It's fine to resurrect an old thread. It's just a common way of spammers. And they'll post a vague comment then return under the 7 day window and edit the thread and add spam. (after 7 days, no edit allowed.) I check to see the poster's other activity, and if there is none, then I watch that post. Sometimes I'll see other posts, and can tell if the person is real or a spam bot. Just help out and flag the spam when you see it!

We had the stair designer come by today, and it was a great meeting. I think the last time he was here we caught him on a bad day but this time he was really helpful, taking the time to answer all my questions and walk me through the design logic behind various aspects of his drawing. It helped that I came prepared with a better understanding of stair ergonomics and code thanks to those who have taken the time to share their thoughts with me on this thread. The end result is that we have made some minor tweaks and improvements to the plan, I'm getting what I want out of it, and I understand exactly why each of the various choices have been made. Key highlights: 1. We are doing away with the top 20" landing which @res2architect and @3onthetree objected to, and converting upper stairs to four equal 11.25" deep steps. The stairs will begin right when you open the door from the kitchen, but that door opens in to the kitchen (i.e. does not swing over the stairs) and in any case we plan to remove it in a few years once we're done the toddler phase and just have an open doorway there. I thought the point about the odd stride pattern from kitchen to backyard was an important one, especially as that's where we'll come in and out of the backyard, often carrying dishes and food to bbq and so on. The upper portion of the stairs are also the piece that guests will use the most so it will be good to minimize the quirks there. 2. We are going to have the stair railings built to be removable -- @Sandra Guistwhite sort of what you were suggesting (thanks, that was thoughtful). Not hinged or anything, just something that can be unbolted and taken off if we ever need to bring a sofa through or replace the washing machine, or if we really need much wider access to the under-stairs area for a project. 3. We are going to place the bottom newel post on the second step up from the lower landing and begin the handrail there to allow slightly better access to the under-stair area. This (and only this) part of the design is in fact a deviation from contemporary Ontario building code but since we don't have an inspector coming in we can get away with it, and I can see from some googling that it's a pretty common design that doesn't seem particularly risky. In fact, I only realized today this is how our other main staircase is designed, and my parent's staircase is the same, so I presume it was the norm in a previous era. At the end of it all, I think we'll have stairs which would alarm many Houzzers who are accustomed to a different type of housing stock and set of codes, but which will be relatively safe and work well for our needs and our quirky space. The stair designer told me today that he's done several sets of stairs in our immediate neighbourhood and designs like this are very often necessary. It turns out lots of people are putting in winder steps in high end contemporary renovations around here out of necessity. I do want to thank everyone who took the time to think about this and share their comments, even if the main thrust of many of them was "wow, you are/ your house is insane". I'll be sure to come back and post a photo when it's all done so you can see how it's turned out, even if it does end up horrifying some of you. I have a thick skin and can take it, and I do feel confident we're proceeding with the plan that's right for us and our house. I'm excited to see this come together!

What’s your red, Noah?! I love them too. I usually just do them on across lite, but love the metas the best.

You picked a plan that checked most of your boxes. This is most likely the largest investment you will make in your lifetime. You will also be living in this home every day for years and years. This is the time to be overly cautious and plan and study till you are satisfied that you have done the very best that you can do. Have you written down every detail about your current home and what works and does not work for you? Do you know how many linear feet of closet space you have in each bedroom currently and if you need more or less? Do you know how much storage space you have in the kitchen and if it matches your needs or do you need more drawers, less cabinets or twice what you currently have? How can you be wishy washy on a sink in the island? It would not work for me, I don't always have every dish clean and I don't want the mess front and center. I love baking and need large expanses of counter space to roll pastry dough. I use my island as a buffet for larger gatherings. Do I want a sink in the middle of the buffet dinner? I don't think so. If you study your day to day activities and imagine you and your family functioning in the new home will it work? Take a week and have everyone in the household keep a diary (if old enough) of their day to day routine. What worked, what didn't work. That is where you start, not picking a few random ideas that are not really needs, but kind of preferences that you are willing to change.