Sometimes, less is more. Especially on a staircase.
There is something quietly remarkable about a staircase with nothing between the steps. No solid face. No enclosure. Just a run of beautiful timber treads, suspended in open air, with light and space flowing freely through the flight. It is a design that trusts the simplicity of the idea completely — and that trust is exactly what makes it so compelling.
At Allwood Stairs, we design and build open riser staircases for homes across Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle. These are staircases that do more than connect floors. They open up the spaces they move through, and they do it with a quiet confidence that only good design achieves.
So, what exactly is an open riser stair?
A staircase is made up of two repeating parts: the tread, the horizontal surface you walk on, and the riser, the vertical face between each step. An open riser staircase removes that vertical face entirely. Each tread is supported at the sides by the stringers, but the space between each step is left completely open.
The result is a staircase where light passes through from every angle, where sightlines continue uninterrupted through the flight, and where the structure of each individual tread becomes the design. No visual bulk. No enclosure. Just the warmth and grain of timber, repeated step by step, in open air.
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Cantilevered Open Riser Stairs
Open riser stairs are sometimes called floating stairs — and it’s easy to understand why. Without the solid riser connecting each step to the next, the treads appear to hover. Combined with a cantilevered structure anchored into the wall, the floating effect becomes something else entirely. The staircase genuinely appears to defy gravity, each tread suspended in space with no visible means of support beneath it.
The look: contemporary, light-filled and effortlessly open.
The Modern Staircase
Open riser stairs have a clarity about them that closed designs simply cannot replicate. The absence of the riser face removes visual weight from the staircase and from the room around it. Spaces feel larger. Ceilings feel higher. The boundary between one area of a home and another softens.
Paired with a glass panel balustrade, the effect becomes even more pronounced. Glass alongside open treads is one of the most considered combinations in contemporary residential design. The transparency of the balustrade draws the eye to the structure of the stringer and the quality of each tread, while the open risers allow light to filter through from both sides of the staircase simultaneously. It is a look that suits architectural new builds, premium renovations and any home where the brief is modern, considered and uncompromising.
Slim metal balusters, stainless steel wire or timber batten screens all find a natural home alongside open riser stairs too. The open tread provides a clean, uncluttered foundation for almost any balustrade treatment, and the result is always a staircase that feels designed rather than simply installed.
Built for how light and space actually work.
The practical appeal of an open riser staircase goes well beyond aesthetics.
In open plan homes, where the ground floor flows between living, dining and kitchen without walls to separate them, a closed staircase can create a visual interruption that cuts against the whole design intent. An open riser staircase keeps that flow intact. Sightlines continue through the flight. Light from upper windows travels down through the steps and into the spaces below. The staircase becomes part of the open plan rather than a break in it.
Airflow moves more freely through an open riser design too, which in coastal homes and warm climates is a genuine practical benefit, not just an incidental one. And for anyone who has swept dust from the corners of a closed riser staircase, the easier maintenance of an open tread design is a quiet but appreciated advantage.
One consideration worth noting: open riser staircases may not be the ideal choice in homes with very young children or small pets, where the gaps between treads require attention. For families in that season of life, a closed riser design may suit better — or the open riser can be revisited once the household is ready.
Who usually loves open riser stairs?
Homeowners building or renovating contemporary homes where openness, light and flow are central to the design brief. Architects and interior designers specifying a staircase that works with the space rather than against it. Anyone renovating an open plan home who wants the staircase to feel like a continuation of the architecture, not an interruption to it. Coastal homeowners who value light, air and a relaxed modern aesthetic in equal measure.
You’ll find open riser staircases in architectural homes across Sydney’s northern beaches and inner suburbs — from Balgowlah Heights and Balmain to Bronte and Gladesville. In contemporary builds along the Central Coast from Umina to Northbridge. In considered renovations throughout Newcastle and right across NSW, wherever the design standard is high and the light matters.
Projects
Why Allwood Stairs?
We’ve been building staircases since 1996. In that time we’ve completed more than 25,000 installations for over 6,500 customers across Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle. That’s not a number we take lightly. It’s a track record built one staircase at a time, on every kind of project from high-specification new builds to considered heritage renovations.
Every staircase we make is custom-built to order. Nothing leaves our workshop off the shelf. We measure, design, quote, manufacture and install, managing the full process from first conversation to final fit-out. For builders and architects, that means one accountable partner and no gaps in the chain. For homeowners, it means a staircase made precisely for your space, your home, and your brief.
Our purpose-built workshop runs CNC manufacturing capability, which means tight tolerances, consistent quality, and a clean finish on every job regardless of scale. Premium craftsmanship isn’t a promise we make lightly. It’s built into how we work.
Whether you’re a premium residential builder coordinating a high-end new build, an architect or designer specifying a custom timber staircase, or a homeowner who simply wants it done properly, you’ll find the same standard of care and the same attention to detail at every stage of the process.
28 years. 25,000 staircases. Built to last.
Let’s build yours
Allwood Stairs designs and builds open riser staircases across Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle. Our team can manage the full installation, or supply kit stairs for the qualified carpenter on your project. Get in touch for an obligation-free quote.
More drawn to warmth and tradition?
If you’d prefer a staircase with more solidity and enclosure, our closed riser stairs are the natural counterpart. Rich timber grain, a continuous form from bottom to top, and a timeless character that only gets better with age. Different philosophy, same standard of craft.
