Use Newels to Make Beautiful Timber Staircases

When people think of home improvement, they think of a new bathroom, a designer kitchen or a lick of new paint. However, the first thing you usually see when you enter a home is the staircase. Don’t underestimate the impact a well designed timber staircase can have on your interior.

The layout and shape of staircases are heavily restricted by building regulations. However, the balustrade on a staircase (such as the spindles, newels, handrail and baserail) are where you can really show some design flair. Newels are the posts which offer structural support at various points throughout the staircase. Newels are used at every junction and turn of the rail system and newel are often a solid rectangular or circular posts. Different staircase layouts require different newel types. At the base of the stairs there is a starting newel and landing newels at the top of the staircase. There are other types of newels as well, such as pin-top newels, box newels and turned newels.

Newel stairs is the name given to staircases including newel posts and there are two types of newel staircases: “open” newel and “close” newel. The term newel comes from the word “nave” which refers to the centre from which wheel spokes radiate – on staircases steps radiate from the newel.

Choosing a newel post design is crucial and your choices are almost limitless. All Timber Staircases are a popular choice and there are a variety of timber stairparts from traditional turned designs through to contemporary stairparts. A lot of spindle and stairpart designs have a specific newel post design which complements the entire balustrade parts, such as spindles and handrail. This ensures that your entire staircase follows a complimentary style to maximum effect.

You can buy all stair parts, including newel posts, in a wide range of timbers such as oak, sapele and pine. You can do a lot with pine including staining, polishing and painting. Oak newel posts achieve a solid, opulent staircase. Sapele looks like mahogany but it more environmentally suitable. Sapele newel posts can be polished to stunning effect to bring out the underlying dark red colour. Pine and other softwoods are cheaper than hardwood timbers (such as oak and sapele) so to beat costs you could design a softwood staircase and look at alternative finishes. Don’t feel restricted on materials for newel posts. Painted stairparts can be finished off with polished timber newel posts. Try a variety of different materials on your stair spindles, handrail, baserail, newels and newel caps.

Think of newel posts as an opportunity to add style to your entire staircase. Newels may be structural components but a well crafted newel can make your staircase a masterpiece.