The Stairs

We were talking with the builder about what to do with the walls around our stairs. I think both of us had assumed that we'd just have solid walls to the ceiling since that was the cheapest option and we're trying to keep the house relatively inexpensive. The builder said he thought the stairs were an important area to do something cool since they were central to the open plan of the first floor. The framer suggested putting powder coated rebar across the opening. When he mentioned that, I envisioned kids climbing on it like monkeys in a zoo, which seemed suboptimal. Then the builder mentioned that he'd run the rebar vertically instead, which I associate with a prison cell and which sounded like an even worse idea. The builder suggested but immediately dismissed braided wire with tensioners because it's too expensive. Then he mentioned glass, which got us thinking about the stairwell on a friend's house that same builder did and that we really like. We latched onto that idea and extended it by suggesting even bigger pieces of glass and putting the glass on both sides of the stairwell. Now that the framers have roughed it in, I think it's going to be really cool. I think that decision also pushed us toward deciding on a contemporary decor for that part of the house.