Your home's staircase can be a welcome divider

While you might not have thought of it before, the interior of your house is likely separated into public and private spaces. Areas like the entryway, living room and in some cases the dining room are often the part of the house where anyone is welcome, but other places - such as more casual living areas and the bedrooms  - are likely only open to the most trusted guests. This doesn't just effect the way these rooms are treated, it can also effect their decor.

Most of us make this distinction quite easily, instinctively placing art pieces in the foyer and family portraits in the casual den, for instance. A lot of us have trouble not with how to decorate each room, but where the line between public and private should be drawn. Especially if you live in a home that's more than one story, the staircase can be a simple solution to this problem. 

Depending on the size of your first floor, the front facing set of your staircase newels often shows itself as a kind of symbolic barrier beyond which strangers won't go without an invitation. Similarly, in some homes, the entire first floor is welcome to the public, but the second floor may not be a public area. 

If this is the case in your home, you can feel free to decorate the staircase in your home as a kind of portal between the outside world and your interior. You might want to consider filling the wall on the stairs with fun decor that's somewhat evocative of the upstairs. Not only will it help to make the stairs appear more special, but it will assist in unifying the public and private realms of your home.