bottom, as we only can see the treads not the risers (that small inset underneath a step).
And you can see the wear on the treads. plus the handrail mount in the top left would be at a very inconvenient height if we were looking from the bottom up
The handrail argument doesn’t make any sense. It would be at the same height regardless of direction.
Also, the handrail mount is sideways if we’re looking down; if we’re looking up, it makes sense.
Maybe it is a light fixture.
It’s at the top, I have that same bannister mount, it points upwards to the banister.
The mattress is wedged at the top of the stairs thanks to its extreme springiness.
I think it’s bottom too but I don’t agree with your reasoning, I’ve seen steps without that bit.
Edit: actually now I think top, I’ve been convinced by the daylight argument plus the realization that is a single mattress folded in half (I previously thought it’s two mattresses).
Edit: changed my mind again, made a top level comment
How does the single mattress in half bit make you think it’s at the top? If it were at the top, the force of the mattress trying to straighten itself out would push it down the stairs. Much more likely the mattress was pushed/ tossed/ fell down the stairs and got folded in that position, imo.
Edit: the shadows are also indicative of it being at the bottom: light source from above and and from the sides at the base of the stairs, either from an open door or window. Shadow cast from the door light source being cancelled by the light source from above the stairs.
It’s the top of the stairs because in the top left of thr image you can see the banister support. If the mattresses were at the bottom then the angle of that support would be different
when the mattress is at the top, where is gravity and on what is it resting?
It could be wedged.
You think a folded in half mattress could get stuck in a stairwell? You might be on to something!
Why is no one else talking about this.
There’s no debate. It’s at the top of the stairs.
That’s what I was thinking too
You live in fancy houses!
I mean, it’s code for anything built during the age of home electricity.
Well, my house has electricity and the stairs do not have that indentation at all. I could take a picture of the steps from the bottom or the top and aside from the wear marks on the treads, you can’t see a difference.
Some stairs don’t have different looking risers, but you’re still correct because you can see wear marks from steps on the carpet.
Plot twist: Stuck in the middle.
It’s white and gold!
All joking aside, most stairs that I know had some sort of overhang, which we don’t see in this picture, so I’ll venture to say that we are looking down. The mattress is at the bottom of the stairs.
Bottom. The spacing/size of the stairs is the biggest clue. If we were at the bottom, it would indicate that the stairs are very tall and not very wide. As others have said, the worn carpet is also an indicator, as the carpet on the side of the stairs would not be worn. It would also likely have something sticking out like most stairs, not just flat.
Bottom, or else it would have to be in the process of falling due to physics.
Up and down are manmade constructs, so I assign the direction thatthe mattress is as the top of the stairs. Move the mattress to the other end? Well that’s the top now, just how it has to be /j
I think it is the bottom of the top of the stairs because of the lighting to the bottom left of the mattress. That should be in shadow from the mattress if it was at the bottom of the stairs.
Not if the mattress is coming in from an outside door. That light could be daylight. In fact I believe this to be the case.
Curses!
Could be that there’s a door or window that’s contributing a lot of light down low, spilling under the mattress.
Definitely the bottom of the top. Or is it the top of the bottom?
From the wear patten on the carpet I would say bottom, but the handle to the side makes me think top !..
The handrail probably has the hangers perpendicular to the railing instead of plumb to the ground. Just the cheapest ones you can get.
Could be a sconce instead of a weirdly placed handle.
It’s a curtain rod to a window midway up the stairs. We’re looking down a flight of steep older stairs. The mattress is lit by the window that is (mostly) under the rod, and by an open door at the bottom of the stairs.
Yes
top. you can see part of the handrail on the top left of the picture
I think that’s a heavy duty banister bracket, like this one:
Some banister brackets have a swivel type arrangement so that the bracket can be vertical underneath the handrail, no matter the angle of the handrail. Basic heavy duty brackets like this one are completely fixed in orientation, so they’re installed with the vertical support at an angle to support the handrail. I suspect the bracket in the photo is at a 45ish degree angle and only looks vertical due to the perspective. The banister has been deliberately cropped out of the photo to make the perspective as confusing as possible.
Personally I think the photo was taken from the top of the stairs looking down, based on the wear in the carpet.
Blue/black
The biggest factor IMO is something no one mentioned yet: we can only see one face of each step (either the top or the wall). If a photo is taken from the bottom, we would almost always be able to see the tops of the first few steps, which isn’t visible here. If a photo is taken from the top, the walls would pretty much never be visible (if they were, you could also see the photographer’s feet).
Therefore, this photo is only consistent with a photo taken from the top.
It is possible that this is an extremely long flight of stairs or that the photo was taken from a deliberately deceptive angle, but if that’s the case I have to say it was expertly done, because I am CERTAIN that we are looking from the top and the mattress is at the bottom.
Exactly right. The steps sit on the risers. If you can’t see both it’s from the top.
Nah, the hanger for the banister is very common, it protudes from the wall and turns up into the bottom of the handrail, therfore we are looking from the bottom up.
It’s going at an angle, not up. It’s 90° from the handrail itself, which is sloped to match the incline of the stairs.
Bottom. Carpet is really worn on the side facing us
On the top.
On the top left you see something… The holder for the railing…
Can still be the bottom
You can literally see the rail in the top left. It’s at the bottom.
Perhaps it is a weird wall-mounted lamp 👀
It’s a wall mounted lamp, but the mattress is at the bottom because of the stair wear pattern
Or sconce.
