The Stairwell Remodel

  • The goal: open up + modernize this old oak staircase as part of our overall home remodel
  • Looking toward the living room and entryway from the kitchen.
  • First things first... we opened up the far wall to the mudroom (and my future office)
  • This will soon be an open railing and the entrance to my office.
  • Got the kitchen cleaned out
  • I thought about engineering the pipe to be removable with springs, but I wound up scrapping that ...
  • Time to start this building these handrails
  • Basement carpet goin in
  • Steps carpeted
  • Picking up some oak
  • Stairwell supplies
  • Had a great time hanging out and working with this lady this weekend. Happy Mother's Day, mom! 5 comments
  • Newel post hardware
  • Setting the first posts for the banister
  • Settin posts
  • The first section always takes the longest.
  • Buildin this handrail 10 comments
  • Later, I decided I should probably finish up that last banister post on the top to prevent people...
  • Once I got it to this point I decided it was "safe" and let it sit in this state for farrrr too long
  • It's always hilarious listening to contractors bitch while cleaning up after other contractors. O...
  • Back to chipping away at this handrail project
  • 41.5 degrees 1 comment
  • Fitting the last bit of this railing
  • Hoping to keep hardware to a minimum, I joined the banister cap and base boards together with dow...
  • Th hidden spline on the banister cap
  • There was a lot of drilling, routing, and precise cuts to get everything to fit properly.
  • Starting on the top of the banister... oh yea. that's a tight miter
  • For the top of the banister, I ripped and planed down some 6" boards and then cut the miters and ...
  • The top of the banister set in place
  • Then it was back to the tricky part... Getting the rest of the angled pieces fit and cut.
  • I made a jig in order to help me make a clean, square hole to inset the bottom newel post into th...
  • Once my newel post hole jig was made, I used a combination of a multi-tool, Japanese pull saw and...
  • Look at this fit.
  • Setting everything in place before disassembling to finish.
  • Finishing all of the trim pieces in my shop
  • I masked the glue points of all of the wooden banister pieces before finishing
  • Finished banister caps and base boards.
  • Then I had to mask everything that I'd already installed in order to finish the newel posts
  • Finishing the pre-installed newel posts required so much prep work
  • My tent for finishing the newel posts in our already finished home.
Photos / Projects / Brooks' Dead End Ranch / The Stairwell Remodel

Photos from our stairwell opening and remodeling

Photos taken from October, 2015 to February, 2021 in Des Moines, Ankeny, and Oralabor, Iowa

Album added 8 years ago (Dec 7, 2015).