass console holds a blue vase, a wood sculpture, and two pairs of shoes. A framed artwork hangs on the wall above while pendant lights elegantly dangle from the ceiling.
  • Modern staircase design featuring a sleek, angular style with dark-brown shelving integrated below. A small abstract sculpture graces a step, while a large framed photograph adorns the wall above. The space is well-lit and minimalist, epitomizing sophisticated simplicity.
  • Modern staircase design featuring illuminated steps and sleek glass railings. Overhead, several spherical pendant lights hang gracefully. In the background, contemporary furniture and a chic green sofa are visible in a well-lit living area, epitomizing modern design elegance.
  • Modern staircase design with dark wood built-in bookshelves showcases assorted books and decorative items, including a white orchid in a pot. A glimpse of a dining table corner and green upholstered seat adds to the modern ambiance, offering staircase tips for stylish living spaces.

2. Balusters
In modern design, you need to keep things simple so you typically do not see balusters, but what you may see are sheets of glass. This gives a very clean modern look. When you may have seen horizontal balusters, these are in fact not to code as they are deemed ‘climbable’. They can not be installed on a permitted project which will be inspected by a city official. There are ways around this like installing glass or plexiglass against the horizontal elements to passcode.

3. Handrail
The best look here is a simple rectangle. Be sure to check your local code, but typically 2.5” wide is good as it needs to be ‘graspable’. Also note that you need about 1.5” of space between a wall or object and the handrail to allow your hand to pass. I love the look of incorporating lighting into the handrail, but routering out the underside and installing an LED strip lighting you create an ethereal look.

4. Newel post
This is the large post at the base of the stairs. In a modern design, you would typically not have this as it’s a far more traditional item. Typically, you see a floating handrail on the wall, or the handrail sometimes turns and goes vertical to the floor for a seamless look.

5. Stringers
This is again a more traditional item, so you won’t typically see a stringer against the wall in a modern design. But you can have fun and play with the center structural stringer and expose it and do this in steel for a very modern industrial look.

6. Lighting
Hidden LED lighting really creates a modern look as well as being a good safety measure for the dark trips up the stairs at night. You can hide them under the nosing to they wash down the riser of the stair, or in the side stringers or as mentioned above in the underside of the handrail. I like it best when the actual light is hidden from view and all you see is the wash of light it creates.

Keep these 6 elements and tips in mind when designing your new modern staircase and you won’t go wrong!

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