decor – C-VILLE Weekly

Dramatic and Functional Stairway Statements

By Marilyn Pribus –

It’s an iconic movie moment—Our Heroine sweeping down the dramatic curving staircase toward Our Hero or the Supporting Cast of 1,000. Of course most of us don’t have a grand staircase or even any stairs at all. But if you do, here are some classy, functional, or just plain fun ideas for your new or current home.

First, the terminology. Each part is important and each can lend itself to enhancing your décor.

The tread is the flat component you step on.
The risers are the vertical elements between the treads.
The balustrade is the rail system including the handrail and its supports.
The balusters are the vertical supports between the tread and the railing.

Treads
Treads are usually made of wood and can employ a wide range of grades. Formal staircases are usually constructed from high-quality unblemished wood—often stained. For other stairs, lower quality wood is frequently used instead. The treads are sometimes stained, but more often are painted to provide uniformity for wood that may have knotholes or unmatched grains.

Treads can be completely carpeted or enhanced with a well-secured runner, which can make a statement in color or texture. The runner can also serve as a transition from more formal areas to a more casual floor. Ideally, it should be relatively easy to remove for cleaning.

Risers
The risers are the vertical components between the treads and they offer a nearly endless blank canvas for interesting decorations. Risers can be stained or painted to match or to contrast with the treads. Paint can be a uniform shade or a palette of colors or even a series of mini-murals. Ceramic tiles also make an interesting contrast to the treads.

One family replaced their risers with small shallow shelves which were just the height of paperback books. Another clever homeowner devised drawers under the cellar treads (which had no risers) for storage of seldom used items like an oversized turkey-shaped platter and ice skates. His wife painted the drawer-front risers with “blackboard” paint, then used chalk to designate the changing contents.

Balustrade
This system offers opportunities for a variety of decors from colonial to uber-modern. The major support posts, or newels, are generally at the bottom and top of the stairs, the middle of a long straight rise, and at the landing of a turning staircase. They must be sturdy, but can have a design from formal to whimsical. They can be of the same wood as the stairs themselves or provide a dramatic contrast. The handrail may also be decorative, but must be easy for people to grasp.

Balusters
These vertical supports provide an excellent place for interesting décor, but remember to check building codes for the required distance between individual balusters for the safety of children.

Balusters are frequently made of wood, often “turned” to create interesting patterns, but pipes or panels can also be used. Other options might be rustic wood, stylish wooden panels, or welded metal. One dwelling had welded balusters with the shapes of branches complete with leaves.

In some cases, see-through panels of Plexiglas or smoked safety glass can replace traditional supports, lending a sense of openness. Balusters can also be replaced with floor-to-ceiling installations of rope, pipe, wood strips, or cables.

Mini Art Gallery
The wall beside the stairs is a prime spot for displaying artwork or photos. It’s often the perfect location for a particularly large piece of art or a selection of various shapes and sizes. It’s also a great spot to display a collection such as flower prints or children’s art. One homeowner displayed dozens of antique automobile license plates climbing the wall.

Check the internet for clever presentations. Some have identical frames and matting while others unify a collection of different sizes and shapes with uniformly colored frames. This could also be a place for very shallow shelves for books or mementoes.

Underneath
Depending on the layout of a staircase, the space beneath it can offer functional options. It could house a coat closet or even a powder room, particularly if it is reasonably close to plumbing connections. There might also be space for a stackable washer and dryer combination, again with nearby plumbing.

A special hideaway for the kids is another great way to use space under the stairway since they don’t need a lot of headroom. Just provide carpeting, small shelves for seating and storage, some lighting and good ventilation. The space might even have a child-height door or a “hidden” entrance provided by a swing-out panel.

Finally, the area under many stairways offers extra storage space. This could be simple open shelves or cubbies for family members. A tidier but more expensive option is built-in cupboards with doors or drawers.

One interior designer drew up plans for roll-out shelves faced with panels which, from the outside, appear to be a plain wall. The three-foot-deep shelves provide generous storage and, when pulled out, give good access to the short units at the lower part of the stairs and to the back end of all the shelves.

Stairs don’t just go up and down. With some imagination they can offer drama, extra functionality, and additional storage in your home.

Marilyn Pribus and her husband live in an Albemarle County home with no stairs at all, but when she was a little girl in upstate New York, she had a “fort” under the cellar steps.

