Recognise these Vintage Stair Rods?

We have been sent this picture taken in South Africa of some period styled stair rods. Evidently, there is a lovely guest house in Franschoek, which is in the wine area near Cape Town, and these vintage runner rods are fitted all the way up the 19^th century stairs. They certainly appear to be old and in an antique brass finish, dulled with age.

The bracket style is not a design we have come across previously. Given the Dutch influence in the Cape area of South Africa, which goes back centuries, it is possible these brackets may be Dutch in origin. If you have any ideas where they were made and by which company, please do email us on sales@carpetrunners.co.uk as we would be interested to know more.

The notion of ‘Vintage’ styled home decorating products has become prevalent in the last few years. Influenced by a similar trend in fashion, ‘Vintage’ refers to styles from yesteryear which may have just come back into fashion or which are tailored to meet today’s tastes in some way.

Vintage stair rods available today

For your stair rods, we would suggest homeowners consider the following attributes if you are looking to achieve an authentic, period style:

• Either polished brass, antique brass or antique bronze finishes
• Traditionally, the rods were used to fix runner carpets not fitted carpets
• Plain round rods or triangular faced such as the Royale
• Acorn, ball and fleur de lys finial designs
• Fit one rod and matching pair of brackets on each step (at the base of the riser), including the very bottom one, where it meets your hallway
• To be truly authentic, choose a solid stair rod such as the Premier range
• Alternatively, consider Stair Clips, such as these Victorian ones.

If you know of any other unusual design of runner rods then we would love to see them too.