New Stairs - Day 1

I can see how you might think that Day 1 is about putting the stairs in, or demolishing the exiting stairs, or actually doing something to the stairs, but no.  Day 1 is documenting everything as it stands right now so that you can see the evolution and I can prove it.  (It's always fun to look back, try going to Refinishing our Kitchen Cabinets - Day 1 to see what I mean.)

So today, I am going to show you the starting point of all this madness.

 So the first thing to notice is the dirty-ish tan carpet and the dirty-ish tan walls and the paint peeling off of the white hand rail and the white balusters.  Not exactly winning any awards for interior design.  And most of this stuff is falling apart.  Some of the balusters are even rusting where the paint has chipped and peeled off of them as well.

I love how the carpet is wrapped around the stair, here.  It's so . . . floppy.  Shaggy chic?  Gathered corner?  Is this how it's supposed to look?  Well, even if it is (which I doubt, but I can ask my interior decorator friend if you want a technical answer) I don't like it and I want it gone.  Woo hoo!!!

This is probably the thing I am most excited to get rid of.  The chicken-wire-attached-with-bright-blue-cable-ties was a functional, practical, safety issue.  Not an aesthetic choice.  The balusters were installed in 1975 and the code then didn't apparently consider how children fit through things.  And fall through things.  One of our youngest son's favorite things to do is put his head through the railings and play peak-a-boo with Mommy and Daddy as they rush over screaming "No, no, no, no, no!!!"

I'm not even sure how this area got messed up.  Cats, perhaps, but it just doesn't seem very well contrived.

This is a great view of the "rough cut 2x6" that is currently our stair skirt.  Pretty, huh?  Pretty in that "I couldn't find my scissors so I used pruning shears to cut my homemade prom dress" kind of way.

At least on this side the rough cut portion is a little obscured by the metal base of the balusters.  This is certainly something that we could have kept, but just upgraded.  But I very much like what we decided to do with it.  Just wait and see!

Here's the rough cut support from the other side.  It isn't holding weight or even supporting the stairs, it is just supporting the balusters and ending the stairs.  So drab, though, right?

The paint on this handrail has a mind of its own.  I think it is trying to make a portrait, but of who I am not certain.

And then there's this.  It doesn't look like much, and maybe a normal person wouldn't really even notice it at all, but I know it's there.  I know who lives there.  The constant parade of big, black, biting spiders that creep into my sons' beds and leave pink, itchy bumps on my babies.  They come from here.  This is a gateway to a hell dimension, I'm pretty sure.  Wall it up, boys!

The actual demo starts in less than a week!  Until then, I have to prep the areas, so I will keep you posted on what all has to be done to organize our life enough to move it twenty feet out to the garage.  Don't worry, I'm documenting the bajolies out of this one.