I'd do black on all to mimic wrought iron.

Thanks tibbrix for your new idea. We did not try black as an option for the upper railngs. The picture below shows dark brown on the deck railings, which I found to be too dark. The door is dark brown so black railings would be the first introduction of black.

Note: I just realized I have an error in my opening post that I can no longer edit. The text for Option B was supposed to be grey for upper railings and dark brown for hand railings.

Sorry for the confusion.

Carol

Well, I would also put a full railing over the garage, not the open frame you've got there enow. I think black and brick always go beautifully together, and wrought iron is never out of place on the outside of a building, IMO.

Thanks Tibbix for your images and ideas. I will get my DH to mock up the full black railing over the deck for us. He won't get to it until Thursday. The idea behind the clear glass was to minimize the blocking of the windows/door/small gables over the garage, and to give the house a more contemporary look.

Do you like the idea of having one side of the stair railing full picket and the other side as just a hand rail (*as shown in my photos)? We don't need a full picket on both sides of the stairs given one side has a wall against it. However, if it looks wrong to have the two sides different we might reconsider.

Carol

I see a comment to this thread in my email, but perhaps it has been withdrawn from the poster or it is delayed in being posted to the thread?

In any event, the question was related to code in my area. The raiilngs we have in the photos are just rough mock-ups. There are to be glass panels in between the posts and yes they are definitely to code. DH could not figure out how to draw glass so he kept them clear.

Thanks for the question.

Carol

I would leave the railing over the garage gray, and have two full railings in the same color as the front door going down from it. Right now it has an unfinished look to it even though you need only the one side; it's just a matter of aesthetics. The black railing over the garage seems a bit too strong without something else in the same color to connect it to the remainder of the house.

Carol, that was me asking about code and I don't know where my query is, or went ;-) But thank you for 'clearing' that up and explaining you were considering glass walls. Half walls. Those can be nice if you'd like a wind block for sitting, reading - not always fun to wash on the outside.

If you want to go more contemporary than wrought iron, or the look, but keep a clean look, how about the wire railings. They're beautiful and would look great over the garage, I think.

It's very typical to have a full railing on one side of a set of stairs and a handrail only on the other----and it makes sense in your application because the side door to the garage would interrupt the railings. You can simply stop the handrail before the door. Or, depending on the building code in your area, you may not even need a handrail on the garage side. Two full railings would restrict the width too much and make the stairs look cramped.

As for the railing on top of the garage, I love the metal cable railings Tibb posted for a cleaner contemporary look. If you want to do a more traditional rail, black aluminun with closer stiles than the one in your mock up would look great. I would obviously match the handrail and deck railing styles regardless.

I would say gray for the deck railing and a dark color for the hand rails leading to the front door. There are a lot of angles to the house and a light color on the hand rails only gives the eye yet another line to take in. It looks more peaceful with dark hand rails IMO.

Definitely gray for both . Looks more cohesive. Don't need to introduce another color!!!

Gray on both railings so it disappears and the focus is on the windows and doors.

Thank you all for your votes and advice. You all make good arguements, and I appreciate you weighing in. I have a few general replies below that sprung to mind after reading your comments.

I don't think the exterior of the house is very traditional at the moment, so I do think I need a more contemporary look for the railings. I thought the outside of the house read contemporary mid-century.

Yes the house is angular. I do wish the dormer was not triangular. Anyway, it is what it is.

I agree there are a lot of colours on the house at this point, so I don't want it busier than it is.

I do want the focus on the windows, doors and gables and not the railings. That is why I prefer transparent railings, and had planned on glass so nothing behind was blocked.

If we do go with dark brown for the handrails, it likely will not be the same brown as the door (we would not get that lucky with the browns that are offered).

The garage man door is to be the same grey as the main part of the big garage door, which is also the same grey as the window trim. K9arlene, do you think the man door should be even darker than the grey of the big garage door?

As per the cable railngs, I have not seen those as much as the glass ones. They do seem to allow one to see past them like glass does. Are they in the same price range as glass railings? Please tell me more about the disadvantages of glass (aside from high price and cleaning needs). Also let me know if you all prefer glass or the cables?

