I think you should put it on the side that requires the least amount of work. It sounds like you have enough to do without making it more labor intensive. I have a 125 year old lakehouse and it never ends. lol but we love it. Others will have good ideas, this forum is great.

Just because I think the cabinet is so charming, I'd put the railing on the opposite side. In the interest of ease of construction, I'd end it just before the unused doorway. Hopefully safety would not be too compromised -- looks like only a couple of stairs would not have the railing, and you did after all go for ten years with no railing.

My grandmother would refer to your cute house as 'ornery' because it presents so many problems along the way!

My great-great had similar shallow cabinets in the cellar stairway - it's where she kept her home-canned fruits, vegetables, pickles, etc. The doors kept jars from getting knocked down when people went up and down the stairs, and it was the right temperature for the best shelf life. You can see where there was at least one more shelf once.

I would fill in the useless doorway since you're going to have to do that eventually anyway. However, in these pictures it looks like plain old tongue&groove boards that you could get at any lumberyard quite inexpensively, used for the wall surface itself which was very common in that period. Remove the door trim, fill in the studs (try Freecycle for some 2x4s), board it over with the T&G, fill horizontal seams where necessary, prime and paint.

johnmari I think you nailed it on the use! The shelves are just the right size for the small canning jars, & there are old fruit trees on the property. I know that the fellow who built this house had a still in the back yard - so maybe this was a storage area for his hooch lol!

The logical & long-term fix is to fill in that doorway - you actually make it sound relatively easy, but I know what happens in this house with everything I think is going to be easy......

There was a railing on that side that ended before the door. I removed it when I changed out the doors. That door was beyond ridiculous - note where the bottom step actually intrudes into the doorway!?!

So I cut through the wall & installed the present door. Which now fights with the exterior door to the left of the bottom of the stairs. But it's still FAR better than the original doors.

Issues everywhere, yup yup. But it sure makes me smile when I get one solved :)

the easiest solution I can see would be to put the railing on the door side and have the rail extend beyond the bracket (over the Hopi rug).

Keep the cabinet-- it is charming :)

So far everyone is feeding what my heart wants to do, which is to keep the cabinet (or make it into a niche)

I can always start with doing something to the doorway - remove the molding & start looking for the materials. I can at least keep it covered, get the railing installed, & then pull it all together when I have all of the materials.

Does anyone have recommendations for a good source for the railing brackets? Not too expensive, but not your ordinary ugly brass brackets.

My style challenge (everywhere in the house) is to keep the integrity of the age of the house, but since it doesn't really have a distinctive style of its own - other than "old" - and my own style is, shall we say, "eclectic" I go with what I like, but still try to keep things tied
together.

Here's a wall bracket I like, but I don't think a flat top like this would work for a round railing?

Here is a link that might be useful: Wall Bracket

I agree about the canning jars-- my grandmother had an almost identical cabinet, but with more shelves, could one be missing?

If I were you, I would put shelves into the doorway and make it into a built-in bookcase. Then I would take that bulletin board down and remove the shelves in that cabinet and put the bulletin board INSIDE it-- maybe even fill it perfectly with corkboard. Voila-- a home office area of sorts, with books on one side and bulletin board on the other! The railing should be on the door side-- and even if it runs into the new built-in bookcase, that should be fine! LOL

Okay, you simply must keep the cabinet, but I have a problem with the railing on the other side. Putting it there will push you to that inside corner where the stairs are turning the corner...very dangerous. You really need to be keeping to the outside.

So, maybe a rail on the cab wall toward the upper part and a rail on the opposite side when you get about half way down? PITA I know...but you already know that it is the nature of a 1915 house to present such a challenge! (Can't wait to see more, btw!)

I have a friend with steep stairs and they used a rope rail. When I saw your photo, I immediately thought it might look good. Did a quick google and...

Here is a link that might be useful: ...came up with this.

Ooooooooh keep these ideas a-coming!

amy I love the rope rail idea in a steep staircase, but it wouldn't be practical here - something that can actually be leaned on would be better, I think.

And actually, the tendency is to hug the inside of this stairway, at least at the top of it - & there are uprights - like a fence, to hold on to - they don't show well in the above pics; I'll need to take some more. So I think the safety aspect of keeping the rail on that side is OK.

skatiero I love the idea of the bulletin board in the cabinet! & I think the possibility of keeping the upper part of that door as is - framing it in & only filling in the lower part, may have merit as well.

Ok, this may be a useless comment but it's the first that comes to mind. Regardless of the asthetic issues, I'd put the railing on the side that would provide the most safety when going down. If you're by any chance left handed, (as I am) you'll know better what I'm talking about, because there have been a couple of times I've slipped and had to catch myself when going down our stairs. And guess what! I used my left hand..and there's no rail on that side! Just food for thought and hope that helps.

In regards to the door, I'd get rid of it with drywall so it's gone. If you want to retain some of the character of the house, I'd keep the cupboard, put some new shelving inside of it or as you said, turn it into a niche for some art.

Just my two cents -- Good luck! Lukki

I need to ask -- what's behind the cabinet? What's on the other side of that wall?

I agree that it might have been storage for canning jars -- my grandmother had a similar cabinet ... but yours doesn't look deep enough.

Any chance you could open it up from the back and make it deeper?

The Hopi-blanket doorway... is it recessed enough to make a bookshelf?

I could answer your Q about what's on the other side of the wall very simply - it's an exterior wall. But just for fun, this will give you an idea of what's going on - this is what we found behind the wood wall in the kitchen:

See the shingles? Exterior shingles. Covered by asbestos tile. No insulation. Old house.

But it's *my* old house lol! & bit by bit it's becoming more & more of a little gem :)

& the door is recessed 4" from the wall, plus 3/4" of molding. If I left some of that, it would be more suitable for shelving for art (I do have a lot of little treasures) than for books.

Here's another "just for fun" pic - more of the Before Kitchen, including the chimney that went nowhere & did nothing (it had been hiding behind a wall of tile):

I have those exact same brackets. They are on the left going up the stairs. You can get all kinds of railing, and most are flat on the bottom.

I love the little cabinet and the bookshelf idea is great as well.

Good luck in whatever you do.

Laura

*slaps head* Flat bottomed railings! Of course! Thanks Laura - I do like those brackets :)