Like I've said before; buildings, houses, vehicles are supposed to represent our life. In my recurring nightmare there are always staircases but most of the time, they are dead ends... and worse yet, I can't find the door to get out. I agree that the stairs in your dream is the effort that you have to put into getting from one place in the house to the next. The room with the tree in it, although the floor was tore up, seemed beautiful to me. The tree, I think, symbolizes Life, hope, fulfillment of dreams.

Your effort to capture the rooms in pictures and not being able to, maybe means that everything is still in motion, changing. It needed repair so it couldn't be captured as it was.

In my nightmare I'm also looking for something besides the door. The lost article or person changes with the theme of the dream, but I'm also looking for something else while I'm looking for the door so I can get out. Maybe it's the answers to the questions yet unanswered.