Inspiration vs Reality: Railings

A few months ago when we found the perfect handrails, we inquired with the manufacturers...only to find that they would cost us more than our combined annual salaries when we first left school. Yes, I'll confirm that...combined. There was no way that we would be proceeding at that rate.

We met with a local metal worker and asked him if he could come up with anything close for a fraction of the price. It wasn't looking good for a while, but he ultimately came through for us. He was able to meet our budget and we liked the design so much that we used it for both our interior and exterior railings.

The first image was the design inspiration and those following are the actual railings.

The inspiration

The railing overlooking the great room

The stairway (keeping everyone a bit in suspense)

It's special that these were made locally. I've seen the metal worker twice at lunch since their installation and he is clearly excited by his work. We concur completely!

Family photo wall

When my mom and I were recently ransacking New York, we discovered Calypso Home. Oh be still my heart. It quickly became our favorite stop...so much so that we returned to the store three out of three days! ( Yes, I did reassure them that we weren't stalking their staff...not sure that they were convinced). We ended up purchasing bedding for two rooms, a rug, a wonderful table, and I am still considered two more tables. I know...stop the madness!

Part of their decor that I fell in love with were their display shelves (and yes, I realize that we couldn't purchase those...but I almost tried...). They were chunky wood beams covered with gorgeous white, cream, and natural colored goodies. Here is a photo from a while back from the internet.


I love how natural they look, even coupled with the dark brackets. In fact, they kind of gave me the same vibe that the lovely Bella Vineyards in Dry Creek Valley did.


I have blogged before about my wish for a family photo wall. I'm already imagining standing in front of the walls gazing at wonderful images with our friends and family. It will be located on the second floor landing and the photo has always been a huge inspiration. Because I've been so drawn to the displays at Calypso Home and Bella, I'm now thinking of modifying it to use more natural wood.


In a moment of weakness (or more likely foolishness) this morning I bid on old barn lumber on ebay. Now I am the proud owner of four 60 inch pieces of lumber that hopefully can be used for our family wall.


Seriously, what was I thinking? Now that they are mine, I'm thinking that I was a bit too eager in bidding on these. At a price of $24, I suppose they aren't going to break the bank. Hopefully they won't be too warped or distressed to be able to use. Once again, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed...

Moving forward, but behind

So the good news is that more and more of the house is taking shape. The entire second floor has been sheetrocked, although the mudding and detail has not started yet. And yes, I may be going back on my promise not to post pics of every room.

The upstairs gallery

Jack-and-Jill bathroom and bedroom

The stairwell

The Great Room has also been sheetrocked downstairs and it is really taking shape nicely.


Some of the ceilings in the downstairs have been completed, but there is still quite a bit left to do. This is where things get a little tricky because the schedule was to have all of the sheetrock, mud and detail done by today. Obviously our builder is running a bit behind.

In fact, the schedule calls for the floors to be installed this week. Instead, we found out on Tuesday that the wood floor for the upstairs hasn't even been ordered yet. (Yikes!) So we are at least a few weeks behind. We're not sure how this will translate to our move-in timetable, but hopefully we'll find out this week. Wish us luck!

Stairwells and Balustrades

Ages ago I fell in love with this image which has a really unique balustrade. It perfectly mixed modern simplicity with a bit of old world charm. My heart was set. I was even able to find the manufacturer online. Unfortunately, it will not work because of code here on the island. And yes, if we did ever have kids, those sharp corners might not be the best (the sacrifices that we make for imaginary children). :)

So we kept looking and looking for something to "wow" us. This week, we were pretty excited to find these stair rails and balustrade. The oblong circles mimic the front windows of the house (you can see them two posts down) and all of the arches that continue to be a theme throughout the house. We met up with the local metal worker to show him our inspiration and he's hoping to come up with something similar (within our budget) in the next two weeks.


The good thing about this option is that it could be used for the interior and the exterior of the house. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he can come up with something really close. Budget (mind), fancy (heart), budget (mind), fancy (heart). Here's to hoping that he'll be able to marry the two. :)

More photo galleries

A while back, I posted about a photo gallery for our upstairs landing here. Desire to Inspire recently posted more images of similar displays:

The dilemma with personal photos

What to do with family photos? How many do your guests need/want to see? Do they really want to experience our memories all over again? I've never been huge on putting out lots of personal photos in common areas because of these dilemmas.

However, when I came across the following photo, it really struck home. It's like a little gallery in one concise location...a true trip down memory lane. We will have an upstairs gallery (open to the great room below) and a perfect wall for something along these lines.

This next image is another option although it shows artwork as compared to photographs. I suspect that it could be easily updated. In general, this is another inspiration photo for overall tones and colors as well.

Thoughts? I think that these are both "do-able", however, the challenge will likely be in finding the right frames and mats. This challenge won't be on the plate for another year or so, but I still look forward to it. Wish me luck!