Remodel Update - Railing

 

 I was organizing my pantry today, and while I was doing that I was reflecting back on when we moved in this house, and realizing how MUCH we have done. We have basically changed every inch of this house, and I have only documented (blogged) probably 3, maybe 4 of the projects.  I LOVE a dramatic before and after, so I keep putting it off, thinking I will wait until that particular space is complete; however, I realize that complete may never happen (I'm always changing things or little things don't get accomplished).  So, I'm going to just document as far as we have gotten (lots of remodeling posts to come, I guess), and then update as we finish things off.  

I figured I would start with the banister remodel.  The above picture if pretty accurate from when we moved in.  Peach walls, wrap around carpet, bar area, Aztec wallpaper are all there in their 70's glory.

 Man, look at my kids!!  They were so small.  Grant easily putting his head through the slats  - this is the reason it had to be replaced.  It was DEFINITELY NOT up to code.  My kids learned fairly early on that they could not put their heads or bodies through the railing; however, whenever anyone else came over I was a nervous wreck, because some kid would almost fall off the landing because the spacing was so wide.  This should have been one of our first projects, but we kept putting it off while we focused on about 10 other different projects.  Luckily we didn't have any causalities with the old railing for those 3 years it lived with us.

 The kids loved that landing. They came up with all sorts of games from there.  This picture is from last summer, I believe.  The wallpaper is removed, walls re-textured, bar is gone, molding added to doors, and the closet is built below the stairs. 

 Started project: 8/30/13

Removed the beautiful wrap-around carpet and the railing. Luckily Adam is really good with geometry and math, so he was able to figure out all the cuts to build a wall there.  Our new railing has horizontal bars instead of vertical, so we thought it would look nicer (and easier to secure) if there was a straight line up the stairs instead of the cut-in stair risers.

 In case someone else out there is wondering how to build a wall from their stair risers.

 Next, added a long piece of wood.  At this point I was starting to see what Adam was thinking (I'm sure I have mentioned before that I was never good at geometry).  Look at that NASTY carpet.  Yes, it still looks that way. :) 

 Added sheetrock and plaster. We lived with the stairs unattached for 2 months.  Again, lucky no one plummeted to the cement floor below during those couple months.

 Added a board to the landing floor as well as trim along the new stair wall.

 New stair wall all painted nice - ready for the new railing.

 This is where the railing was (in the middle of the stairs) for those 2 months.  It was SO nice to not have to squeeze down the stairs everyday after the new railing went in. I think the wall looks a million times better than the wrap-around carpet.

Railing installed: 10/25/13

VOILA!!  The new railing.  I love how it turned out.  We originally were going to do a cable railing, but then read that it's hard to keep it tight (worried over time the kids could squeeze things through it) and the California codes for cable railings are really strict, so we opted for a steel railing.  We found a welder and told him what we were looking for.  We had it clear coated so you can still see all the welds and the steel.  We also replaced the light at the top of the stairs.

Before

 After

Not quite the dramatic after I was hoping to post, but this project is almost complete.

Still need to:
Tear out old carpet

Nail in a few missing baseboards on the landing

Paint trim on right side of stairs (once old carpet is removed)

Paint wall were old railing connected

NEW CARPET!

Maybe some artwork or pictures.  Not sure on this one though.  I sort of like this wall empty (I am putting some large photos on the wall at the base of the stairs), but we'll see down the road if I change my mind.

This railing is super solid too.  The old one was pretty wobbly.

The landing still gets used for some games (and Nala still sleeps there every night), but no more dangling feet or heads over the edge. 

Disregard the atrocious carpet.