Sometimes a staircase may be necessary to get from floor to floor. And sometimes it can be an architectural marvel. We found a round-up on MSN Real Estate that caught our fancy. Here are two of our favorites. Check out the rest here.

If you have an abundance of books and limited space to store them, why not include them in your stairs?

It can’t be denied that these stairs, seemingly supported by nothing, are chic and modern. Our concern would be safety–how do you prevent falls not only down the stairs but off the stairs?

What are the most interesting stairs you’ve ever seen? Let us know in the comments!

Images courtesy of MSN Real Estate.

Ceilings: they don’t matter until they do. People give much more attention to the ceiling’s flashier sister, the wall — so many choices for colors and decor! But the ceiling is just sort of… there.

Nonetheless, there’s a lot of room for a decorating statement on the ceiling and MSN Real Estate runs through various ceiling types. Here are our favorites:

• Panel ceiling: This wood ceiling might scream 70s basement, but with beautiful wood, it can give off a rustic woodsy vibe.
• Tin ceiling: These ceilings are gorgeous and intricate and add a lot of detail to a room. The downside is that they can cause extra noise.
• Cathedral ceiling: This soaring ceiling can add space and light to a room (it looks especially great with large windows!). If you’re going for a cozy look though, this might not be the best choice.

What kind of ceilings do you like?

Image courtesy of MSN Real Estate

While perusing Twitter, we came across Nigel Maynard’s Tweet about these interesting hooks. As HomeIQ says, these “will either make you smile or freak you out.”

By artist Nick Davis, these bronze hands and feet are perfect for hanging coats, acting as 3D art and scaring your guests. What do you think? Would you want these in your hallway?

Images courtesy of HomeIQ. 

A while ago, we asked you if you could only change one thing in your kitchen, what would it be? Let’s expand that to asking what one thing in your entire house would you change? Here are some ideas:

• Have you always wanted a fireplace for cozy winter evenings?
• Maybe your “vintage” kitchen doesn’t have a dishwasher
• Are your white walls bothering you?
• Would new windows make your house sparkle? (Hey, we know who can do that!)
• Do you want to rip out your old carpets and install gleaming hardwood floors?
• Does the thought of an additional bedroom or bathroom make your mouth water?
• Or maybe a walk-in closet or finished basement would be the way to go

Tell us in the comments what one thing you’d change in your house if could. And maybe search around this site for some ideas and tips, like in our remodeling category.

Are you looking for a multi-person seating alternative to the couch? Have a dream of “swimming” in cushions? Do you really love birds? Then this seating option might be for you!

The Giant Birdsnest by O*GE is “a prototype for new and inspiring socializing space, which can be seen as a morph of furniture and playground.” It looks like it could be used as an unusual sleeping space in addition to seating. Think of the great conversations you could have while in this nest!

Would you ever put something like this in your family room?

Image courtesy of O*GE

Copper and wood are two of nature’s most beautiful materials. Tamasine Osher has used copper piping, along with wood, to create some gorgeous industrial-chic pieces. It’s a very innovative use of a material that might otherwise have been used for scrap! What do you think?

Images courtesy of DigsDigs.

25 Heart-Melting Decorating DIYs for a Last-Minute Valentine’s Day Bash
Casa Sugar
“If you’re still toying with the idea of inviting your girlfriends over for a last-minute celebration this weekend, see if this roundup of super-stylish Valentine’s Day DIY decorations is the deciding factor.”

Valentine’s Day Menu Inspiration
Martha Stewart
Some great ideas for a romantic meal for two!

Lolilla Chair by Ahsayane Design Studio
Design Milk
Looking for the perfect chair for your Valentine’s party? This might be it.

How to Make Cake Pops
The Kitchn
The cake pop: the cutest dessert for the cutest of holidays.

Today, we have two very cool DIY fiber arts ideas, both via Curbly. If you want to add some personalized flair to your home, consider these!

First up is this duvet cover featuring doodles. It’s a bit labor intensive, but the end result is very cool. You’ll need whatever drawings you’ve doodled. After photographing the drawings, the creator of this duvet cover traced them on to fabric. You’d probably want to buy a solid-colored duvet for this. Lots of work, but you end up with a duvet cover that no one else in the world has.

The second DIY idea is also a great way to reuse old clothing. Using old pairs of jeans, cut into whatever pattern you like, you can make some fun wall art. Just sew on to a fabric back and voila! Jeans and art on your wall.

What do you think of these ideas? What’s the coolest DIY fiber arts project you’ve ever done?

Here’s a new thing that can be recycled and re-purposed: stuffed animals! Tree Hugger tells the story of an artist, Augustina Woodgate, and her rugs made out of the “skins” of stuffed animals.

To make the rugs, she removes the animals’ heads and the stuffing from the bodies and uses the skins, together with other stuffed animals’ skins, to create a rug that looks almost like no other rug you’ve seen before. Its trippy look could work well in a family or living room (we’re picturing it in a mid-century home) or even a child’s room.

What do you think? Weirdest rug material ever or ingenious use of old materials to create usable art?

Photos courtesy of Tree Hugger.

This is such a cool idea! Do you have some silverware that’s looking a little old and boring? Maybe you’d like to finesse your flatware and get another set to remain un-finessed. Well, Apartment Therapy has an idea for you: spray paint your silverware!

You can do all sorts of funky colors or stick with a simple palette. And as Apartment Therapy reminds us, only do the handles — not the part of the utensil your mouth touches.

What do you think of this idea?

Image courtesy  of Apartment Therapy.