helical walnut staircase

Staircase Stories: Mr & Mrs Currie, Liverpool

The Currie family were looking for a truly bespoke feature staircase with flowing curved lines. With the help of designer Janet Stephens and the team at Abbott-Wade, sweeping walnut rails with sleek white spindles were the perfect solution.
“The follow up service to ensure everything was perfect was excellent with very fine attention to detail.
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fluted oak newel posts

Carpeting your stairs

Carpeting your staircase

 

Of course, carpets aren’t about aesthetics, they soften noise from the stairs which are a high-traffic area of the home and add additional comfort and warmth underfoot. At Abbott Wade, we understand that choosing the right style of carpet for your home is like buying an item of clothing – it’s all about what suits your style and needs. It must also be in keeping with the character of your home. There are also other pragmatic considerations for when you’re choosing a carpet. For example, do you opt for a thick and luxuriously soft carpet or a more hard wearing material like sisal or coir which is more corse in texture? Lighter cream and whites are great for making a stairway feel brighter but have the downside of showing up dirt and stains on the stairs – which is bound to happen given the high levels of through-traffic in this part of the home.

What is right for one home is not right for another, but how do you know what the right choice is? One tip is simply to take a look at what other homeowners have chosen to do and try to reflect on whether the same ideas will transfer to your home. You will see ideas you like – equally you’ll see ideas which you don’t. This is also useful as it will help you to remove certain styles from the equation. Similarly, you may have an idea in your mind but be surprised by something you see which changes your perspective in a positive or negative way.

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design team

Design Team Meeting

One of the problems with offering a Nationwide service is that our design team members spend a lot of time travelling up and down the country so it can be difficult to all sit down together – but it’s important that we do. It’s an opportunity to discuss new ideas, collect feedback about what our customers have looking for and to debate current and future trends to ensure that we’re always putting our customers needs first.

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This must happen in businesses up and down the country – but it’s unusual that the key players is the directors mother.  Jean Wade stole the show with her cheese cake to rival anything you’d find in the final of The Great British Bake Off. In a true family business tradition which you’ll never find in the board rooms of big businesses – proud mum Jean was on hand with cakes, sandwiches and cups of tea for the appreciative team. For a design team who have backgrounds working for some big corporations, it epitomises what working for a family business means; all the family rallying around to do the best we can for each other and the common cause. Something which has drawn them away from careers working with big corporations and into our close-knit family business. Working in this way is a welcome and refreshing change for many employed at Abbott-Wade, however for the family members working here – it’s just another day at the office!

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mahogany colour staircase

Metal Spindles

Looking to make a bold, eye catching statement in your home? Metal stair spindles are the exact addition you need in order to achieve this effect. They create an air of strong elegance that everyone is looking for in their living space, as well as offering a surprisingly versatile option that can be the perfect fit when planning your dream staircase design.

Here at Abbott-Wade, we ensure that our selection of metal spindles is wide ranging, to give you the best possible choice of fine additions to your interior décor. They come in traditional styles such as the slender Buckingham & Sandringham spindles that can truly promote a life of luxury whilst giving a subtle nod to times gone by. They taper towards a classic knuckle or the grander basket design of the Windsor.

Alternatively, you may want to opt for a more contemporary design, in which the unique flowing lines of our Ripple and Wave spindles add a modern twist to this style of spindle. Spindles are so versatile in their final look that you can spend hours and hours perfecting your ideal design, ensuring only the very best is added to your property.

metal spindles

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little girls climbing stairs

Staircases in Culture: Language

The English language is melting pot of many influences, mainly from the Germanic languages introduced in the 5th-7th centuries AD from the German/Dutch regions. Add in more Scandinavian influences from the viking settlements in 7th-9th centuries and language from the Norman conquest in the late 15th Century together with the many influences from Greek and Latin and we arrive at the language we all use today. Consequently the terminology and common phrases around staircases are varied making their etymology is an interesting thing.

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national family business awards

The National Family Business Awards: Reflecting on an Award Winning Evening!

Some time has passed since our award winning at Wembley Stadium, a little dust has even had time to settle on our award, but while it’s business as usual at Abbott-Wade, it’s great to reject on such a memorable occasion…

An evening at the award is always full of promise, glamour and anticipation and this was no exception. Members of the Abbott-Wade family journeyed down from our Burtonwood base down to the bright lights of London and into the national arena, Wembley Stadium where we scooped the prestigious honour of the Best Small Business in the North West at the National Family Business Awards.

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The Abbott-Wade family accept their award

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