Designed Stairs

Designed Stairs has the experience to design structural, open-riser staircases that are also beautiful works of contemporary art.

  • The Smart Builder’s Guide to Perfect Curved Staircases

    Curved stairs bring unmatched beauty, elegance, and architectural impact to any home. But unlike straight or L-shaped staircases, a custom curved stair requires careful planning, precise design, and expert fabrication to ensure it meets code, fits the space, and delivers the smooth, sweeping look people expect from a luxury staircase.

    Here’s what every builder and homeowner should understand before starting a curved staircase project.

    1. The Planning: Beautiful Curves Require Real-World Precision

    On an architect’s plan, curved stairs look effortless. In the real, 3-D world? They can get complicated fast. Common issues include:
    • Plans that don’t meet code requirements for riser height, tread depth, or headroom
    • Insufficient planning for the stair/stringer layout and curved railing
    • Not enough physical space to achieve a smooth, attractive radius
    • Architectural drawings that don’t match field conditions, especially in new construction

    A curved staircase is not the place for guesswork. Early coordination is everything.

    2. DSI Solutions: Bring Us in Early (Seriously—Before Framing Is Complete)

    The single biggest cost-saver in the world of curved stair design is early involvement. When Designed Stairs steps in early, we can:
    • Design a code-compliant curved staircase that balances efficiency, comfort, and aesthetics
    • Engineer the most attractive, cost-effective curve that fits your footprint
    • Define/direct your framing of curved walls to assure a geometry balanced stair
    • Prevent costly mistakes that often appear after framing, when changes are far more expensive

    Bringing in a specialist early avoids delays, rework, and budget creep—especially on luxury homes in Chicagoland, Naperville, Hinsdale, Oak Brook, Western Springs, Glenview, and the North Shore, where curved stairs are highly sought after.
    And if your project isn’t local? No problem. We’ve completed curved staircases as far away as Alaska, Hawaii, England, and even Japan, providing remote guidance, templates, and engineering support to ensure the final result is flawless.

    3. The Process: Why Curved Stairs Require More Time

    A custom curved staircase is a handcrafted architectural element, not a mass-produced component. That’s why timelines look different.
    Expect:
    • Extra time during framing to place and build the curved template
    • Longer fabrication in our shop—a straight stair may take hours; a curved stair often requires a full week or more of precision work
    • Longer lead times to get on the schedule, since curved staircases require specialized craftsmen and equipment

    The result is worth it: a grand, sweeping focal point that elevates the entire home. But it’s important to plan far ahead—especially during busy building seasons.

    4. The Cost: What to Expect with a Luxury Curved Staircase

    The grace and elegance of a curved staircase generally come at a premium—often three times the cost of a similar L-shaped option. This is due to:
    • Custom kerfing and lamination
    • Hand-crafted curved railing systems
    • Precision layout and engineering
    • Longer shop and installation time

    If you’re building a luxury home, a curved stair isn’t just a feature—it’s a statement piece that adds real value and architectural impact.

    DSI Cost-Saving Tip: Choose Pin-Top Balusters

    For curved railing systems, Pin-Top balusters are both elegant and budget-friendly:
    • They match the formal aesthetic that curved stairs naturally carry
    • They are significantly easier (and faster) to fit into a curved rake rail
    • Square-top and panel-style balusters cost more, as they require precise hand-fitting and complex joinery on a curved rail

    A smart baluster choice can reduce labor costs without compromising style.

    Additional Benefits of a DSI Curved Staircase

    • Installation time is comparable to a similar non-curved staircase once fabrication is complete
    • Our production volume and experience means predictable quality and reliable timelines
    • We’ve built thosands of curved stairs, and we continually expand capacity to meet growing demand for luxury curved staircases around the world and in our home.
    Your project gets seasoned expertise—not trial and error.

    Ready to Plan Your Next Curved Staircase?

    If you’re a homeowner, builder, or architect planning a curved stair or custom staircase project, bring Designed Stairs in early. You’ll save time, avoid costly framing issues, and get a staircase that becomes the centerpiece of your home.

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  • Fitting a Curved Stair into Your Budget

    Sometimes your design calls for an elegant curved stair, but the budget falls short.  Here are some variations on a full curved stair.  These take up less space and cost less than a full curved stair, while still providing an elegant and unique solution.  These designs save on the cost of stringers and rails, as some are straight and only some are curved.  In general, the less curved pieces you have, the more savings compared to a full curved stair.

