Whether you are adding a second story to your home, designing a new layout or simply updating an old design, stairs can pose a difficult challenge. The biggest challenge that NYKB will face with our NYC renovations, revolve around aesthetics, space and safety. On one hand, you want the stairs to match the design of your home and remain safe for the home owner. On the other hand you want to make sure that the design (especially in Manhattan) maximizes the amount of space the customer will have for storage.
Because custom stairs can be relatively difficult to build, have the potential to make or break your project and are extremely difficult to design for optimal space and safety, cost’s associated with such projects can run high.Due to this, many renovation firms will bid on a staircase project with hopes to complete the work correctly. More often than not, these firms will realize that the task should have been installed by a professional, and end up either losing money or delivering a poorly designed staircase (and believe us, in our 14 years of operation we have seen and fixed our fair share of poorly designed stairs).
Luckily, we have a team of highly capable designers and architects who not only design and install custom stairs, but go far beyond the capabilities of most renovation firms in New York City. Our latest staircase project is proof of our abilities as a top custom staircase designer in the New York area.
This design presented itself with the challenges mentioned above; Improve the original design by making it safe and accessible for a family with young children, gain the most space possible and customize the design so that it becomes a focal piece of the apartment. (Let us know if you think we met these challenges, through the completed design shown below).
With that mission in mind, our team literally set up a work station and manufactured the stairs within the apartment to ensure that everything fit perfectly into place (stairs are often built offsite and delivered in pieces, this can often lead to problems down the line and the pieces can be damaged during transport). By building the stair case within the apartment, NYKB was able to assure that all measurements were exact and the stairs were crafted to fit the space perfectly.
The original design was a set of straight stairs, without hand rails and a steep incline. This obviously presented a risk to anyone, and with the severity of stair case accidents throughout the U.S., NYKB wanted our customer to feel completely safe walking up and down the staircase. (This apartment unit is not identical to the original design; however, it shows the exact layout of the original stairs mentioned above. We acquired this image from a listing in the same building on StreetEasy.com).
The designers at NYKB decided to give the stairs a slight curve, reducing the steepness of the stairs, widening the steps and adding safety to our design. The NYKB team also decided to pull the stairs away from the entrance as much as possible. As the Balance.com suggests, “Bad feng shui…say’s a staircase located directly in front of the entrance lets a home’s energy escape…[and]…being greeted by a stairway immediately upon entering the home is confrontational and off-putting to most people. Acceptable stairways are those that curve, are wide, well lit and off to the side.” We think it’s safe to say that we nailed it!
To further tackle the safety concern, NYKB installed a custom railing unit that includes a fully custom Venetian plaster finish by our friends at Decorfin. As if the Venetian plaster finish wasn’t enough, we designed and fabricated custom bronze risers and matched the steps with the same wood pieces used on the floors throughout the apartment. To top it off, NYKB matched the curve of the stairs by cutting into the wall and giving it the exact same curve and coating the wall with Venetian plaster as well. Also completed by Decorfin.
Finally, our designers were able to maximize the space by creating a large storage area underneath the stairs.
The stairs took about 6 weeks to fabricate and install and the entire renovation (a very large renovation) took a few months to complete. The NYKB team did the absolute best to ensure that every small detail was crafted to fit the needs of our customer. It is this type of attention that has earned NYKB some of the top reviews amongst our competitors and this is the type of work we seek to accomplish with every project we complete. If you are considering a custom stair case, home renovation, kitchen renovation or bathroom renovation, contact us today. We are more than happy to schedule a free in home consultation, with one of NYKB’s expert designers. Did we mention that we provide our design services for free!? Call us or email us today!
(212)242-3500 or info@nykb.com
