This is how our stairs have looked for the past ten months - a little grove of pine trees guarding one side, some large (and heavy) paint can guarding the other, and a few smaller paint cans guarding the edges of the treads going down.
Yes, it's completely safe for little people! (Which is why my sister can't relax when she's here with her one year old!)
We have wrought iron spindles and oak tracks, newel posts and railings. Rich is measuring the first spindle to see what length to cut it to.
We've had all the parts to assemble these railings since last fall, but it was a little more complicated than that. We bought our spindles in the states - so much cheaper down there. But we bought our oak in Canada. So when Rich went to start assembling them last year, he realized that the measurements were off. The spindles were about a millimetre too wide for the tracks in the oak. So that just complicated things a little, and mentally stalled Richie for months! Besides cutting every piece, he had to grind the metal down to make it fit in the track. Cutting metal really stinks and sends sparks flying everywhere - another reason why it had to wait til nice weather so it could be done outside. And those sparks are hot - one landed on my foot!
The metal saw is on the left and the wood saw is on the right - it's for cutting the tiny oak pieces that get placed in the track between each spindle.
And look in the yard - some new piles of dirt!
There is a pattern to these railings - can you see it?
I actually helped too. My job was to rip off masking tape to hold the little oak pieces in place in the tracks while the wood glue dried. Let me tell you that I sure had some aching muscles the next day!
Those little base pieces nicely hide the part where you screw the spindle in to the base. (Oh, and I was just kidding about the sore muscles!)
First side is finished - awesome work team!
See that yellow metal thing floating in mid-air? It's a magnetic level - how cool is that!
You can see the pattern better here in the spindles. The team only mixed up the spindles once. Luckily I noticed before they had gone too far and only had to remove two spindles to correct the pattern.
That's the closest Kenzie's ever been to the edge!
Now for the final section - a little more challenging because all the cuts have to be on an angle now and the measurements were all different.
Halfway done!
Only one spindle left to do! Everyone is gathering for the Grand Finale!!!
Yahoo - they're finished!!! And don't worry, the little bases on the stair treads will be easy to lift up on that day when we might actually get carpet on the stairs!
Look at the girls rejoicing with the newest home improvement!!!
Aren't they beautiful? (I'm talking about the railings of course!!!)
Dear Daughters: may you always be like these railings - steadfast and immoveable. And may you always hold to the rod, the iron rod, just like Kenzie.
We've had all our girls living at home for the past year. But now change is in the air . . . Jas just found an apartment and will be moving out Sept 1 to attend college. And Chelle will probably be leaving a few months after that. I'll miss these kinds of little moments with all my beauties. But we'll face our changes with courage because we know it's all part of the big plan. And we will carry on and be just like . . . stair railings!!!
