We received two emails both looking for suggestions on the same issue - stairways that need railings. We thought it made sense to show them together, so here they are:
From Trudy:
"We recently took down the handrail and balusters of our stairs and are looking to replace them with _____? We'd like something with simple lines, but haven't seen anything at the local stores. Any ideas???
The picture shows the stairs after we removed the carpet, which explains the brown/white risers (to be painted solid once the floors are redone)."
and from Amy:
"We are on the finishing touches of our newly renovated home, and stuck on one last area. We need to put up a railing of some sort for this L-shaped stairway to the basement, and have all but run out of money at the end of this renovation. Any affordable DIY ideas for a modern and interesting railing?"
in chicago there is:
http://www.milkdesign.net/master.htm
again, probably expensive, but could go and check out their showroom if they have one...
vik
How about copper plumbing pipe? Copper is up there in price but still cheaper than custom fabrication and easy to solder together.
Or for a temporary but very workable solution cast iron plumbing? painted black it looks good.
I've done both for different applications including stair rail.
Have a great day.
Patrick,
do you have any photos of these ideas that you've used?
Thanks so much!
Ok maybe this is a weird idea....but for the person with the blue stairs in the 2nd pic.....if you dont have kids, what about NO railing at all....maybe in person its steeper so it wouldnt make sense, but from the pic it doesnt look to be a very steep staircase and maybe im alone here, and no one ever does this sorta thing....but i just like the way it looks bare
I agree with Veronica - I think for both stairscases it looks really clean and modern with no railing on the open side -you could get a cheap regular handrail to mount on the wall side cheapy at home depot! Then later if you don't like the open-ness ( or have children ) you can always add a railing when you have more money.
I'm the second stairway above with grey/blue risers. I would love to keep it open, and we do not have kids, but we will eventually, and lots of our friends have kids, so for safety, I think we need to come up with some sort of solution.
Galvanized pipe columns and aircraft cable with turnbuckles.
I recall an episode of Small Space Big Style where heavy guage cable and screw-in ring hooks were used to create an open railing system. It appeared both modern and yet inexpensive. This would seem to require or column or beam at the base of the stairway, though. A not so good picture is here:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_design_small_space/article/0,1793,HGTV_3382_4044601,00.html
We thought about leaving our staircase open as well, but since we don't plan to put anything on our treads, we were afraid of the safety issue too. I guess I never thought about putting a rail on the wall-side, though...hmmmm?
Stairs cause serious injuries (sometimes fatal). Always have railings. Go with clear if you want the nothing there look.
Derek,
Brilliant! Thank you so much! I think we'll try this out this weekend. It seems to be the perfect modern railing for our minimal budget. I think we'll also still look for railings for the other side along the wall as well.
Thanks again.
Amy,
No I'm sorry I don't have any pics right now! I will see if I can find a few.....I definitely had a heavy duty piece of copper pipe for the bottom post I got from a plumber friend of my father's...I just made it up along the way with minimal planning. These
days I would plan much better for it.
Amy,
Here's a better picture of Derek's stairs on the architect's website:
http://www.wdarchitects.us/projects/living/portfolio1/sample2.htm
well, i'm not sure how it was done, exactly, but i was in this amazing apt & they had a few steel verticle support poles like you would if it were wood, but instead of a horizontonal beam they had stretched several steel wires. it was very modern & clean. it really opened up the space.
if i ever have a place that would allow for that, i'm going to go for it.
A not so permenant solution might be to use adjustable posts (ex. from Ikea's Stolmen storage system) at either end of the stairway and attach your heavy guage cabling to them with brackets. Good Luck.
So how did Amy and Trudy get on I wonder?
Almost two years on, and I've got the same issue now - I need to child-proof my stairs. Despite being on the other side of the pond, I've got a very similar staircase and am also looking for a fairly low-cost but effective solution...and by effective I mean aesthetically effective!
Any fresh thinking out there? I've had a hunt around and haven't been really impressed so far! Any pointers appreciated. Chris
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Wants and needs are a funny thing when it comes to houses. From the railings to the moldings, you want every corner, every room to be exactly as you envision it in your head. That means that you need to look at an awful lot of houses before you can finally say that you found 'the one.' http://www.home-decorating-reviews.com/blog/29/railings-next-home/
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What about making the side where the railing is need a solid plexiglass or thick glass wall.
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