Staircases as Canvases

There are many reasons that people decide to use stairs as a canvas for their art, whether it’s inside their own home, or on a public outdoor staircase for the world to see. Some towns and cities commission street artists to paint or otherwise decorate staircases in public places in order to add colour and interest to otherwise dull utilitarian areas, but painted staircases also provide the additional advantage of improving the safety of users by making steps more visible.

Creating Contrast

Thinking practically, adding colour or lighting to the risers between treads, or to the treads themselves, is a fantastic way of creating clearer contrast between steps, making them easier to identify for those with reduced sight. It also creates an opportunity to further personalise your bespoke staircase and integrate it further into the design scheme of your project.

Taking Inspiration

Making staircases stand out as a feature is, of course, something that Spiral UK do for homes and commercial projects every day, but is also popular amongst councils and municipalities around the world to brighten up the streets and give local artists an exciting public platform.

As we have discussed in previous posts, statement staircases are going to be big in the coming year. Whilst we don’t expect many self-builders to paint enormous murals onto their bespoke staircases – there are plenty of more subtle ways to integrate design elements, as discussed in our post covering the Staircase Trends for 2025 – these bold and colourful pieces of street art can be a wonderful source of inspiration.

We have gathered some examples of interesting painted stairs from around the world, some famous and professionally finished, some lesser known and lovingly created to convey a message or brighten up a small corner of the world – all using colour, pattern and design to tell a story.

Steps outside Randyland Art Museum in Pittsburgh, PA.

Image by David Fulmer