And Parry Sound ON is NOT easy to get to - I've shipped cork floors to Parry Sound....it cost THREE TIMES to get it there than to Barrie or Orillia. So that $50K option is not even CLOSE to the real cost of this thing. Moving the WALL will be $15K - $20K. The cost of materials and man power in that area of Ontario are UNBELIEVABLY high. Transport costs for ANYTHING will be triple that of "civilized" areas...like Barrie. So...moving the stairs will be more than $50K....and then the wall moving will probably require a structural beam. Those beams are $5K in Toronto....but once you get into Parry Sound, they triple in price just for transport. See where we are headed here? I've seen "bunkies" cost $30K in that area (prefab then moved onto the property). That's easy peasy money to spend in that neck of the Ontario woods. If $50K is not in your budget, then I recommend that you save your money, get into the swing of things with extended family living around you and THEN decide the final layout. The existing home will either be "good enough" or you will need to do a complete tear down with a redo. Or you could do what many in cottage/lake country do - add more buildings to your property. So many of these properties have 3-5 "out" buildings added simply because it is cheaper/easier/faster to have them prefabricated and then brought in then it is tear down and build new. The building season out there is VERY short. Mud is a constant battle. Winter comes early and stays late. Big transport trucks can only go into these areas if they are DRY and COMPACT and there is NO RAIN in the forecast for at least two weeks. I've seen many people have to bring in gravel to their driveways/access roads (a few thousand just for that) so that they could get a delivery....and then the fall storms set in and nothing was possible until late May the next year. Things get interesting in these areas of our great country. And interesting normally translates into "expensive". Please take your time with this. You have a stunning property that will take quite a bit of time figuring out what NEEDS to be done (like a new roof) vs. what you WANT done. Plan ahead and always plan for delays and bad weather. It will keep you sane.

"Do not put winders in. It is inevitable one day either you or someone else will step down in a “short” part of winder, find it to be too short, and slip/fall." "The new stair will have to meet the current building code. The winders would not be allowed in virtually every state in the US." Winders certainly are allowed in virtually every state in the US, but they aren't your grandmother's winders. No longer are the treads allowed to pointedly die into the Newell post/apex, essentially creating a 28" high riser: Yes:

Hello everyone! So just an update on this project. I painted all of the upstairs trim white and the walls grey and it came out very nice. Now I am moving on to the stairs. I tore out the carpet and padding yesterday which went a lot smoother than I expect. Took less than 90 minutes as there was no tack strips and the staples came out very easily. My original plan was to stain the treads with a gel paint and paint the risers white. However, as you can see on these pictures, there is a white substance on each of the treads and on some of the risers. Initially I thought this was some sort of adhesive for the carpet/padding, but it is really smooth to the touch. Nonetheless, I tried sanding it and it made it smoother, but it did nothing to remove the white. As a result, my wife and I are on board with painting the risers white, but now painting the treads black which we have seen on various websites across the internet. We think it will look good with the white trim and grey walls. BUT.... Before I go about painting anything on these steps, I wanted to at least ask to see if anyone has any idea what this white substance may be? I want to make sure I address it before priming and then painting these treads. If anyone has any idea what it may be and what I may need to do to get rid of it (to some extent), please let me know. Also, if you think simply sanding it to make it smooth with the stained portion and then painting over it will work fine, please advise. Thanks in advance!

Hi thank you!!! A chandelier would look gorgeous, but I think the functionality of a fan wins out for us because with ceilings this high and a mountain climate, we need the fan to push the hot air down to the rest of the house in the winter. Is there such a thing as an attractive ceiling fan? (serious question!) I think we'll just put the little book case upstairs in the loft, which is desks and another book case anyway. So funny that y'all like the arches! We are so stuck on them. What do you think about squaring the one that goes to the staircase but keeping the others? It would sort of balance the visual impact of the other 4. Are you saying cover the beams with wood or just paint to match the room? or would you do another color? I have no design sense, but I see the potential too!