A selection of interesting challenges

1. CHALLENGE- GRAND STAIRCASE

Grand Staircase before new railing and wood stairs installed.

Grand Staircase with horizontal metal balusters — Grand Staircase after new wood stair treads and a custom metal railing installed.

This house had an original staircase, circa 1990. The homeowner wanted to update the look and feel of the spacious living area with hardwood floors extending up the stairs, new paint and most importantly, a new railing that would add a contemporary feel to the home. We removed the old wooden railing with the vertical balusters. After the new stair treads were installed, we installed custom 3" metal newel posts and 1/2" square horizontal balusters that spanned 80". The curved "princess" mezzanine at the top of the stairs was addressed by bending the 1/2" balusters and highlighting the area with a metal wrap. The customer was thrilled with the result and chose to leave the metal raw, as the silver sheen reflected natural light and enhanced the overall feel of the room.

2. CHALLENGE- IRREGULAR CURVED MEZZANINE AND STAIRS THAT ARE OUT OF CODE

BEFORE

BEFORE- Unconnected cable railing that is not code-compliant

This four year old custom home comes with an irregular S-curve mezzanine and two non-standard staircases of differing rise/run dimensions connected by a landing. The big box store cable railing system wasn't installed correctly and a cable snapped when someone fell against it. The homeowner wanted a guardrail that matched the curve of the mezzanine instead of being bisected by the straight lines of the cable rail underneath the top cap.

AFTER

Metal guardrail with irregular S-curve on mezzanine — Guardrail with irregular S-curve on mezzanine with double newel posts to capture termination points and stair guardrail.

Metal railing — View from bottom of stairs of metal guardrail on stairs and landing

We designed and installed a new guardrail made from 3" square newel posts, 1.5" intermediaries and 1/2" square horizontal balusters. To capture the irregular S-curve we bent the balusters and fine-tuned them to match the curve of the floor. The top cap was bent, welded and blended to exact dimensions. Finally, the rail system was patina'd black to match the pen-and-ink architectural rendering hanging above the stairs.