Stairs

We were so excited after the first abbreviated week’s work, little did we know it would only get better and more exciting. The stairs took shape almost instantly. I can barely remember the time when the stairs were hidden behind the closet door. Having drawn the new stair plan so many different times from the napkin sketch when the idea first crossed my thoughts to the CAD plan it appeared just as I imagined it would. In the begin of this idea I wasn’t sure if there was enough room to get the proper run to accommodate the needed rise to get to the attic.  By creating an L-shaped stair it gave us just enough room to run the treads out to a nice comfortable foyer. Seeing this idea come to life was very exciting. It has created a gracious entry and opened up the foyer.

The two closets we sacrificed will of course be missed but the funny thing about this house is that there are more hall closets than I have ever seen in any house, at least there were. Before there were 4 now only 2 remain. although temporarily we have claimed the leftover space at he bottom of the old stairs for a coat closet at least until the kitchen goes to renovation. So for the next year, most likely, we will utilize the odd but useful coat closet at the bottom of the stairs leaving us with 3 hall closets, for now.

Almost instantly they appeared. The stringer for the original stairs can be seen through the back of the new stairs.

First look from landing to front door.

With the temporary treads on and the ceiling opened up a bit, the attic is now open. With our late spring arrival the temperatures have dipped back into the 30’s, the attic is now open. The little things you don’t think about can make the biggest impacts. We improvised a solution. Nightly the opening got covered with a drop cloth and leftover piece of paneling. It made a world of difference in the comfort level and heating on the first floor. Correcting the lack of good insulation in the attic has been one of the goals of this phase of the renovation.

One of the other things we didn’t count on was that Zoe was terrified of this new obstacle between her and her humans. When we would go upstairs to marvel at the progress that had been done that day, she would just sit at the bottom and give us the look.

All cleaned up for the weekend.

Are y’all having fun up there without me?