We have a brick house that we are considering painting white. Does any one have good paint color recommendations because I don't want it to be *too white* but also not *too creamy* in color. Thanks in advance!

Shame on you for your apparent disrespect of the historic fabric of your home. You've replaced a perfectly fine probably old-growth wood balustrade for plastic and sawdust; much more subject to UV light degredation and expansion and contraction. You have your problem because your contractor ordered the wrong length columns. The flutes penetrate the base instead of terminating beforehand as did the originals probably because he had to shorten them to get them to fit. Caulk traps water as well as preventing its intrusion. I would use none, however, I'd have the columns replaced wth the proper flute termination. Probably an old-growth floor you pitched too. Ugh.

Even if they are tight now a 7" wide flat sawn white oak board will change in width up to about a sixteenth of an inch with seasonal humidity changes. You will certainly see that expansion and contraction over the year as appearing and disappearing cracks. You can also expect some cupping and bowing, depending on which way the growth rings are oriented. That said, if installed when very dry in winter you want them pretty tight. Overly tight and the wood will compress when it expands in summer leaving you with permanent cracks. It's also really hard to pull slightly warped boards flat if they are that wide, which makes installation a challenge. There are good reasons why people choose narrower floor boards. Wide board floors will, almost certainly, eventually have cracks-- it's part of their charm and character. Glueing them down is a bit of a fool's errand-- you can't stop the wood from moving and the forces involved are huge-- if the glue is successful you can end up splitting the boards as they move. You often see this on old furniture where cross grain glue goints were used.

I would clear coat the cedar, and also add a wood door, so that you have a few things, that look like they belong together. Cedar is expensive, I wouldnt want to cover it up.