That wrought iron staircase is more Spanish style than farmhouse. In general, I think pictures with shiplap walls tend to get labeled as farmhouse, regardless of the rest of the design and style of the rest of the house.

Based on your two inspiration pictures, it seems that you prefer iron balusters. And that's totally fine--it's your house and you should have what you like. Just be aware that it's not a farmhouse style. You'd never find an iron staircase in a farmhouse.

C'mon, live a little. Fancy window treatments come and go, but a beautiful curved stair is forever.

anyone ever see Days of Heaven? that was one amazing farm house....

Interestingly (to me at least), 1700s Colonial house stairs were extremely functional, and tucked away somewhere where they didn't impact the major living spaces. Even by the 1800s, stairs were largely viewed in common housing as a necessary evil:

A common approach to stairs in 1700s Colonial houses:

Another 1700s stair--check out the rise and run:

Here's an 1800s stair, which uses jig-sawn balusters:

Been in an old country house-mansion which had the curved stairs - seems they were for servants: small rooms, and near the kitchen and the entry.

yes, my 1870 home has a backstairs much like those, between the kitchen and a very tiny bedroom at the end of the hall on the second floor. the stairs does a 180 and heads back above the basement stairs on the right. my cat likes them, she can sit on the turn and watch me cook.

ahhhh lovey kitty.... :)

The exterior of my house is "farmhouse." The stairs are on the back end of the family room, two steps, a square landing, face right and go straight up 13 steps. The newel post is one of those square ones, with a stained banister and stained, beaded balusters (soon to be white). The staircase is not a highlight in the house, but works for getting to the second floor fairly easily.

I absolutely love that staircase, and totally get what you mean by "farmhouse." I built a similar style, and refer to it as "hamptons in the heartland." I think it's a little (modern) coastal and a little farmhouse, which makes the purists on this board go absolutely nuts. Build what you like, build what you love. We absolutely love our home; it's gorgeous. But, if I would've posted it all to this board, they would've told me to burn it to the ground and start over. Ha!

Ninigret, love your stairs!

which makes the purists on this board go absolutely nuts

Most of us are here either to get assistance for house building projects, or to provide it. Both are considerably easier when everyone is speaking a common language.

Aside from the fact that "farmhouse" is not an architectural style, making up decorating styles such as modern coastal farmhouse or hamptons heartland or modern coastal farmhouse or hamptons heartland just makes it difficult for members/posters to understand each other when they are asking for, or trying to provide, help. Unless, of course, what one is looking for is validation rather than actual assistance. In which case it's probably helpful to state that up front.

Mumbo, jumbo...coastal Hamptons...heartland stairs...farmhouse Baroque...umh, I just love it all...know what I mean?

PS: I fell in love with this...how can I put it on my 6,000 SF lot with a huge winding stair?

It's a joke, folks! :-)

ninigrets winding stairs cannot be built today. It's the single 28" inside step that earns the red tag from the inspector.

Hey, I have some of those winder stairs in my 1947 Cape. Ask how many times I've fallen down them. :-P

"Farmhouse" is current parlance for "what I see on Pinterest" that has zero in common with actual farmhouses (which tend to be Greek Revival, or Gothic Revival, or four square, or Italianate, or whatever was the equivalent of the popular thing on Pinterest when that area of the country was settled and the houses were BUILT.

But it's super hard to parse what you're trying to get at when we're playing "HGTV Buzzword Bingo." Does this house relate in any way to known classical "styles"?:

and don't i know it. which is why i caution folks from removing back stairs in their antique homes.... you'll never be able to change your mind and replace them.... without taking up a lot more space of course.

you should see the one from the second to third floors.... makes the one i pictured look very grand!

and Virgil Carter, oh man when i see a picture of mont st michel my thighs ache.... we arrived there on a delayed bus and had about 20 min to get from sea level to the top before the monastery gates closed for the day (once you were inside you could stay as long as you like). that whole town is one giant curved stairs indeed!

