Twitchy, What did you do about the square newel post? I am having a similar problem, but one thing that is different is that my wife wants a volute (the corkscrew curved rail) at the bottom of the stairs, but I don't know if I can do it. I wanted a box newel, but I'd like to see if a volute is even an option. (We also have the bullnose 1st tread, like yours.) My stairs are "closed stringers", meaning that you can't see the risers or "stair-step" from the side of the stairs. I believe yours is a closed stringer staircase, also. All of the other pics in this post have open stringers, where you see the sides of the risers and treads, and the balusters sit on the stair tread, itself. I have a 2x4 finished knee-wall on the side that the balusters will be resting on (similar to yours, as well). I was just wondering how yours turned out, or if anyone else has any suggestions for putting a volute on a closed stringer stairway, where the balusters will be fastened to a kneewall or the like. Thanks!

With the real estate listing idea, is it everyone re-doing the same kitchen, or everyone picks a different listing and works from that? I thought it was the former when it was originally proposed, but either would work. I actually have a sports fan kitchen ready and waiting--I did it for the tract home thread (not thinking sports fan, but it is incidently in my college colors), and it didn't quite work (mostly because I was thinking the home would have an open or quasi-open floor plan, and I couldn't figure out how the kitchen colors would fit into the larger space). But since we just did a color-themed DAT, I think we should do something different for this one. Marcolo, I think that there is some truth to the in crowd/out crowd idea. Some of it is driven by indivduals who want to be cutting edge. Some is driven by the industry, since remodeling is significantly driven by things being identified as dated (if nothing was ever dated, we'd all keep our stuff until it wore out, and where's the profit in that?). In clothing fashion, I have seen so many trends come and go, and be completely reviled, only to come back again with a different name 15 or 20 years later(bell bottoms, flares, boot cut; hip huggers & low rise). I have photos of me from high school in outfits that would have been the height of fashion two years ago. I've seen this happen so many times that I no longer take clothing fashion at all seriously, and laugh at those who do (waiting for my daughter to hit her tweens). Design cycles in kitchens are much longer, and so things stay out of fashion much longer.

The reason code compliance is still important is that some codes (e.g. CA codes) require that if you change any aspect of a stairwell, it needs to become code-compliant to today's standards, even if the original stairwell was built before the code was put in place. In some cases, it's actually impossible to be fully code-compliant and you would not be allowed to make the stairwell slightly less dangerous without ripping out major parts of your entire house construction. The only option in that case would be to rebuild the stairwell to the exact same old configuration, to preserve the grandfather exception. I am going through this right now. Here is one resource to help with stairways standards: 2006 Stair Building Code

From what I've read so far, both plans strike me as...starters. I also definitely like the U better, but that's not saying much yet. I'm making some assumptions here that may not be at all valid in your case. But, you're having trouble designing a kitchen you really like into that space. You have a lovely room for dining that you almost never use. Is the front living room what you think of when you look forward to getting home or also gathering dust? Yes, center-hall colonials are tricky, but is the way your first floor serving you all you could want? If you could somehow sell seldom-used square footage for $50,000 and the promise of at least hundreds saved each year in expenses, would you? And be happy to live in the downstairs space still left? With this sort of scenario in mind, to me the first plan makes expensive changes with absolutely no promise of genuinely expanding living into the space available. Enlargement of the kitchen should shift at least one daily meal into the space currently occupied by the dining table, but would it? Or would it just perch you guys on stools and damage the DRM's elegant ambiance? I know the bay is new, but it also looks like a former kitchen and breakfast room that underwent an unfinished transformation--that outside wall an obvious remnant of its previous life. (If you did this, how about doors to a nice brick or stone patio outside instead?) The second plan is a simple spiffing up of the parts of your house that get heavy living, so I agree it's a good choice if you like the way you live in the rest your house just fine as is. Small kitchens are greatly underrated and can be truly excellent, so once you work out the details to get what you want--excellent. I'm also guessing the coziness of your kitchen dining area is one of its big assets, so that part doesn't need to be larger. If this were my remodel, though, and if the front rooms were mostly unused, I'd be not be happy with the allocation of my space. People do find ways to make good use of center-halls without ruining their character. Those that do tend to sell very well in most markets. After all, a lot of people who like their look won't buy them because of their space-use issues. For my own list of wants, I like halls for themselves and would definitely want the center hall as a major feature--with nice views in both directions. I would not want a large kitchen, but I'd want a bit larger one laid out just the way I like it. I'd like two places to dine with different moods, but only if they were both used a lot. One would be decorated nicely enough for seating guests to dinner, but so formally that it repelled us most of the time. (We have this, BTW.) I'd want a living area that multifunctioned for daily living and allowed guests to separate--in actual chairs!--into different conversation groups. If it had to be in 2 different rooms, I'd want good circulation and communication between them. I'd want an inviting, comfy area I could go read while my retired DH watches drag races, and vice versa--he splits while I watch Design Star, (one of those embarrassing things I wouldn't normally admit to). I'd like one living space to be sunny, with doors to the garden, and I'd like another to be just right for snuggling up inside when it was horrible out. All this in a center-hall with those great corner rooms and a kitchen remodel opening up possibilities, and I'd start by erasing their labels.