To ask...

[BoudiccasHare]

What can be done with this monstrosity? Posting here for traffic, sorry! Feeling a bit desperate.
I have a 9 week old baby, and husband and I have had an offer accepted on a property that has this staircase. We thought we'd be able to get it replaced but the more reading I do the more I worry it won't be possible. I am at my wits end as the location and price of this house are perfect for us, but I can't stomach these stairs!!

So - AIBU to ask if it would be possible to replace / how big a job it is and if not, what can be done to make it more tolerable?

Stairs!

Staircases can be replaced for a couple of grand. That looks like a fairly easy one to do.

Is this for safety purposes or do you actively dislike them? If it's for safety then find a way to make it safer. Your baby will learn to be careful and probably be old enough to know stair safety beforw you've finished paying od the loan/replenishing your bank account for the conversion.

Yanbu. That's a monstrosity. From the pic it looks fairly easy to do - a few grand in, I'd say.

Whimsical - I hate it and I can't imagine how safe it is either! I imagine getting our furniture up and down it will be a nightmare, so if possible the plan was to use overlap time between rented and moving into the new house to get the stairs ripped out and changed to a normal set, or even a set with a bend like attached.

We have budgeted £2k to do the work if it's possible, but can stretch to a little more if we absolutely need to.

We had a staircase just like that replaced with a 'stardard' staircase when we bought out last house.
It cost less than £3k and took just under a week to do we gained some much needed storage space in a large understairs cupboard... and it added £5k to the value of the house.

Thanks for the responses so far.

WeAreEternal - was the staircase you had removed in the living room or was there a hallway? Did you feel like you'd lost a lot of ground space despite the added storage?
We were hoping to incorporate storage also, as the house doesn't have much at the moment. Added value is a definite bonus too, I can't imagine we'd manage to get rid of it again with those stairs still in!

I would love to do something like this under a staircase. A reading nook, or set up speakers so that it's a music nook.

Or maybe this. (I have been spending far too much time on Pinterest of late ).

I agree that those stairs aren't pretty - but they probably are creating a lot more room. I used to live in a two up two down where the owners had fitted a staircase like that and, while it was a bit of a hazard when drunk, I went into next door's otherwise identical house and was astonished at how much less space they had with their normal stairs. But then that was a very small house, so the extra space really mattered - you might not think that with yours.

Pinterest is my new favourite hobby too!

I'd just live with it for a bit then see how you feel about it once you're in and settled.

You've inspired me to look at what I can do with the space now! If we could get the stairs to run across the back wall I'm wondering if it would be possible to build a bench in, and have a small 4 person dinning table with two chairs in the outter side. It may use the space better? That and a small under stairs cupboard possibly.
(I have to admit my concept of space / interior design possibilities is useless! Floorplan and measurements to see if anyone could suggest feasibility!)

Margaret - how small was your house in comparison to this, if you are able to tell!

Sorry but probably quite similar! I think it's quite different if you've got a plan for the space under the stairs - but otherwise I'd guess you'd lose maybe 20% of the living room if you put one straight flight of stairs in?

Because of the location of the landing walls you will need to have a bend for sure by my reckoning.

Witsender - something like these perhaps?

Margaret - thanks for sharing your experience. We are going to arrange another visit and take someone with us to get them see what they think they can do. It really helps if I have an idea in my head of what to ask for!