The Elmhurst curve.
A three-level floating stair with a bullnose curved opening tread and a hand-shaped volute handrail termination.
Most floating stairs read as one thing: modern. This one reads as both. A floating open-riser flight in light white oak — engineered, slim, sculptural — but with classical detailing at the openings: a curved bullnose bottom tread, a hand-shaped volute scroll where the handrail returns to the lower newel, and a continuous wall rail that ties the whole house together.
The home is a substantial transitional new build — square-panel wainscoting, black steel-framed interior doors, deep-teal millwork in the dining room, a cathedral ceiling at the upper landing with a single floating oak beam overhead. Modern moves in a classical envelope. The stair had to live in that conversation, not pick a side.
The detail to study is the volute. At the lowest tread, the handrail curls back on itself in a small horizontal scroll before terminating at the newel — a vocabulary borrowed from eighteenth-century joinery and executed in modern materials. Run your hand off the bottom of the rail and you'll feel it. Most modern floating stairs skip this detail; the rail just ends. Ours finishes.
The stair is three levels — basement to main to upper — and the same rail vocabulary carries through every flight, plus a wall-mounted rail on black brackets that continues all the way down to the basement. Stand at the bottom and look up: the house reveals itself in a single gesture from cellar to crown.
Most modern floating stairs skip the volute; the rail just ends. Ours finishes.
The upper landing — vaulted ceiling, single floating oak beam, white wainscoting.
The full sweep from the foyer, with the curved handrail flowing through the landing.
Wide foyer context. Library to the right, living room to the left.
From below: the underside of the cantilevered treads and the descent to the lower level.
Looking up — three levels of stair against the dining room's herringbone teal wall.
Bird's-eye view down the well, with the rail returning cleanly at the landing.
The volute — the handrail curls back into a hand-shaped scroll at the lower newel.
The closed-riser face of the stair, against square-panel wainscoting.
Detail: the handrail mitering at a landing. Sharp shadow line, soft chamfer below.
Vertical drama — the upper landing, the floating oak ceiling beams, the herringbone dining beyond.
Tell us about the stair your house deserves.
The Elmhurst curve.
A three-level floating stair with a bullnose curved opening tread and a hand-shaped volute handrail termination.
Most floating stairs read as one thing: modern. This one reads as both. A floating open-riser flight in light white oak — engineered, slim, sculptural — but with classical detailing at the openings: a curved bullnose bottom tread, a hand-shaped volute scroll where the handrail returns to the lower newel, and a continuous wall rail that ties the whole house together.
The home is a substantial transitional new build — square-panel wainscoting, black steel-framed interior doors, deep-teal millwork in the dining room, a cathedral ceiling at the upper landing with a single floating oak beam overhead. Modern moves in a classical envelope. The stair had to live in that conversation, not pick a side.
The detail to study is the volute. At the lowest tread, the handrail curls back on itself in a small horizontal scroll before terminating at the newel — a vocabulary borrowed from eighteenth-century joinery and executed in modern materials. Run your hand off the bottom of the rail and you'll feel it. Most modern floating stairs skip this detail; the rail just ends. Ours finishes.
The stair is three levels — basement to main to upper — and the same rail vocabulary carries through every flight, plus a wall-mounted rail on black brackets that continues all the way down to the basement. Stand at the bottom and look up: the house reveals itself in a single gesture from cellar to crown.
Most modern floating stairs skip the volute; the rail just ends. Ours finishes.
The upper landing — vaulted ceiling, single floating oak beam, white wainscoting.
The full sweep from the foyer, with the curved handrail flowing through the landing.
Wide foyer context. Library to the right, living room to the left.
From below: the underside of the cantilevered treads and the descent to the lower level.
Looking up — three levels of stair against the dining room's herringbone teal wall.
Bird's-eye view down the well, with the rail returning cleanly at the landing.
The volute — the handrail curls back into a hand-shaped scroll at the lower newel.
The closed-riser face of the stair, against square-panel wainscoting.
Detail: the handrail mitering at a landing. Sharp shadow line, soft chamfer below.
Vertical drama — the upper landing, the floating oak ceiling beams, the herringbone dining beyond.