Excellent point about the pros of having one full picket and one hand railng for the steps. I do think two pickets will reduce the width of the landing and be ackward near the man door. That is probably the reason one railng installer that came to our home suggested right away we go for one picket and one handrail. The picket will need to get drilled into our stone steps, which makes me nervous as I fear the steps might crack (they were very hard to find and install).

Keep your votes coming. Also, let me know if your prefer cable railings or glass ones.

Thanks again!

Carol

Does anyone want to vote on their preference for glass railings vs the cable ones. Any pros and cons for either?

Here is an example of glass railngs. Tibbrix posted examples of cable railings above.

Lake Washington whole house · More Info

Here is the link to the company we were going to use to supply the railngs

Carol

aluminum glass railing company

The cable railings are very popular around here. I think they're beautiful, sleek modern, and clean.

Depends on what you want, what purpose you want the railing to serve. I would personally go for the cable railing because I wouldn't want the glass blocking any air movement. But, another person would prefer the glass because it blocks wind. Seems like glass would be hard to keep clean, but someone here once said they have the glass and it doesn't get dirty.

Thanks for your insight, Tibbrix. I will see if I can find a house around here that uses the cables as I do like that look too. Wind shelter is probably a good idea as the deck is North facing and we are in Canada (not that we expect to use it in winter). Wind shelter might come in handy during some spring and fall days.

I prefer the look of the cable railings, but there's nothing wrong with the glass. I'd probably paint the garage man door the same color as your main door to minimize attention to it.

Thanks for your vote, k9arlene. The garage man door is metal so it needs to be painted and the front door is stained (part wood/part fiberglass). So the man door won't look that much like the front door if we paint it brown. I will do a mock up of a brown painted door to see what it looks like.

Carol

So, do you think the cable railngs will allow a clear view to the deck door and deck room window? The whole point of glass was to not block what was behind. Again, I have never seen the cable railings in person that I can recall, so am unsure if it creates the same effect as glass (in terms of visibility beyond).

Also would you say the glass and modern are both modern/contemporary. Is one less suited to the style of the house?

Carol

Even though I prefer the look of cable railings, it is an industrial look. I think the glass works better with your home. Things to consider are birds flying into the glass, getting up on a ladder to clean the outside of the glass, making sure that if you plan to put chairs there, you don't have to slouch down due to the top railing obstructing the view.

Yes, the cable railing will give a clear view to the windows and doors.

I love the way they look and as I said, they are everywhere here. they would be my choice, but they will not break the wind, which it sounds like you want.

But the real deal breaker for me would be if the glass panels need to be washed periodically. I want to wash as few windows as possible! It's about my least favorite chore.

@k9arlene,

Thanks. Yes, birds would make a mess. It would be pain to get a ladder to clean the outside of the railing. Luckily, it is only one story up. Industrial is not my favourite look. Thanks for letting me know you think the glass matches the look of my house more.

@tibbrix,

Thanks for clarifying the view with cable railings. Surely, there is somewhere near me that someone has used them that I can see. As per providing a wind breaker, that does sound nice, but in practice I am not sure how often we would be out there on windy days anyway. I too am concerned about cleaning.

Carol

Annie Deignaugh has glass. You might post a thread or message her for firsthand experience.

There are two reasons why that cable type of railing is so popular where I live (Cape Cod): 1) because it is very contemporary and sleek looking; 2) because it allows for very good views from decks.

You can see from these pics that the cables really do not interfere with views, or what's behind them, at all. In fact, glass can if the sun is reflecting off of it, although not a big deal since the sun moves.

I didn't even think of the birds flying into the glass problem. That too would be a deal killer for me. Too sad, and I'd hate to pick up dead birds in my driveway all the time. To keep it from happening, you have to hang stuff in front of, or behind the glass so there goes your view.

Thanks Tibbrix and Mayflower. Good point about birds. Cap Cod is a lovely spot. I will reach out to Annie for her thoughts on glass. Mayflower, do you feel one style of railing suits our house better?

In your images Tribbrix, I see they have the hand railing in cables too. I like the cables on the deck railing more than the hand railings. So if I do glass or cables, do the hand rails have to match (also be cables or glass)? I assumed if I had the same style/size of newel post I could go pickets for the hand rails. It this assumption incorrect?

Carol