Lets kick off with a question. What is the most neglected space in a house with oodles of design potential?

The staircase!

More often than not and this includes mine also they are bare and under utilised. You should want to linger on your way up the stairs, hang out on the landings and be taken a bit by surprise. Landings I’m good at, stairs not so much so I need to up my game and make them as tantalising as the rest of this space. I’ve been wanting to put a runner on mine for maybe 50 years. I love how runners soften the stairs and bring an element of luxury to the hallway a bit like this one:

Painting them out like these guys have done with some kick ass art on the wall also takes this area to a whole other level. It makes you want to linger and when any space makes you want to linger you’ve nailed it!

In my latest book I wallpapered the risers to up the visual interest, you just need to make sure you varnish over the top otherwise they will get scuffed up pretty quickly.

Oh and a quick little glimpse at my landing – which I am very happy with. It doesn’t take much to up the game on landings, a chair, a rug a bit of art. Wham bam you’re there!

Two people I know who have the most fabulous hallway are my sister and her partner.  Gem and  Russ have filled their landing and hallway with the most amazing selection of art so much so all you want to do is hang out in it. Such a fabulous idea. The rugs add an element of luxury the art an element of intrigue. Fab combo