The Vanderveen House

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You are here: Home / The Build / Week 26: Zen Stairs and Handrail With Square Spindles

The Build

Week 26: Zen Stairs and Handrail With Square Spindles

We’ve been working hard the last few weeks to get everything finished in order to get our occupancy permit from the township. A few of the key things that are needed to get the permit are the electrical and lighting, smoke detectors, all utilities, the deck and handrail, as well as the interior stairs and handrail. Basically the township is just making sure that everything is safe for us before we can live here. Our goal is to have our occupancy permit within the next week or two.

If you’re new here, my husband Tony and I have been building our own house. This is now week 26, when we installed the stairs and handrail.

square newel post

Stair Installation

The stair installation and handrail finishing were a joint effort between Dovetail Carpentry, Vedder Woodworking, and Tony and myself. Steve from Dovetail carpentry (who was our main contractor for the house) built the stairs off-site, then was able to come to our place and install them. He used paint grade stringers and risers, and plywood treads.

unfinished stairs

This was such a huge relief for me because it meant we could go down in the basement easily. It was also much safe for the kids to go downstairs.

unfinished basement stairs

We kept the stairs like this for a while until we could get around to finish them.

painted stairs

Paint Stringers and Risers

First I primed the risers and the stringers with oil based primer and let it dry for a full day. Then I painted all the risers and the stringers using paint tinted to Benjamin Moore Chantilly Lace. This is the same paint that I will use for all the trim and doors around the house.

stair makeover

Handrail and Treads

Rod Vedder from Vedder Woodworking did all the finishing for us. Rod also made our kitchen cabinets so we knew that we would also get great quality with the handrail. He supplied all the treads, newel posts and spindles, and finished them at his shop. For the stairs we wanted something square and simple. The oak Zen collection from Richelieu Hardware was exactly what we wanted. Rod was able to match the color of the stain for the treads and the handrail to our hardwood flooring.

Zen oak handrail stained a dark brown

Tony installed all the zen treads by first trimming them down to the right size. He used PL premium heavy duty construction adhesive to glue them in place to the plywood treads, then screwed the treads in from underneath.

Zen handrail and stair treads

Rod also sprayed all the spindles with tinted lacquer that he could match to the Chantilly Lace color. Rod not only pre-finished all the stair components, but he also came for a day to install the handrail.

This is the view of the handrail from the hallway looking towards the front hall and living room.

Dark wood handrail with white spindles

And here is the view of the stairs and handrail looking up from the front hall into the kitchen and living room.  We built a raised bungalow with higher ceilings in the basement than upstairs, so we have six steps going up, and nine steps going down.

Dark wood and white stairs

Dark wood handrail with square spindles

One thing we love about these treads is that you can see the end grain on the open side of the stairs. It feels very clean and simple. Rod did such an amazing job of the finishing work, and we couldn’t be happier with how the stairs and handrail turned out.


 

 

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Previous Post: « Week 25: Mitten Siding, Parging, and a Driveway
Next Post: Week 27: Covered Deck with Diagonal Deck Boards »

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Comments

  1. Hazel + Gold Designs says

    December 1, 2016 at 12:53 pm

    gorgeous! nice work!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. How To Build A House | The Vanderveen House says:
    December 31, 2016 at 10:39 am

    […] back to install all the siding on the exterior of the house, as well as install the stairs. The stairs were a joint effort between our cabinet maker (Vedder Woodworking), Tony and I, as well as Dovetail […]

    Reply
  2. Mudroom and Front Hall: Before and After • The Vanderveen House says:
    January 21, 2017 at 10:21 pm

    […] From the front hall we have a pocket door that leads into the mudroom. We wanted a pocket door because most of the time the door will be open, and a swing door would have gotten in the way. But when we have company, it’s nice to close that area off and pretend that it’s all neat and tidy. The third picture below is looking back into the front hall where you can catch a glimpse of our stairs. […]

    Reply
  3. How To Build A House • The Vanderveen House says:
    March 22, 2017 at 12:31 pm

    […] back to install all the siding on the exterior of the house, as well as install the stairs. The stairs were a joint effort between our cabinet maker (Vedder Woodworking), Tony and I, as well as Dovetail […]

    Reply

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Welcome! My name is Jessica Vanderveen. My husband and I, along with our four kids, are creating the home we love. We want to help you do the same! Read more about our renovation journey...

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