Jul 7, 2013

Circular staircase!

When we first visited our future home to be, we noticed that somewhere along the way the original circular staircase had been removed and replaced by a wooden alternative. Yes, the replacement was circular as well, at least to some extent, but visually they had nothing in common with the original ones. Where a circular staircase is a very dynamic, light and mid-century style structure, wooden staircase with steps closed from the wall end looks static and feels heavy. And clearly, such a staircase is not aligned with our vision at all.

So, a clear need had been established. It probably comes as a surprise to no one there was no way Pekka could let this opportunity for a good hunt to pass by completely unutilized. And it just so happened that quite soon, almost miraculously, a perfect solution for the stair issue appeared to his radar from a thin air. A circular staircase, made of steel - for sale, in a town nearby only about two hours away from us!


Photo by Sari Kauppinen

There was also no way Pekka could wait a single night before driving to pick up the stairs. He wanted to go right away to get those stairs, to physically have them in his possession as soon as possible. In a situations like this, Minna has already learned it is useless to try to be the voice of reason, but it is better for all parties if these spurges of energy are fully supported. So a few hours later, the stairs had arrived!

Rough load of stairs

The stairs are covered with rust, extremely dirty and to a untrained eye look like a disaster waiting to happen. But their condition is actually ok, as they are structurally undamaged. All they need now is just some "rough" loving care - in other words, a serious facelift.

Some rusty steps

At the moment, the staircase is fully disassembled and stored in our garage ready for sandblasting and painting. There is no reason to suspect that sandblasting would not be able get rid of all the rust, paint and dirt.

After being thoroughly primed, the stairs are going to be painted black, of course. We are also considering adding another material besides steel on the steps as pure steel might be cold, noisy and slippery at times (remember, showers are located downstairs and one might occasionally exit with wet feet - dangerous!). Maybe some sheets of rubber, remains to be seen.

Pieces, pieces, pieces

As a final update to be shared, we have also made a decision considering the downstairs slate floor material. Just yesterday, Pekka ordered almost 100 square meters of slate (we will return to this a bit later), which is expected to look pretty good with the steel staircase! Aaah, the happiness of being a few  more steps closer to our vision! We are quite happy!

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