June is Jumpin' Already!

Refreshed from our week away from home improvement, we faced the weekend with renewed energy. Scott decided that the stair railing would be his top priority, and when his folks volunteered to help, he assigned them woodworking tasks. Scott even had time to mow for a few hours Sunday which made for a successful weekend!

Saturday, Marita happily volunteered to sand pine we purchased to use as trim around doors in the 1972 entry hallway. Scott has total confidence in his mama's skills. He watched her refinish a lot of furniture throughout his childhood!  After a thorough sanding, I was there to help add two coats of stain.

Thanks for your help, Mom!

Meanwhile, Carl was in the garage. He was in charge of routing out the backside of the aforementioned door trim and baseboards for the library and 1972 hallway. It took about three passes of the router on each of the 20-some-odd pieces of pine to achieve the necessary profile. Carl spent Sunday sanding the 10 baseboard pieces, and I was able to get the first coat of stain down before calling it a day.

Thanks so much for your help, Dad!

 Meanwhile, sparks flew as Scott got busy fabricating the steel "pickets" for the stair railing.

Two pickets are set back-to-back to make one vertical post of the stair rail system. Scott drilled through the steel (using a titanium drill bit) and into the stair tread to secure each piece of steel using 3-inch bolts. Very sturdy!

Fast forwarding to Sunday . . . by the time I got home from church, Scott was working on the sixth of eight picket pairs.

All of the vertical posts were in place by 6PM Sunday. The horizontal handrail is held in place (temporarily) by a variety of clamps. Next, Scott will tackle the rail across the catwalk upstairs, and the rail that will surround the basement stairs. Still lots to do but he's made great progress!

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!