Hi I am a UK carpenter and joiner and have made many curved items in wood. I do have quite an interest in your post as I am currently making curved stairs. I would strongly advise you to take a look at this site it has a vast array of design options for stairs, The company is called "Pear Stairs" and i believe they are situated in Wales (UK). This is a link to a section on fitting a volute at the bottom of a set of stairs THE LINK: http://www.pearstairs.co.uk/pages/fitting_volutes_and_volute_newels/default.aspx I'd print it off and give it to your trim Guy. Take a look at the site and you will see on the left of the Home page a list of sections giving advice on different aspects of stair installation etc, it should help you understand the process and help you when you are talking to the trim guy. Your stairs should have equal newel post heights on either side. The balusters are normally cut under the handrail once the handrail has been fixed to the newel posts, and they are usually supplied long to allow for on site fitting. the handrails are normally eased onto the newel post at the bottom of the stairs by shaping a small section of handrail from the newel to a joint on the handrail positioned at the first step behind the newel. Your trim company are obviously not comfortable at working on your curved stairs so I would suggest looking for someone who is. They have obviously done a good job on the rest of your house so keep them doing what you know they are good at. This is a specialist area of work which is little understood even by the best of tradesmen, that's because it takes a long time to study and understand so you need someone who has spent the time to master curved stair hand railing. Some companies just specialise in hand railing and some in just stairs have a look around. I'll watch this post and try to update on this posting when I know how you are getting along. From what you have said I really would not have these guys fit your handrail and newels, keep them doing what they are best at and find someone who is happy to do the job you want.

I think Hubby's come around to floor plan #2 -- the one with the back stairs centered in the box bay. (That was my favorite.) Your comments were very helpful and insightful, and I think hearing then from someone other than me was also persuasive. What also helped was running into a guy over the weekend who designs and sells timber trusses. Hubby is a stone and timber and metal guy, and the idea that the staircase, catwalk, front porch and trusses could all be part of this grand master truss design is starting to catch on. I've been looking at a lot of inspiration photos on Houzz lately, and have seen some neat pictures where the catwalk is actually suspended from the ceiling trusses. There's got to be some way to do this that's drop-dead gorgeous: [[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/ski-house-rustic-living-room-austin-phvw-vp~101894) [traditional living room design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2107) by austin architect Webber + Studio, Architects So now onto the exterior: There'll be a balcony, like in the 2nd and 3rd sketches. Our main issues are windows on the garage/master bedroom section (far right), and dining room (below the balcony), and the front porch section. The windows at the top of the master are pretty much set due to the placement of plumbing fixtures. They could go a bit taller, but frankly, I like the squares, and keeping them short and high up gives us privacy in the bathroom. The 1st floor area there is garage on the right, with a small garage bath on the far left. There really are a lot of trees and shrubs out front there, so whatever we do won't be terribly visible. (See the 2nd and 3rd exterior drawings for possible windows.) The dining room will have very low ceilings, just over 7 feet, which can't be helped,(raised slab) so I'm thinking the room needs to be 'dark and dramatic' by design since it can never really be anything but dark, no matter what we do. So my thoughts are that the windows there should be more for what looks good from the outside. The windows shown in #2 & 3 match one on the wall to the left, shown on the floor plan right below the closet. But we're definitely open to suggestion there. The front entry and porch is where we have the most design potential -- What I've attempted to draw is a copper metal roof over a grouping of French Doors and a 6-foot deep stone-floored porch. The wall behind the French doors would be stone on the bottom, and could either stay stone all the way up, or switch to wood siding above the copper. (Same wood is used elsewhere on the house.) We're also trying to decide on support columns, visible rafter tails, etc. to support the roof overhang. I'd like a 'woodsy craftsman' vibe, and Hubby likes lots of beefy structure... Also, if the catwalk stays centered, and is integrated into the trusses, it would be possible to lower the walls of that section slightly, giving us more height-variability on the front facade. Does that make sense? And is that a good idea? I'd welcome your ideas --

Thank you Bev for giving me the visualization I've been lacking! It really helps! I agree that the colors In the painting have been giving me difficulty. I may try to move it into the DR or another room, but it is quite large, so I'm not sure. In any case, you have helped me feel bolder about getting started on this project. Thank you!! Chucksmom: I I00% agree that if you love something, it doesn't matter if it's "out". In my case, I do think I'm tired of the colors and need a change. Since the whole house needs painting, it seems like a good time to implement these changes. The chandelier was something I really loved for a long time, but I need a aimpler look. I have a friend who wants it and it will be perfect in her DR. Kippy: I've always thought it was strange that the furniture faces the stairs. Maybe it's partly why the room feels weird to me. That and the high ceilings make it feel cold. We actually never use that room other than when there are large gatherings that spill into that part of the house. We all congregate in the FR. Kitchen and backyard, though the cats like to curl up on the sofa!

Maybe I should have considered having a permanent 'baby' gate put in around the time we moved into this house a year ago this month. Right now my two temporaries (one is only there because the basement is having to have restore work done following a pipe blockage leak and I don't want the dog hanging out down there) are containment fields for the dog, and I expect that the foreseeable future will have a dog or two involved. :P If we have younger children placed with us at some point, the gates would definitely be important whether temporary or permanent built-in. Currently the kiddos are 6-9/almost 10. You're lucky to have a good outcome with your stairs, if you're not planning on there being small children in the house for a considerable stretch of time, leave the gate adding to any future homeowner and save the cash for something else that might come up (or decor items?). :P