     

    Here are four curved design solutions for cost savings:

    • The curve 3-Winder has come to the center with a std winder newel, but the back /wall side is curved.
    • By curving only 3 or 4 treads at the bottom/ wall side, you can a dramatic curved start to your stair – the area people look at the most. 
    • Bowing starting treads and risers give you a very elegant curved look, at a fraction of the cost.
    • A hand carved descending volute is costly, but it pulls in curved elegance at a fraction of the cost of a full curved rail.

     

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  • Library Spiral Staircases

    A spiral staircase is the most compact stair design.  Spiral stairs have a center support post, a landing deck at the top and usually have a diameter of 48″ to 96″.  The small size of a spiral allows it to fit into corners and service lofts, attics and other secluded areas where traffic will be light. 

    Spiral stairs are not generally allowed as primary staircases, so there will need to be code compliant stairs elsewhere in the building.  For example, most current building codes do not allow the individual rise of a stair to exceed 7.75″, whereas a spiral stair may have an individual rise of up to 9.5″.

    The floor space allowed for a spiral stair should always be at least one foot larger than the planned diameter of the stair. If you plan to have a 60″ (5 ft.) diameter spiral, you will need to have a 72″ x 72″ (6 ft. x 6 ft.) floor space.

    Due to the compact nature of a spiral staircase, they have become widely used in library environments where space is limited and access to upper book storage is necessary.  Many of the libraries that we have worked on utilize a spiral stair to the upper loft area and rolling library ladders to access the upper shelves on level surfaces.  A high quality, custom made spiral staircase will cost $13,000 – 20,000 depending on the height and amount of guardrail needed at your upper level.  A custom-made rolling library ladder can be budgeted in the range of $3,000 – 6,000.

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  • Curved Stairs with Stone Treads

    A curved staircase has been an architectural highlight for centuries. While the geometries of curved staircases are all closely related, the fit and finish options are virtually unlimited. Let’s take a look at the use of stone treads overlaying a wooden stair structure. Of all available building materials, nothing presents a timeless feel more than a stone surface.

    The first difference in using stone treads versus wood treads is that the stone is set onto the stair from above versus being built into the stair.

    The second difference is that wood treads are still needed to support the stone, and they must be set lower than the finish surface calculated for the stair. Once the stone is set, you then have the correct surface heights for each tread.

    Since woodwork and stone work are not done by the same craftsmen, coordinating the design with each company can be the most difficult part of the project. Using a professional stair company or experienced stair builder to build the staircase is very important with stone elements. Special structural considerations may need to be made, taking into account the added weight of the stone. Strict tolerances help ensure a quality outcome. Trying to rough frame the stair almost always produces inaccuracies and variances in the structure that will come back to haunt you in the final fit of the finish material. The stair builder would build the curved stair, taking into account the thickness of the stone you have selected. Once the stair is installed, your stone contractor would come to the site to take their own measurements. Once the stone is precisely cut at their shop, they will return to install it and drill any holes that may be required. Then the stair contractor would return after the stone is set to install the railing system over the top. The added cost and labor on this project will warrant careful considerations and attention to detail. This is one case where your choices will be set in stone.

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  • Freestanding Curved Staircases

    Most staircases are supported, at least partially, by walls built directly below the stair. Designing a staircase to be freestanding, or at least partially open below, is a great way to gain useable floor space in your design. 

    A true freestanding stair will not have a wall on either side, whereas a stair that only contacts one wall could be referred to as “open below”. These designs are particularly useful in large open rooms where walls would segment the space and destroy the open feel.

    A freestanding staircase has the ability to stand in the middle of such a space and enhance it, not detract. An “open below” staircase will be set to one side or the other of a room and allow the space beneath the stair to be utilized.  

    Either choice can be spectacular, so the next time you are designing a staircase, don’t “wall yourself in” from the start.

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  • Is This a Spiral Stair or a Circular Stair?

    The most common confusion within the stair building world is, without a doubt, the spiral versus the circular stair.  It will not take long to clear this up. 

    The most common confusion within the stair building world is, without a doubt, the spiral versus the circular stair.  It will not take long to clear this up. 

    A spiral stair has treads that are supported by a central support post.  They usually have a very tight diameter of 48 to 72 inches, and are not recommended as main stairs in any inhabited structure.

    A circular stair has two stringers supporting treads and (typically) risers, and will take up a much larger floor space than a spiral.

     

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  • What space is required to fit a curved stair?

