How We Built Our Custom Newel Posts; Tutorial

How We Built Our Custom Newel Posts Tutorial by me

Most recent picture like 2 exactly minutes ago!...still not done but really getting there...

For the rest of the story, check out these posts too: The Plan, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6

Okay guys, as you know (or I hope you do) we love to amp up the style in our home with architectural elements.  So, when it comes to our stair project the newel posts were a really important feature.  I wanted big and chunky- no skinny "model sized" newel posts for me- give me some meat!

I know I haven't shown you the final... I am still working on finishing caulk and extra coats of paint, but we were asked a while back on how we built our newel posts.  I passed the job on by asking my handy hubby to make a tutorial up for you all!  He broke the project down into 10 simple images to show you the steps he took to accomplished the look that we wanted -simple, yet elegant.  Now this may or may not be the "correct" and "proper" way to build a newel post, but it worked for us and they are super solid and easy to make happen.. so there you go!

Feel free to use our ideas and make a beautiful version of your own, ***all I ask is that you please link back to this tutorial if you blog about it AND I wanna see what you do, so please just be sure to submit them to be featured!  Please let us know how yours turn out.  We would love to share it with everyone.

On to the -uh- quasi tutorial!

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On the Rise; Adding the Stair Risers, Finishing the Runners

Well, today yesterday was one of those days, we ran out of diapers, forgot about our play date (but did make it a little late), the babysitter just didn't show up, or call... I'm still sorta ticked about that... we ran out of towels...(which means 4 loads of just towels to wash, and I am not exaggerating...)  I feel like nothing got done... and really the ONE thing I did get done (cleaning off the kitchen counters) was undone when I made dinner, which is still there since I am typing this...... sigh.

But, I thought I would show you a little more of the stair project.  In case you want to see the rest of the story, check out these too: The Plan, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5

A quick preview of things to come!

Sorry in advance these are so long!  It takes me about 3 days per post just to narrow down images.

This is where we left off, I stained the treads in place.  But, if you will notice, actually- I take that back Buddy is in the way.  The bottom stair tread is technically not all there.  We needed to finish the side walls of the stairs in order to add the treads.  We waited on finishing the walls since we weren't sure how it was all going to work out when the stairs got finished... But that is how we do things- figuring them out as we go.

You can see in the picture below how the tread just sort of ends.  But the whole point was to have it wrap around the side.  In order to figure out all the dimensions, we measured everything out so we would know what exactly we would need, and Justin got to work... of course we had some "help"

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Walnut Stain... at last! Stair Update!

In case you want to follow along, check out these posts too: The Plan, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4

AHH!  I am so sorry that I have let this go for so long!  I have been trying to catch up with life since we got back from North Carolina, and a million things have been on my plate... learning to juggle it all is NOT my forte yet... and can I (sheepishly  Ba- aad Girl!) admit that we are technically not done completely with the stairs so that is another reason why I haven't finished up.  But this is real life... and a hectic one at that, so I am not sorry I am not quite done, but I am sorry to keep you'all hanging!

Okay where were we?  

We just filled the gaps on the sides.  and I painted... and then we lived like that for 1 year (at least...)  Finally a few months ago, after we had installed our flooring I realized that we could finally move forward.  We had been waiting on choosing our living room flooring, because we were trying to match it!

One day while Justin was at work and I had napping babies, I stained the bottom two stairs.

Before the stain, I used a wood conditioner, remember this is pine we were working with soft woods require a stain conditioner to help with even coverage!

 After the stain conditioner is applied, you can't see much of a difference?... well the gloves are moved.

 And finally stained!  YEA! 

This happened to be stain that we just had on hand, Minwax Dark Walnut Oil Based Stain, but you can see below that it matches really well, and will look even closer with a coat or 4 of poly!

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Filling the Gaps: Stair Remodel

In case you want to follow along, check out these posts too:  The Plan, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

If you remember the last time we talked "stairs", we were left with these huge gaps on the side of each stair- ugh!  I have seen people handle theses gaps in a number of ways.  One that sticks out in my mind is covering it with moldings and sort of wrapping the molding around the stair nose etc.  

But I have to admit, I was not a huge fan of the finished look, and I usually LOVE moldings.  But wrapping them just seemed like an after thought, and one of my main wants for our stairs, is that they look like they had always been done properly.  Which means we had to do a little more deconstruction before hand.  (You don't call me Remodelaholic for nothing!)

