I had 2 quotes from specialist company's the first to do the complete refurbishment of the stairs £16500 the second to design and make the steel work only £5500. With them sorts of quotes yes I would agree with your joiner friend, however I decided to install and do the maximum work I could and only use specialist when required. I contacted the architect that had already designed an extension I done on the house. Sent him the rough drawings of what I wanted he did all the calculations of the structure and building regs. Then I contacted a local fabrication company to make the steel work, once completed I removed the old staircase, and with the help of 3 others installed the steel work. Electrical work had been completed. The oak treads I bought as 12 solid oak pieces cut to size, then I completed the cut outs for the steel plates and sanding. Plastering of all walls by a plastering company. The most expensive part was the glass, and fitting by a glass company. Painting again me, handrail bought and fitted by me The project actual costs were Design drawings £450 Steel work £1200 Plastering £675 Oak treads £750 Lighting £260 Glass £2350 Labour free Bottle of wine for local framer who off loaded the 350kg steel work from truck Does it add value to my house not sure but we love it!

Hello Tani, Ah I thought it was for you.. You're moving aren't you? Anyway, sorry I added them right after I posted so you could see exactly what I mean.. Perhaps you can paint and paint the rail but leave the treads... That way the rails in place but you don't see it! It would though have to be in the colour of the walls to work... You could even paint the treads a completely different colour if you wanted to say blend with the floor? There are countless ways to deal with these stairs... So many options... So perhaps nothing really needed than a lick of paint (or not as you may prefer) and perhaps new treads.. Maybe though discuss with the eventual occupants as they may not like my ideas at all! : ))

We're in the process of buying our first house (late 19th-century semi-detached). There a two major things we want to do: 1. Move the stairs to the attic - they come up into the middle of the room, meaning that we lose valuable space. Also, there are some slanting issues in the floor, which our surveyor says will be rectified if we put new stairs with the head at the highest level of the attic floor - the spiral staircase should help with this. To do this, I think we should make the bathroom smaller - using the space where the shower currently is, to be where the new stairs would be. 2. Move the hot water cylinder - at the moment the cylinder takes up a lot of room in the bathroom. If we move the stairs, this will then leave some space in the hall which I think would make a good airing cupboard. The cylinder is relatively new with factory fitted insulation and in good condition, therefore it might be most cost-efficient to keep and just move. Any advice would be most welcome! Roisin This is our current first and attic plan (the attic does have more windows, but for some reason, they're not included in this rendering!). How we potentially envisage the new plan:

Thank you all for your comments .. You have helped me decide that the stripy carpet does not work , that was my gut feeling all along . Unfortunately I have already ordered it from roger oates so will have to foot a fee to cancel or change for different ! As for the tiled floor I will try and see what best I can do to clean up , we have done it once a few years ago . I want to keep it . Thank you again .