✨ Interior images are AI-generated. Items shown are similar to those in the video.

Contemporáneo

Double-height stairwell decorated with nothing but light

There isn't a picture or a piece of furniture on the whole wall: what decorates this double-height bay is light alone, spread across three heights. At the top, a cascade of bare bulbs hung parallel to the diagonal of the stair. In the middle, three LED trees of rising size on three plinths of rising height, repeating the stair's climb in miniature. Below, a niche cut into the wall with candles. None of it is fixed to a wall that's out of reach anyway.

EscaleraDoble alturaRecibidorBombillas colgantesCasquillo vistoÁrbol LEDPeanasHornacinaMicrocementoNoche

Design keys

A cascade of bare bulbs at staggered heights, hung parallel to the diagonal of the stair flight.
Three LED trees of rising size on three plinths of rising height, with the polished floor giving them back whole.
A niche cut into the wall with pillar candles: the only light left at eye level.
Treads with their own recessed lighting, drawing the flight without a single lamp aimed at it.
Not a picture or a cabinet on the whole bay: the microcement wall stays bare and the lamps do the decorating.
A palm in a tall dark planter as the only plant mass, set against the glazing so it cuts out black against the night.

Furniture and decor in this design

Items shown are similar to those in the video, not necessarily identical.

Cord pendant light with exposed E27 holder

A matt black E27 holder with fabric flex and a small ceiling rose, bought individually so each cord can be cut to a different length. Check the flex length supplied: in a double-height void you almost always need the three-metre version or longer, and extending it afterwards shows at the joint.

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Dimmable E27 LED filament bulb

LED filament in warm amber, 2200 to 2700 K and low output, because there are many here and it's the sum that lights the space. Buy the whole pack of one model: filament shapes differ between makers and in a row of fourteen it's obvious at once. On a dimmer, check the listing explicitly says dimmable.

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Decorative LED branch tree with lights

A tree of metal branches with warm microLEDs, in several heights so they can be stepped. Choose the bendable-branch version: they arrive flattened in the box and you make the final shape, so two trees of the same size can end up different. Go for a plug-in transformer rather than batteries if they'll be on every evening.

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Matt black display plinth

A cube or column in matt black, in three different heights to build the stepped set. The matt finish is what makes the plinth disappear so you only see what it carries; gloss throws reflections and competes with the piece. On a polished floor, add felt pads — black on marble marks any drag.

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Tall black ceramic planter

A tall wide-mouthed planter in matt black, for an indoor palm such as an areca or kentia. The volume has to hold its own against the height of the void: at double height a normal-sized pot simply disappears. Check it comes with a saucer, or put a wheeled one underneath — filled it's heavy, and you need to turn it toward the light.

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How to get this look at home

In a double-height void, hang the cascade along a line that already exists rather than at random. Here that line is the stair flight itself: copying it works better than inventing a new diagonal that fights the one already there.
With an exposed holder, the bulb is the fitting. It's worth paying for good LED filament and skipping classic incandescent, because at that height every change means setting up a ladder in the void.
Step the plinths in the same proportion as the objects they carry. Three plinth heights with three identical trees doesn't work: the sense of climb appears when both grow together.
If you can't cut the niche into the wall, a box around ten centimetres deep screwed on and painted the same colour does the same job. At the distance it's seen from, and in low light, it doesn't read differently from one built in.
Put all three groups on a single dimmed circuit. With three heights of light and no general fitting, giving each group its own switch means the scene falls apart the moment someone walks in and turns on just one.

FAQ

How high do you hang lights in a double-height space?

The lowest bulb has to leave headroom below, around 2.10 or 2.20 m if you walk under it, and can drop considerably lower when it hangs over the void itself. What usually goes wrong is keeping the group tight to the ceiling: at double height that puts it so far away it can't be seen from below. The group works when it occupies the middle band of the void, so it reads from the ground floor and from the landing above.

How do you decorate a tall empty wall without hanging anything?

By spreading attention across three heights and standing everything on the floor: pieces on plinths at mid height, something tall and living, and a light source above that hangs from the ceiling rather than fixing to the wall. The advantage isn't only visual — a double-height wall is awkward to drill and worse to maintain, and this way the whole scene can be changed without touching it.

Which bulb goes in a fitting with an exposed holder?

LED filament in E27, between 2200 and 2700 K so the filament reads amber rather than white. Being decorative they want low output, on the order of 300 to 400 lumens each, because there are many of them and together they add up. Two warnings: on a dimmer the bulb has to state that it's dimmable, and buy them all the same model and batch, because filament shapes vary between makers and it shows in a row.

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Double-height stairwell decorated with nothing but light

Design keys

Furniture and decor in this design

How to get this look at home

FAQ

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