“Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin. “Staircase” by Radiohead. “Step by Step” by… well, about a hundred different artists, sung a hundred different ways.  Stairs play a prominent role in popular song lyrics, and for good reason: they literally take us to a whole new level. They’re metaphoric. They’re poetic. And in today’s roundup of six brilliant images on the subject, they’re absolutely stunning.

First up are the stairs leading into Opening Ceremony, a shop in New York City, an image of which (above) made the rounds on the web in mid-2011 when Kate Spade shared a snap on her Tumblr page. Since then, the art of adding favorite lyrics to stairs via paint or removable typographical decals has grown in popularity, and why not? It’s adorable.

Speaking of adorable, behold this slide/stair combo shared via ehost — one of the most whimsical home decor elements we’ve ever seen. We’re willing to bet there’s at least a 50 percent chance that no children live, nor have ever lived, in this home, which somehow makes these stairs even more fantastic:

On the other end of the spectrum, there’s this arresting set of chic black stairs from Nuevo Estilo:

SFgirlbybay kindly shares this hot pink spiral staircase photographed by Bruno Suet:

These colorblocked, nautical steps presented by Jonathan Adler absolutely rock our boat:

And last, but certainly not least, we’re completely taken by these geometric masterpieces from Bell Phillips Architects (thanks to Design Milk for the share):

Photo credits: Opening Ceremony via Kate Spade, ehost, Nuevo Estilo, Bruno Suet via SFgirlbybay, Jonathan Adler and Design Milk.