    A curved stair takes far more floor space than other types of stairs. Ideally you want a large square space to allow for the most gracious and elegant curved stair. You can narrow and tighten up the space, which will require your radius to get tighter. As your radius gets tighter your stair will not look as grand and elegant. Additionally a tight radius will likely require hand carved railings and therefore become more costly.

    You will first need to know how many treads or steps needed. To figure the quantity of treads:

    • Take your overall rise floor to floor — including finished flooring — and divide it by the ideal riser height, say 7.6″
    • You will need to round up or down (high riser, or lower rise) to select your total number of rise

    For example: Overall rise is 133″ / 7.6 = 17.5. I can make the risers lower: 133/18 = 7.39, so 17 treads, or taller 133/17 = 7.82, so 16 treads. Less treads will take less floor space, which typically ends up being needed. Subtract 1 from your tread count and that is the number of risers. Now that we know the # of risers and treads, we can look up a curved stair layout and see how that fits to our space.

    curved stair layouts

    To find curved layouts (based on the total number of rises you need), like those shown here, request a free Ideal Curved Stair Plans download.

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  • Why are descending volutes used?

    A volute is that “Curly” piece that is at the start of many stair rails.

    Standard Volute
    This photo shows a manufactured volute with a manufactured up ease fitting. The up ease fitting is the connector between the volute and rake rail.

    A standard volute shape will have a rail fitting attached to it, called an “up easing”. The up easing allows the rail that is coming down the rake of the stair to level out into the volute.

    On many curved staircases, keeping the rail to a consistent height as it curves up the rake requires a special handmade volute called a “descending volute” or a “climbing volute”.

    Descending Volute Handcarved
    The volute in this photo, is connected to the rake rail with a much longer and slightly twisting hand carved descending up ease fitting.

    This type of a volute is a “hand carved fitting” that requires many hours of experienced layout skills to understand what is needed in each unique situation. The carving work on fittings can take anywhere from 4 hours to over 40 hours of experienced rail carving labor. The result is a beautiful, one of a kind piece that is unique to the stair that it was made for.

    More and more we see descending volutes used on stairs that are not curved. They are desired for their strong artistic statement and elegant beauty. For more on carving rails, see Hand Carving Stair Railings.

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  • Hand Carving Stair Railings

    Stair railings curved cap

    Often curved staircases, and occasionally straight stairs, have complicated railing requirements calling for twisting and turning of the rails that cannot be made by bending the rail or with machines. In these cases, we must create a “hand carved fitting” specifically for the need of this particular application.

    The process starts with a meticulous design based on the math of the staircase calculated in three dimensions. Then, the selection of heavy planks of the very best wood available is carefully cut and glued into a block large enough for the piece. The blocks are rough shaped with a band saw and sander to get the closest rough shape, and then it is all chisels and hand tools from there.

    Stair railings curved carving

    Hand carving fittings can take anywhere from 10 to 100 hours, depending on the size and style. It is a task that requires expert knowledge of the process and razor sharp tools.

    Curved Stair Shopping Tips

    When shopping for a curved stair ask questions:

    • Have you made hand carved fittings on your curved stairs?
    • How many hand carved fittings have you made for curved stairs?
    • When are hand carved fittings needed in curved rails?

    If they have never a hand carved a fitting and can’t tell you when rails need to be hand carved, there is a fair chance you will end up with an odd looking railing. Hand carved fittings are in about 50% of the curved stairs we design and build. Some curved stairs have as many 3 in one curved railing section.

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  • Timing is Everything with a Curved Staircase Installation

    Curved Stair Chicago

    Curved staircases like straight stairs, should be installed after your drywall is primed and before your finished flooring is laid.

    Curved staircases and rails take a considerable amount of time to build, so getting the stairs ordered early will help avoid any delays once your site is ready. It is likely that you will need to place your curved stair order eight or more weeks before your site is drywalled.

    We all know the negative effects of scheduling too late; we wait and the job is delayed. But in the case of a curved stair, scheduling it too early is just as bad. Many of your curved stair components are glue laminated to curves that are specific to your framing. Once fabricated, it’s critical to get them installed quickly. Installation “locks” the curved parts into position.

    On the other hand, once a curved staircase is fabricated, and the job site is not ready, there is no choice but to store the components. Storing curved parts for any length of time can cause reactions from both pressure and atmospheric (weather) conditions that can actually change the shape of the parts. At a minimum, installation is more difficult, and in the worse case, parts need to be remade.

    To ensure the best possible results, take extra care with your schedule and eliminate any storage possibilities during the process.

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