Virgil Carter: Yes, the stairs in very old houses (at least here in Philly) were very utilitarian and tiny. There are small, old, expensive houses here in the historic parts of town called a 'trinity' because there was one room on each of 3 floors; the staircase is often tucked in a corner, and the 'railing' is a very thick rope in iron fittings that runs vertically up the post that the treads fan out from (And that's what $500,000 buys in parts of center city, plus cobblestone streets and history around every corner.).

Ninigret, I would lock the back stairs the fourth time I fell down them, but I wouldn’t have the heart to remove them.

the first year we moved in i slipped off the second from the bottom step because of the wane... i was wearing socks. 2 cracked ribs! those folks who make codes for stairs know what they are doing. since then i only wear rubber soled house shoes or go barefoot and havent had a mishap in 7 years.

my husband will only go up the back stairs and will walk out of his way to go down the front stairs which are nice and wide, although the rail height is certainly not code compliant, those victorians were short i guess!

Yes, tats, I well know. I lived in Chadds Ford for many, many years in a repro 1700s Colonial. :-)

What's a wane?

when the front edge of a step wears away from years of use. in our case, 147 years of use has made the leading edge of some of our wooden steps worn back, making a place where your foot thought it would find wood, find air or a slope down.

you see the same thing on stone stairs in europe, but that took centuries. notice the dip in the edges of the top 4 steps. the steps below look to have been repaired.

Wane: the amount by which a plank or log is beveled or falls short of a squared shape.

I never knew.

And then there's warp and woof!

You prefer woof over weft? ;)

I fall down all stairs. :P

Our stairs have rails at 30”. I’ve raised the only place I have a balcony. It was the scariest. The POs were tiny—so the clothes rails were all low! Good for kids, at least.

is your weft worse than your wane?

Well, at this time, I'm waxing.... ;-)

I’m a bad homeschool mom because I don’t spin, weave, or (very often—Halloween etc doesn’t count) sew. I don’t even own a mill to grind my own wheat to bake bread daily for the children. I don’t keep a cow, and I mostly grow only berries and herbs these days.

I am clearly a disgrace.

Funny...I grew up on a farm. The house was an old one room schoolhouse that later served as a farmhouse. Not nearly as glamorous as Chip and Joanna's homes. Not a bit of shiplap.

To me, farmhouses can be anything from our old house to the wonderful brick foursquares that dot the landscape of central Illinois. I don't think that there is any rule.

I would caution the OP to do whatever stairway she wants and can afford but to avoid those awful winders. An accident waiting to happen imo.

Were I the op , I would go stand in the front yard, ask myself what makes the most sense here, and get over , "the awkward triangle" issue above.

My friend who grew up an rural Louisiana says what the house really needs is two old Cajuns in lawn chairs and with six cases of beer, roasting a pig over bedsprings on a fire. Then it would have the true air of authenticity.

My real, actual advice is also no winders. They’ll get you.

Speaking of falling down the stairs... My four year old fell down the stairs last night. It happens.

Bell....great post. Very informative with lots of good advice. Especially providing prices.

I have hired an Amish craftsman to build and finish my simple L shaped staircase with custom made pieces out of white oak for 30K. This is all he does all day long. I had worried that I was paying too much. After reading your post..I feel like this is more than fair.

PS..your stairway is beautiful.

Ruby, my entire family would be dead on that staircase. Lol.

You guys are halarious!

I love the pics and sarcasm...

I'm serious, fun to read.

Aaaaand my husband fell down the stairs today. We have 40” wide, half-flight, straight shot stairs!

Milly Rey, that's too bad. I hope he's not too bad off now.

He’s fine now. Kid tripped over his own feet going up last night—husband’s sock caught on a nail that had worked itself up 1/16”.

This would be much worse on a curving or longer stair!

It is really good for you—but everything that’s good for you is good because it presents something of a challenge!

I usually fall on my backside/back, like Maggie. My neurological disorder means that my feet just forget the rhythm of the stairs sometimes in the middle. And I’m a ditz and don’t remember to always hold on!