Climbing the wooden hill.

When I was a child mum would say at night that it was time ' to climb the wooden hill' , or go to bed ! Mum always dreamnt of living in a house with no stairs as she always forgot something when she was either up or down. I love stairs and live in a house with three floors but I rarely climb the wooden hill these days. 

NOW if anyone had told me how hard it was to make stairs and bannisters and rails I would have gone with my first idea of making a four roomed house with NO stairs. AND to top it all I have chosen to make three floors and four flights of stairs with four landings. When I began the stairs of Ramsay House I set aside to the very back of my head , the next 'step', the bannisters. I didn't want the classic shop bought ones that you see all over the net but something simpler. I tend to prefer simple lines as houses are already so busy visually. 

I did my patina on the woodwork on the lower block of stairs and built the main heavier upright on the second step and a smaller version on the top of the first flight. I used basic 12x12 and 10x10 mm wood and enhanced them with strips of kraft card and a simple top that I can always improve later.I bought a few pieces of bannister wood from Houseworks some time ago and yesterday began staining and preparing them. I chose a plain wood for the spindles and then drilled out the underside of the bannister to be able to insert the spindles into the top and where they meet the step I will Simply glue in place. I must paint the spindle wood before assembly as it will be way easier. 

After much rumination I made a Template for the first set of spindles and bannister which helped a lot visually.

The floor of the first landing will have parquet to match the colour of the bannister. The spindles being the same colour as the woodwork and steps. 

 Here is the smaller first floor upright in wood and card. You can see the unfinished floor.

 Here you can just about see another solution I found. I needed the bannister to rest solidly against the post so I drilled a hole at the same angle of the bannister and inserted a piece of toothpick. The bannister sits neatly on this and will of course be glued in place during assembly. 

 Here is the underside of the first landing with its deliberate swirly overpainting and patination. I really wanted to paint to have layers as if the house had been painted again and again over the years by successive générations.

 The patination done on this lower stair block. All the beige paintwork has been given a coat of mat varnish but not the blue grey. 

 Below the bannister with its first coat of dark oak stain and the chosen spindle wood as yet unpainted.

 There was already a channel in the underside of the bannister wood but I needed it to be wider to be able to glue in place the spindles. 

 The first floor landing upright with the bannister sitting neatly agaisnt it. I had to cut this first bannister three times to be the angle right. Luckilly there will be other uses for the first two pieces. 

Next step varnishing again the bannsiters before glueing in place then beginning the spindles ( after painting them ) I am 'troubled' by the fact that there will be gaps between the spindles in the underside of the bannister and wonder how to fill them safely. There is always something to worry about, it's like have a first child! This is such a huge learning curve.

I wanted to just add below a good find yesterday at the charity store. A new 'teak' venetian blind which gives a LOT of useful seasoned dark wood and I only paid 6 euros! This will last me quite a while and will be used for shelving, furniture and even flooring why not ! There must be at least a square meter of wood and its a little over 2.5 mm maybe 3 mm thick.

A LOT for 6 euros! Happy bunny.