Home Offices Are Popular

More and more, these days, people work from home, either full-time or part-time. As a home-based entrepreneur, however, you’ll soon find working with the computer in a corner of the kitchen, with the printer in the family room and your files atop the dryer in the laundry, is a recipe for inefficiency and frustration.

It’s time for a home office, not just for your convenience, but also as a selling point in the future. An office is an appealing addition to any home, whether it’s a bedroom or other small room that has been converted or a dedicated space that is often a choice in new construction.

On the other hand, it’s wise to create an office, studio, or workroom that can easily be converted to another use by a buyer who doesn’t choose to work at home.

The most popular space is a spare bedroom. Use a desk that can be closed to conceal your computer, file cabinets that can double as bedside tables, and a wall bed that, when folded up, shows nothing but a decorative panel or painting.

An alternative is to use a portion of your living or dining room, which are often near the front door. This is desirable if clients come to your home, and you may be able to differentiate the area with partitions or bookshelves.

Some people convert a garage, patio, porch or attic. This often entails building permits and considerable expense since you may need to install windows, wallboard, heat, air conditioning, and wiring.

Even a walk-in closet or storage room can serve. A skylight or light tube brightens a windowless space and scaled-down furnishings can make it appear less cramped.

The major complaint about home offices regards space—there’s never enough. Remember that while your space doesn’t all have to be in the same place, it’s more efficient if it is.

Here are some pointers:

A professionally furnished office will make you feel more business-like. For inspiration, plug “home office” plus “design ideas” into Google. Among the 20+ million hits you’re sure to find some perfect solutions.
Your most important furniture is a chair that fits you perfectly. “Test-drive” several and don’t skimp.
Be thrifty on other items. Create a desk from a door atop two file cabinets. Check out garage and estate sales, discount warehouses, or Craig’s List. Consider floor models or “as-is” items.
Have excellent lighting for your work surfaces.
Go up the walls for storage above and even below the desk. Fit slender shelves behind a door and a foot below the ceiling for seldom-used items. Opt for modular units that can be transported and reconfigured in case you move.
Choose desk and file units on castors so they can be stored out of the way. Fold-up tables can supply the necessary work surfaces.
A separate business phone number with voice mail is more professional than having family members answer.

Tax Considerations

While this information offers general guidelines, remember that tax situations differ from person to person. It’s always wise to consult a tax professional.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a reputation for close scrutiny of home-office tax deductions. In fact, some people don’t deduct their office for fear of triggering an audit which means they miss out on perfectly legitimate deductions.

Remember, you have no obligation to pay more taxes than required by law and the IRS spells out its rules in Publication 587: Business Use of Your Home available at www.irs.gov. The benefit of a home-office deduction is that it can reduce your self-employment tax payments to Social Security and Medicare, which amount to a bit more than 15 percent in 2016 for incomes up to $118,500.

Your office, with minor exceptions, must be your principal place of business used regularly and exclusively for that purpose. “Regular” means more than occasional and “exclusive” means no personal use allowed. For instance, a dining room used both for meeting clients and family meals is not eligible for the home-office deduction.

While an office in a separate room is easily identifiable to an auditor’s eye, space that is clearly demarcated by partitions or moveable walls is acceptable. Your office is deducted as a percentage of your total living area. (Tax software does this for you.)

Self-employment earnings are reported on a Schedule C and Form 8829 addresses the home office. A percentage of some Schedule A-deductible items including mortgage interest and property taxes are deducted on 8829 in proportion to the business area of your home.

In addition, some ordinarily non-deductible items such as utilities, rent, or repairs to the property may be deductible—again in proportion to the area of your home office. Homeowners may depreciate the home-office area although this may lead to tax complications if you sell the property.

Whether or not you take a tax deduction, your home office, the furnishings and equipment used exclusively for business such as a printer, office rug or filing cabinet are entirely deductible.

A home-office deduction may not be used to create a business loss, however it can be carried forward to the following tax year. The IRS generally has three years to audit your return and longer in the case of suspected fraud, so keep impeccable records. If you move, take pictures of your home office. In the event of a subsequent audit, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Marilyn Pribus and her husband live near Charlottesville. She has deducted home office expenses without being audited for many years, but learned recently that as a freelance writer and musician, she must have an Albemarle County business license.