How to design your dream, custom home elevator
Having an elevator installed in your home can significantly impact your quality of life and add beauty and elegance to your residence. You can easily customize your elevator configuration to your unique wants and needs. It can serve as a focal point in your home’s layout or be designed to blend seamlessly into the overall decorative theme.
Whether you’re interested in affordable home elevators or you want to indulge in the finest accessories and trims, there’s a variety of features you can customize to match your elevator decor with the architectural style and interior design of your home.
Customizing your personal elevator
After choosing your elevator’s location and drive type, the fun part of designing your elevator begins. You’ll get to decide how your home elevator looks and feels. You have complete creative freedom during this part of the process, and you may be surprised at how many options there are to choose from.
Some of the personal touches you can customize include:
- Door or gate type
- Flooring and ceiling material and color
- Wall panel material and color
- Upholstery
- Lighting
- Hardware
Door or gate types
Your elevator door or gate provides style and safety. The more common door types include swing doors, accordion-style doors, and traditional sliding doors. Collapsible gates are also available and come in different finishes, including brass, stainless steel, or steel with custom powder-coating.
You can also choose between manual open/close operation or upgrading to automatic door open/close. Your door and gate options are plentiful, so take your time when deciding, so you get the perfect blend of beauty and functionality.
Flooring and ceiling material and color
Some homeowners carry their existing flooring into the elevator for a seamless transition, while others choose a unique option depending on their style preferences. Some of the more common flooring materials used in elevator interiors include finished hardwood, stone or ceramic tile, vinyl flooring, or plush carpet. Or you can include an antique area rug for a classic touch.
It’s also important to work with your contractor to ensure your preferred flooring material doesn’t affect the elevator’s recommended weight limits.
Traditionally, a residential elevator car’s ceiling matches the wall panels’ style, but it doesn’t have to. You can modify your ceiling with custom options to feature glass elements, mirrors, tile, or even painted murals.
Wall panel material and color
Your choice of wall panel material and color creates the “feel” you want from your residential elevator. To give the interior a sense of warmth, you can choose from a wide variety of natural woods, including birch, maple, oak, hickory, cherry, and mahogany. You can customize your wood panels and accentuate their look even further by choosing from various stains.
If you want a more modern feel in your elevator, then steel and glass are the way to go. Glass is contemporary and complements almost every architectural style. Highlight its elegant look with hardware and framing in materials such as wood or stainless steel. The transparency of glass also lets in light, enhancing the beauty of the structure. Keep in mind that there are safety requirements for using glass, so work early in the planning process with a professional residential elevator contractor to make sure glass is suitable for your site.
Upholstery
A great way to bring out the beauty of your wall panels is to accent them with upholstery options. By including curtains or upholstered seating in your custom home elevator, you’ll soften the interior and add color to the space. Upholstery will also help insulate the interior, making the ride noticeably quieter.
Lighting
Recessed LED lights are standard in most modern elevators because they’re energy-efficient and function as emergency lighting. While you may not be able to choose the type of light included in your elevator, you can choose between different fixtures to personalize the look and feel of the space. With so many different fixture options to choose from, you can find the perfect match for your ceiling and create the ambiance you want.
Hardware
Just like throughout your home, the hardware you choose for your custom elevator pulls the whole design together. An elevator’s hardware involves all the remaining elements that your elevator needs to be completed, such as handrails, hall call stations, and car operating panels. These components typically feature a metal finish, but you have plenty of flexibility in choosing the finish type and color. Popular finish options range from stainless steel for a clean and modern look to the warmer tone of vintage bronze. Blackened stainless steel is also an option because its sleek look pairs well with glass, wood, and other metals.
Moving forward with your custom elevator design ideas
As you can see, you have several options available to customize your residential elevator. A great way to narrow down your choices and find inspiration for your project is to look at custom elevator cars online or in your local elevator company’s showroom. If you already have a design in mind and a budget to work with but have questions or would like additional information, contact your local Cibes Symmetry dealer. There you will find qualified professionals who can offer support and direction, so your finished elevator will be a beautiful and functional addition to your home.