Wednesday
Apr252007
Stairs and storage
Wed, 25 Apr 2007
Image from from Vogue Living Australia. What a great idea. If you’re having some stairs constructed why not consider this. Handy and hidden, a great storage idea for linen, winter woollies, books and papers, anything small in fact.
P.S. These amazing stairs have travelled all over the blogosphere in a few short weeks. This is a scanned image from the Vogue Living Australia Before+After Autumn/Winter 2007 issue. The true originator of this staircase, the joinery company is named in the comments. If you're in Australia and want one of these then google their name and their address and phone number are yours.
Reader Comments (46)
BRILLIANT!!!
The stairs are by Unicraft Joinery, Hamilton, Victoria here in Australia. No website unfortunately. Love the little drawer pulls too.
I just love multifuctional things!
This is extremely cool--one of those things that seems so obvious after you've seen it. If only I had stairs in my house!
awesome
i love it! now, to have enough shoes to fill all the drawers in the staircase ;)
wow! ridiculously good idea...
Oh my! That has to be one of the best t hings I've seen yet!
thanks!
what a GREAT idea! some rental space should consider this.
D A N G E R O U S ! ! ! !
Its very dumb. Like a kid leaving their roller skates on the stairs.
Yes, going down these at night is like playing russian roulette - will it be this step or the next on which breaks my neck?
Hey, not all of us have moron kids that leave things open. Many of us don't have kids, and we know how to close a cabinet. :-)
This is a great idea for those that are limited on space. These probably aren't meant for everyday items either, so you probably wouldn't be opening them all the time.
Perhaps the drawer's could be fitted with the following to extras:
1. Some sort of "magnetic latch" that keeps the drawer closed or from accidentally opening up. Similar to a cabinet on a work desk.
2. Or perhaps a small-ish spring to pull the drawer back in automatically to make sure it doesn't stay open accidentally.
People crying Danger: note the lights along the wall.
Are they sealed on the other side? The bottom of the stairs in my house is in the basement and it gets pretty cold down there in the winter. Wouldn't that cold air make it through the cracks?
Looks cool, but not necessarily applicable to all staircases. Usually staircases are located one on top of the other. I would worry that when climbing a lower set of stairs you'd hit your head on the back of the drawers above. Of course, for the bottom stairs of a house this would work fine.
Where does the support come from?
"Where does the support come from? "
Gotta ask that myself!!!
These are probably inspired by the stairs that are located in almost every closed-hull sailboat! Though those designs (mostly) tend to open by lifting the stair, which is hinged. This helps to avoid the most of the problems you could imagine with "leaving it open." Great idea finally coming to my FIRST home :)
Not for me. I'd leave a drawer ajar one time, step in and break my neck.
How many centuries did it take for this to come out - Brilliant!
Look a little closer...it appears as if the bottom 2 stairs are the only ones that are drawers. The rest do not have the frame on the sides or the latch that is visible on the bottom 2. I am certain that due to the possibly danger involved in using these, safety was a major consideration and there are features to insure no one breaks their neck.
Traditional Japanese kaidan-dansu also turn stairs into storage, but the drawers open from the side. I've always wanted one of those in my house.
Having the steps slide open like this also makes them gradual collectors of whatever shoe-dirt falls into the drawer.
I think this and the safety concerns mentioned above are why we haven't seen this design in common use.