That’s interesting. I’ve never seen a handrail painted a bold color. Would that appeal to the demographic this house is marketing to?
No.
The grey stain is out. Because the handrail is sanded Douglas Fir, it does not stain well. The grey stain came out like stripes and was too dark and strange in the stairwell.
I tried to get out the custom stain that we used for the floors, but the flooring guy has it in a bucket wrapped up with a million layers of shipping tape. I didn’t dare try to open it all up because I didn’t have tape to get it closed up again.
So, back to the drawing board. Since I have to sell the house (hopefully any day now!!), I need to stay neutral, but good design. That means some type of stain that blends in between the driftwood stain upstairs and the light brown oak laminate. I’m not sure I will find a happy medium - we may just have to paint it with a bright white to go with all the other trim in the house.
Bright white, or what about the Durango Blue color of the front door?
I’d definitely go with white. It is not a design element; it is a utilitarian object. The white will be the most unobtrusive. You definitely don’t want to draw the eye to tha handrail.
Another vote for white. The blue handrail in Consolaton’s link works because it fits the overall style of the stairwell with those white panels.
I think I agree about the white. The design elements in the stairwell are the cool stairwell led lights and the hanging lamp. I don’t think I want to detract from those.
Could you use an aluminum handrail for a contemporary look … or is it too late for that?
The wooden rail was already installed, so yes, now it’s time to decide on stain/paint. I think white should be just fine too.
I wanted to install an aluminum handrail but couldn’t find all the pieces and parts needed locally in stock or available in a decent timing. Also, we needed at least 16’ long and I couldn’t figure out how to connect all the aluminum to make it appear seamless. So, had to go for the pre made wooden rail that came 12’ and could be joined to appear seamless.
The last rail down the 3 steps inside famiky room has been an engineering challenge because it juts out of wall perpindicular, not along the wall parallel. Have been to every lumber yard and specialty hardware store and could not find any brackets. We have invented parts and pieces from closet hardware, L brackets, heavy duty steel closet rods, etc. Hope it passes inspection!
Final inspection is on Friday! I could’ve called for it last week, but had to wait for this final small handrail to get installed
Good luck with the inspection, cb. I hope the inspector approves the house. And, who knows – maybe he himself is looking for a contemporary four-bedroom with wonderful views!
Paint the handrail a faint blue that echoes the backsplash.
There is no reason it shouldn’t be a design element.
Another vote for a white handrail.
I love blue… But the person buying this house might not. Paint the rail at the bottom white. If they want it to be an accent color, it will be easy to prime and repaint it themselves.
I would still try to find a stain. Keeping a white hand rail clean could be a pain for the new owner.
If you paint the handrail white, what will happen to the metal (or are they brass?) brackets? Keep them as is, or paint them white also?
What about clear varnish or stain on the railings? I think that’s a nicer look than paint. Wouldn’t want brass or metal painted, personally.
I suspect coralbrook has already dealt with the handrail.
In my house, we recently installed a banister – there was one on one side of the stairs, but DH has two artificial hips and really needed the other one. It’s white oak, just stained the same color as the stairs themselves, and has brass brackets holding it up at four spots. Looks completely like it’s been there forever.
We have a white-painted handrail on an interior staircase similar to cb’s (though much shorter). It’s painted in oil with a gloss finish. Keeping it clean has never been an issue.
Passed final inspection this morning!! Sorry, it was a very busy day and haven’t had a chance to update. Inspector said ‘Very Good Job, hope you sell it for over a million’. Technically, as an Owner/Builder permit, I am not supposed to be selling the house. I never tell him that I’m selling the house, he just knows. In fact, 1/2 hour before we knew he was coming this morning, we ran out and took down the For Sale sign and all flyers from inside the house, just so it isn’t in his face. But, he knows better and could care less about the Contractor Lobbyist fine print on the permit application that I filled out. It is never enforced by anyone.
I was in a very good mood this morning until… we have been struggling with trying to figure out why the $7,000 retaining wall seems to be bowing out at one point in the middle and possibly losing structural integrity. After much discussion, my carpenter insisted we needed to dig out the whole area and investigate. Yes, we find that the French drain installed at the bottom of the retaining wall (by another contractor that I hired that my carpenter does not like, but tolerates - Team B that did the Pacific Beach remodel) was elbowed ‘up’. What that means is that when the water percolating down through our gravel and mesh gets into the French drain, and it travels to the low point that drains out through a hole in the retaining wall, the 90 connection was actually facing up to get out the hole in the wall. So, if water collects in the French drain system it cannot drain out, it has to raise up about 4" in the 90 connector to get out. Well, if is raises up 4" it is just going to travel back down to the pipe and go out all the holes in the top of the pipe. This is what caused an avalanche of water to come out underneath the retaining wall instead of through the drain system. Couple this with the fact that the roof gutter was not connected during the last freak rainstorm and a flood of water was puddling on the dirt in the retaining wall, percolating down towards the low spot and flooding out under the retaining wall. This caused a huge erosion in the hillside below the retaining wall which undermined the steel posts set in concrete. Kind of like a freak occurrence of everything possible going wrong in the same location.
We spent all day fixing all these drain issues so that we can get the dirt back behind the retaining wall and start building the deck outside the French Doors downstairs. Because of the erosion, we are now going to have to build another mini retaining wall underneath the retaining wall in the middle area to shore up the eroded hillside area. I can never win!
I did celebrate with the team today and bought a really fancy lunch that we actually ate at the staged dining table and let them have one beer at lunch time. Big treat for the guys. Also, I gave them a large bonus for working 3 weeks straight without a day off (except last weekend when we had Open Houses) and passing final inspection.