When we cleaned up the stairs, we took off each tread and sanded and routed the nose.  Then put them back in place with some screws for a temporary hold.   Later as we finished the project they would be easy to remove when necessary but we could still walk up and down safely -just a little tip in case you are trying this at home, until you are DONE don't re-glue and nail yet!

Anyway, to fill the gap we started off by adding a diagonal molding that runs just above the nose of each stair tread from the bottom stair to the top.  This created a triangular space above the stair support.  Which meant all we had left to do was fill that space.  We (meaning Justin- good thing someone is really patient in this family!) carefully measured each triangle that was left below the molding and cut out a piece of MDF to fill it up.

 

 

Nailed in place it looked like this(below).  We also traded out the molding we had in the pictures above to a simple basically rectangular molding to simplify the profile.

We had to trim or straighten the cuts on some of the treads, but for the most part, this little triangular molding, just filled the existing huge gaps.

When they were all nailed in place, I caulked any gaps, and we installed the risers (even though they will be covered) and painted a few coats of white paint.

Then we screwed the treads back in place  (so we could still move them later if we needed to!) 

Finally it looked like this:

And do you want to see a preview of the next post or two?  I am just giddy to almost have this done after 2 years!  By the way, in the picture below, Etta does this new thing.  When I say "Smile"  

she closes her eyes really tight it is pretty funny!

For the rest of the story, check out these posts too: The Plan, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7

Remodelaholic is written by Cassity and Justin.  Cassity has a degree in interior design and Justin is a landscape architect, so we adore everything that makes up a HOME!  We love to share home remodeling ideas and projects we’re working on. From huge kitchen renovation ideas to small bathroom remodels, there isn’t anything we won't try to tackle (at least once!).  We are in the midst of our third whole home renovation, so there should be a lot more inspiration coming your way.  We hope that you will stop by often for home design inspiration, tutorials, interior design tips, delicious recipes and what is going on in our family life.

If you like this post please check out these other project updates:

Under $100 Carpeted Stair To Wooden Tread Makeover DIY
New Enclosed Loft Space At The Top Of The Stairs

Beautiful Painted Stair Runner

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The Next Step, Staircase Remodel Project

Sorry I am so slow with posts.... honestly it drives me crazy not having the time to do it, but hopefully when I grow up I will be really good at it!  (that is IF I ever grow up...hum)

The last time we talked about the staircase remodel we had removed the railing and all the carpeting, and begun to redesign the newel posts.

The Plan

Part 1

Part 2

So let's show you what we did next.  We were left with this:

 

If you remember our plan rendering, the bottom two stairs are wide to help make it feel more custom and not so builder grade.  Which means we needed to build them out a bit.  Well, that translates to a longer "Honey Do List".

Poor man, I am not sure he was planning on a life of servitude when he asked me to marry him.  (good thing he actually likes this kind of work!) THANK YOU HONEY!

When working on these sort of projects, we usually put the babies to sleep, grab a treat, and a bunch of scrap paper and wood so that we can discuss (in 3d) how we each see it working, and what looks right.  We move these little scraps around, do a lot of measuring, discuss a little, draw a lot of little sketches and then when we are happy and the project gets on it's merry way!

Once the pieces were all measured and ready to install, we (okay, maybe not we exactly just Justin) cut the flooring out of the way.  Then nailed and glued the new stairs supports in place.

We also took off all the stair treads one at a time and sanded them, to get all the junk off- namely the heck-a ugly plaster texture that landed on the stairs from the walls- (my love for this house would be so much more if it didn't have that darn texture on the walls (and everywhere else it landed...urgh!)

Anyway, while the stairs were off we also routed the front two edges, to give them a prettier nose.  Then we put them back down temporarily held in place with a few screws (there were still a few problems that needed  to be addressed- that I will show you next time)

Like all the Christmas and other holiday storage boxes under my stairs?... No I didn't spend money on pretty boxes, darn!

Next Justin installed the bottom two treads, by gluing them with construction adhesive and the framing nailer.

We actually had to buy two more 2 x 12's, and since the stairs were so much bigger, and we couldn't use the original.  In order to make them look sorta older like the others, we choose to just nail them right in and not hide the nail holes, because the other boards still had theirs showing.

The second stair tread slid into place around the future newel post support.

Okay, so now the treads are in place, sanded and ready to be finished, the problem?  A minimum of 1/2 inch gaps on either side of the treads (see picture below).   So we had to figure out a way to fill the gap.  Which I will explain next time.

