Mini OHSA is now Welcome

It has been a while since I worked on the quilt shop. I know I have to jump through hoops and worse to wallpaper the kitchen, so I've been practicing avoidance techniques. I'm good at them.

But I've missed doing minis, so today I worked on the stairway railings. I bought the components from Hobby Builders Supply and stained them Golden Oak with a stain pen. For little bitty bits, I like the felt tip touch-up pen better than a brush or rag. The upstairs rail is simple, an L shape. You can't see the short leg of the L; it's on the left. The ballusters are three quarters of an inch apart, the equivalent of nine inches in real life. I used my magnetic jig tray to put it together. What a treat!

The railing is not glued in place. This floor will have golden oak wood flooring laid to cover the damaged original floor. I'll glue the railing in place when the flooring is finished. The downstairs rail, which follows the pitch of the stairs, is a bit trickier. I made individual treads for each step, since the original steps were very plain. These are stained golden oak, too. For the handrail, I glued one balluster to each step. The handrail is leaning against the wall. None of this is glued in place yet. First I had to figure out the height of the Newell post and couldn't do that until the linoleum flooring was installed. Had to add a piece to the bottom of the Newell post to adjust it so the handrail will hit it properly.

At one point, I took a photo up the stairs, a view that isn't easily seen but is visible if you look in one of the windows. Luckily, I took the photo before I glued in the treads and handrail. Notice the right side wall of the stairwell. It isn't painted! The treads in the photo are already glued in place, so it will take some creative taping to protect them from a paintbrush that needs to spread paint where it can't be seen while one is doing the painting. What a pain. Anyway, I decided it's way too late to do any painting, so the lower treads and handrail will just have to wait for installation at a later date.

If you look to the right in this last photo, you're looking into the kitchen, where the dreaded wallpaper caper must eventually take place. I wish I weren't quite so set on wallpaper in there.