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Installing railing along the stairs
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Has Achieved Nirvana
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Or you could do a wood slat wall:





I've also seen some cool cutout/stencil panels...


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Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Re the carpet, he said he could probably peel back the carpet and then have a carpet layer replace it after the railing was installed (i.e., we wouldn't have to get new carpet). If so, that would be good bc I don't think we're going to do anything to the flooring down there for now.


My rule for "keep the flooring uniform" really refers to surfaces that are on the same level and adjacent to each other. While I think leaving the flooring (vinyl and carpet) in the main area is the way to go, I would be thinking about what to do on the stairs during this handrail project.

Do you want the carpet long term so keep it and work around it? Balusters into carpeting is a bit dated (see that pic I posted earlier). Would you prefer finished wood treads with a nice runner down the center? I mean, it doesn't have to match the carpet in the basement area, it just should work with it.

Or maybe you'd prefer no carpet at all. And do the railing in a style and color (probably stained oak) that works with the rest of the house. Personally, I like a simple runner down the center of stairs with finished wood treads. I'm a stocking-footed person in the house and find bare wood to be treacherous. But I'm old.... Big Grin

A lot depends on what's under that carpet. But you're going to have to peel back some of it regardless, so maybe take a look sooner rather than later so you have a good idea of what your options are.


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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier

 
Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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The cutout one is fantastic! ThumbsUp


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Posts: 35084 | Location: Hooterville, OH | Registered: 23 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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WTG, those slats and cutouts are really pretty!! I feel like they would probably be a mismatch with the room though because they're so modern and fancy. I'm going to be looking at different options online though, and I'll show them to MR SK, I think it opens up the possibilities.

quote:
Do you want the carpet long term so keep it and work around it? Balusters into carpeting is a bit dated (see that pic I posted earlier). Would you prefer finished wood treads with a nice runner down the center? I mean, it doesn't have to match the carpet in the basement area, it just should work with it.

Or maybe you'd prefer no carpet at all. And do the railing in a style and color (probably stained oak) that works with the rest of the house. Personally, I like a simple runner down the center of stairs with finished wood treads. I'm a stocking-footed person in the house and find bare wood to be treacherous


This is tricky... At the top of the stairs is the flooring that's the same through out the main level. Then this carpeted stairway, then the basement room...

I was thinking that if we didn't have carpet on the stairs, I would want the stairs to match the first floor flooring. But maybe that's not necessary? I need to think about it a little more.

Also, if the stairs matched the first floor flooring, then I think it wouldn't match the basement flooring and might be kind of jarring.

So keeping the carpet is easy because it's not a mismatch.

Can we peel back the carpet ourselves without messing it up?


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
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choices, choices...


Indeed! I've been googling around and it's kind of overwhelming.

I'm thinking we want something very simple...

Here is the railing at our rental house, what style would you call this?



I think something similar to that: i.e., a simple design, possibly with a handrail to match the style of the handrail on the opposite wall and two balusters per step could work very well. If you wanted to leave the carpet in place for the present, it could probably be notched out where the balusters rise from a connection securing them to the stringer beneath the stairs up to the handrail. I'd choose a wood and finish to match the other woodwork in the basement. I don't see any fancy molding anywhere else so it should be a straightforward piece of construction.

Big Al


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Posts: 7466 | Location: Western PA | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I don't see any fancy molding anywhere else so it should be a straightforward piece of construction.


No, fortunately, the only millwork down there is the baseboard and window trim, and it's fairly simple so should be easy to match.

It's funny, I never really paid attention to the railing on the stairs at our rental house, but the more I look at this photo, the more it gives me a 19070s, Brady Bunch vibe. Which is odd, because this house was built in the late 1990s. Who knows!


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:
but the more I look at this photo, the more it gives me a 19070s, Brady Bunch vibe.


THAT'S IT!!!!!

Big Grin Big Grin Big Grin


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When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden - Minnie Aumônier

 
Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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ROTFLMAO

The stair railings are attached to the rental, so I'm not worried about that...

But the love chair doesn't help, does it? It's too brown.

Why is brown a 1970s color?

My area rug doesn't have a 1970s vibe, right?

I don't want to have a 1970s vibe at our new house...

WhoMe


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Your rug does not have a 1970s vibe. Big Grin It's more of a Frank Lloyd Wright meets Mondrian vibe. I think it will work very well in the new house with the oak trim and the style of the cabinets that are there.

In looking for style ideas for any parts of the house, I'd be using the keywords "shaker" "Mission" "prairie" "craftsman" and "Frank Lloyd Wright" . I think you may find things in any of those categories that will work in your house.

Funny you think of the vertical baluster wall as contemporary. I think of it as FLW. Wright used a vertical trellis like that as a divider between rooms in some of his houses, and is why I thought those a wood baluster wall could work on the basement stairs. If you like that look of course. It might not be your thing.

Architect Sarah Susanka's books might also give you some design ideas. Your house has some elements of her "Not So Big" philosophy and design style. Lots of wood with some interesting architectural elements that you don't see everywhere.


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Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I love a good FLW vibe Smiler

We’ll see what we can do with the interior pieces we choose.


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Late to the party...

Will you need to move anything up or down those stairs? Any rail on the open side will have an impact on that!


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Posts: 7603 | Location: chicagoland | Registered: 21 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Ron, not really because that’s a walkout basement and there’s an outside door right there, and on the other side of the stairs there’s a workshop with an overhead door.


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Do consider the ability to remove and replace it to accommodate large pieces going down there. Your stairway goes almost to the outside wall there. Doesn’t leave much room to maneuver.


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Posts: 13650 | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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As SK mentioned, there's an outside door right there that leads to the back yard. And there's an overhead garage door on the other side of the stairs that also leads from the back yard into a storage/workshop area on that lower level. Way easier to get stuff in either of those ways rather than down the stairs.


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Posts: 38222 | Location: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: 19 January 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Yeah, I think it should be ok, but I'll look at it again.

Also, at the bottom of the stairs, I think it's more roomy than it looks in the photos.

The other thing is that the top of the stairs is closed (there's a wall for a few steps) so that kind of adds a space restriction in any case.


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Posts: 18860 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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