The Sculpted Abode, Part 8: Marble Staircase Design — Sculptural Spine of the Home | Dubai Villa Renovation Week 5

The Sculpted Abode, Part 8: Marble Staircase Design — Sculptural Spine of the Home | Dubai Villa Renovation Week 5

Week 4 saw the first finishes appear, with bathroom tiling underway and systems signed off.

By Week 5, progress is visible throughout the house. Bathrooms moved closer to completion, ceilings began to close, and the staircase was reshaped with concrete balustrades and Carrara marble planned for steps and landings. Flooring patterns were confirmed, joinery advanced off-site, and lighting systems prepared. Every part of the house carried forward, making the vision more tangible each day.

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Home, Interrupted

Our temporary home worked well until summer ended and school began. Suddenly, our temporary place can’t keep up.  Morning routines feel stretched thin, pets struggle with the building’s rhythms, our daily routine feels fragile, and we’re longing to return.

On the other hand, walking onto site this week, seeing bathrooms tiled, ceilings closed, and the staircase stripped back and reshaped, the proximity of our return feels tangible. Our home is taking shape. 

Site Progress Snapshot

• Four bathrooms are fully tiled this week, with only the powder room and nanny’s bathroom left to complete.

• HVAC and MEP works have been finalised, and the process of closing ceilings began.

• The staircase was stripped of its developer marble and outdated rails, and the new curving concrete balustrade is now being poured.

• Carrara marble for the staircase steps and 45-degree herringbone landings is being prepared and cut, though installation has not yet begun.

• Thirty-three metres of LED lighting with integrated sensors are being prepared and tested for installation.

• Calacatta Paonazzo Verde marble for bathroom niches and vanities is being cut, while joinery is advancing off-site in line with the confirmed dimensions.

Staircase as Sculptural Spine

We’ve stripped out the dated handrails and developer marble to make way for a new marble staircase design. A sculptural concrete balustrade is being cast in flowing curves that lift each flight, while the treads will be cut from single pieces of Carrara. The landings will be set in a 60×30 herringbone, rotated 45 degrees for sharper geometry. The aim is an airy, sculptural spine for the house — calm in proportion, confident in line.

I’ve always admired the staircases of the Art Nouveau era, with their lyrical curves and sense of movement. The heavily decorated visual language belongs to another time, but the idea of a staircase as a crafted experience still resonates. Our version translates that into today’s language: clean lines, softened corners, and a flow that feels organic rather than rigid. It’s minimalism enriched, sculptural enough to draw the eye, restrained enough to create calm. A piece of architecture that embodies our philosophy of reducing visual noise while layering detail where it matters.

Lighting the Journey

Lighting in the staircase is conceived as a choreography. Along the staircase, Carrara stone lamps will be set in doubles — one casting upward, one downward. They lead the eye, creating a gentle rhythm of light that rises with the steps. The effect is subtle yet deliberate, adding a quiet sense of drama without ever tipping into spectacle. These lamps, sculptural in form and material, echo the very stone of the staircase beneath them, making light feel like a natural extension of the architecture.

Above the balustrade skirting, a continuous LED ribbon is being prepared, integrated with sensors hidden neatly within the ceilings. By day it disappears into the structure, but by night it will glow softly, guiding footsteps safely — especially for children waking in the dark. Function and atmosphere layer together: the Carrara lamps give presence and texture, while the LED ensures comfort and security. Together they define how this spine of the home is experienced — sculptural, practical, and always attuned to the rhythm of daily life.

Floors Woven Through the House

The floors are the canvas that hold the home together. On the ground floor, Carrara marble sets the base — cool, luminous, and steady — while Calacatta Paonazzo Verde is placed with intention, its beige, sage, and violet veining weaving moments of colour into the clarity of white. From there, the staircase continues the story in Carrara alone, its steps cut as single pieces and its landings set in a rotated herringbone. Turning the pattern 45 degrees lends geometry a new rhythm, giving movement to what is usually flat and expected. By the time you reach the bedrooms, the palette warms into oak, where framed planks surround herringbone centres, grounding private spaces with softness and calm.

This progression was not designed as ornament but as philosophy. At DTD, we believe materials must speak to one another, creating cohesion and flow without noise. The way Carrara, Calacatta, and oak connect across levels reflects our approach: layered, deliberate, and immersive. Each surface can stand on its own, but together they form a fabric that anchors daily life — a woven rhythm underfoot. Floors and stairs do more than carry movement; they carry atmosphere, setting a calm, steady base for everything the house will hold.

Craft & Care

Behind every curve of concrete and every cut, edge, and joint of stone is the craft of people who bring it to life. A staircase like ours asks for true skill: formwork built to fine tolerances, concrete poured cleanly, stone measured and set precisely, and LEDs aligned so they disappear into the structure. These are feats of accuracy carried out in 46-degree heat and heavy humidity, day after day.

At DTD, respect extends beyond the design to the people who build it. Daily, we send cool drinks to site, and we’re setting up an air-conditioned room where the crew can rest during breaks. Boundaries matter: care is part of the contract. When a team feels valued, the work carries a different energy — and that pride is what ultimately shows in the home.

Do’s & Don’ts

Do

• Proceed with staircase removal after heavy deliveries to avoid holding up other works.

• Lock floor pattern direction early; the alignment defines the flow of the whole house.

• Plan stone, joinery, LEDs, and sensors as one system before installation.

Don’t

• Downplay “secondary” bathrooms; they affect both daily life and property value.

• Cut corners on stone detailing; grout won’t fix misaligned marble.

• Forget maintenance planning; marble and wood need care to preserve their calm beauty.

Closing Week 5

By Week 5, the transformation reached every corner of the house. Ceilings began to close, bathrooms took on their first real atmosphere, and the staircase shed its generic past to emerge as something sculptural. This was the first week where no part of the house stood still — every room carried visible signs of change.

Even our children want to come to site now. They walk through the rooms, point to the staircase, trace their fingers across the newly tiled walls, and ask when it will be home again. That’s the difference: the vision has stepped out of drawings and into reality. Each day adds definition, each detail brings us closer to the life we’ve been imagining.

Looking Ahead to Week 6

Next week is when the house begins to feel whole. Ceilings will close, defining rooms with their final proportions. All bathrooms will be tiled, grouted, and ready for fixtures, while the staircase continues to evolve as a sculptural spine. For the first time, joinery installation begins — wardrobes and cabinets that will carry the daily rhythm of family life.

This is the stage where finishing accelerates — where structure fades into the background and atmosphere begins to emerge. Each step forward brings more of the house into daily view, as beauty rises steadily from the bones of construction.

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Experience the process. Watch how a vision becomes a home, week by week.