Design Ideas for Landscaping Stairs

Wood

• Create a wood staircase as simple or elaborate as you like. Purchase a set of prefabricated risers from your local home improvement store and nail on some steps in an afternoon, or dig out a space for a more rustic-looking staircase made with 3 by 3 timbers. For a more exotic look, choose an unusual wood to make all or part of your staircase from or to cover it, such as teak.

Stone

• Purchase large slabs of wall stone or slab stones to create a whole stair tread each, or build your basic staircase out of something else, like concrete, and cover it with natural stone tile, such as slate. If true stone isn't for you, create your steps out of concrete pavers. You can purchase concrete pavers in a variety of colors and styles from most home improvement stores.

Combination

• Add an individual touch to your landscaping stairs with a combination of multiple building materials to build your steps. Construct the step base out of timbers and fill in the space in the middle with pavers, bricks, tiles, slabs or pieces of natural stone for an informal look. If you want something a little more formal but want to save some cash, use concrete pavers to build your actual steps. Then, cover the tread of each stair with a thin layer of stone tile.