Read it all: The Plan, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6

Remodelaholic is written by Cassity and Justin.  Cassity has a degree in interior design and Justin is a landscape architect, so we adore everything that makes up a HOME!  We love to share home remodeling ideas and projects we’re working on. From huge kitchen renovation ideas to small bathroom remodels, there isn’t anything we won’t try to tackle (at least once!).  We  are in the midst of our third whole home renovation, so there should be a lot more inspiration coming your way.  We hope that you will stop by often for home design inspiration, tutorials, interior design tips, delicious recipes and what is going on in our family life.

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Working With What We Have Stair Treads PR 6

We left off our stair remodel with a big huge MESS! And it was about to get messier pretty quick.  If you noticed in the plan, from before we had the newel posts moved back to open the space.  So we got to work on that deconstruction/construction next:

We plan on re-using the railing so we took it apart carefully and actually left a lot of it intact.  Anything we did cut we made sure to cut a little long.  Here Justin is cutting back the railing and removing it all:

 In the next few photos we should play the game, Where's Buddy?

You can see behind Justin that the railing is still mostly in one piece.  (and technically it still is...just sitting in the closet, not on the stairs, but hopefully soon!)  The next side is on the chop list!!  The space already feels SO much bigger!!

Then we started to remove the portion of the wall where the newel post is going to be.

Not photographed we nailed in a support for those boards in the wall (above).  Then installed the structural part of the post.  Don't laugh at us if we don't do it exactly right we wanted to make sure it was nice and strong, and you better believe this thing is not coming out.  When we are closer to getting done, we will put the pretty part on top of it.  We also re-used bits and pieces of 2 x 4wood that we already had, so some of it is randomly painted.

Below Justin is showing what it will look like once it is in.

 The actual building begins.

So the newel post structure is in, but the stairs are still atrocious.  More to come.


In case you want to follow along, check out these posts too: The Plan, Part 1, Part 3 and Part 4

Remodelaholic is written by Cassity and Justin.  Cassity has a degree in interior design and Justin is a landscape architect, so we adore everything that makes up a HOME!  We love to share home remodeling ideas and projects we’re working on. From huge kitchen renovation ideas to small bathroom remodels, there isn’t anything we won’t try to tackle (at least once!).  We  are in the midst of our third whole home renovation, so there should be a lot more inspiration coming your way.  We hope that you will stop by often for home design inspiration, tutorials, interior design tips, delicious recipes and what is going on in our family life.

Read more...

A million years ago... The Staircase Remodel PR 5

Back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth... In March 2010, I decided to redo our stairs.  I had a few goals in mind.  Make the space look custom, and open it up.  As it was, the existing newel posts made the entry sorta feel cramped.  The carpet was getting pretty worn (thanks to my cats taking the corners too fast while chasing each other, there was a 3 inch hole in the carpet)  and since wood floors were the ultimate plan well I decided I needed to investigate.

One day, while Justin was at work (naughty wife) I pulled a corner of the carpet up to see what it looked like under there.   Not so good, no pretty finished stairs that other people seem to luckily find.  No mine were plain old structural pine lumber covered in plaster and paint splatters, with huge unfinished gaps...  But I was still determined!

So I think I talked to my husband about it...  We discussed options and came up with a plan (posted about here).  To refresh your memory here is what the stairs looked like:

Above is my own little furry Vanna (Buddy) White showing you how to pose by the stairs!

Here is the plan we drew up and hoped we could make happen.

Here I am peeking under the carpet... bummer no good... but lets just dive in shall we?

At first I tried scraping the plaster off the stairs.  It worked in some places, but in others it sorta splintered the wood, so I had to stop.

Be ready to remove about a million staples.

You can see one of the holes that the cats had created by speedy-Gonzales-ing it around the corner.  They would catch that spot with their back claws, and literally the hole got bigger everyday... silly beast (a secret thank you from mom for giving me an excuse to rip out the carpet!!! kisses!)

As you can see there are a few major problems.  Namely the stairs are covered with plaster, there are huge gaps on the sides and the wood, is just structural lumber, no hidden gems here.  What will we do....

You'll have to hope that I post about it soon... ( I will get on writing that post)

In case you want to follow along, check out these posts too: The Plan, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4

Remodelaholic is written by Cassity and Justin.  Cassity has a degree in interior design and Justin is a landscape architect, so we adore everything that makes up a HOME!  We love to share home remodeling ideas and projects we’re working on. From huge kitchen renovation ideas to small bathroom remodels, there isn’t anything we won't try to tackle (at least once!).  We are in the midst of our third whole home renovation, so there should be a lot more inspiration coming your way.  We hope that you will stop by often for home design inspiration, tutorials, interior design tips, delicious recipes and what is going on in our family life.

Read more...