Newel--who knew!

Ever wonder what the parts of the stair railings were really called?  We needed to secure the railing to the brick wall in the hallway.  Previously, it had been attached to the plaster lath and the furring strips underneath.  So I figured I could place a post in there to close the gap.  When googling around for stair posts, I came up with the proper name, newel.  Who knew?

Newels or Newel Post- A solid rectangular, or circular section of vertical post at the center and at regular turns and junctions of a rail system. The newels provide the main support for the rail system. There is a starting newel at the base of the stairs and a landing newel at the turns or top of the stair.  Other newels are described as: center turned newel. Box newel . Pin top newel

5/8" holes drilled for anchors mated with 3/8" lag bolts

Bottom anchors.

Newel is true and plumb, but the balusters are not...

I may have over-engineered the installation.  ;]  On the top, I installed two "L" brackets attached with button-top screws and anchored to the wall with the lag bolts.

Here is how the door trim looks finished with the "crown"

This was a pain to cut the angles correctly--mostly due to my learning curve.  Once I read that you need to hold the crown molding upside-down in the saw, then I finally "got it."

Tangerine Tango, the 2012 color of the year, by Pantone.  Gives it an overall "Asian-inspired" feel, although that look was not our intention, but rather a nice coincidence.

Hallway Floor, door trim, and bathroom lights

Just a small update--over the past several days, beginning on the weekend and finishing yesterday, we have been struggling with the hallway floor.  The idea was to strip it, as sanding the space did not seem to make sense, as we were never going to get it to a "natural" state again without a TON of work--which included a lot of dust...So here is a test-strip.

After stripping with Klean-Strip sprayable version, and a good couple of washings (when I say couple, I mean 4-5) with TSP, the floor looked like this.

The white stuff was the tile mastic/glue used to stick down the linoleum tiles.  

This is a shot of the floor when we purchased the house--the image is off of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) from the original listing.  The "front door" was originally there.

After multiple washings, and a couple of 80# grit sanding belts, the floor is ready for paint.

Here in the boo-boo department is the threshold, which sits about 1.75" off the floor, where typically it should sit only a little over a half-inch.  I managed to re-use one of the old saddles to work it into the threshold "ramp." 

After one coat of latex satin exterior paint (Behr)

After three coats, waiting 24 hours between each application to let it dry.  Baseboard added, waiting on shoe molding.

I knew something does not look correct...

So I sent the pic to Polly.  I took the day off to hang out at the house with the electricians and to start on the door trim. Polly mentions that I have not cut back the wide pine piece to match the casement molding.

Much better.

Now the top piece aligns with the casement.  Crown molding is next, as we were looking to try and re-create some of the old look the house had when we bought it.

Not some of my best jig saw work...a little caulk and paint, and it will be good to go.

Finished top--waits for crown.

We had to have two additional ceiling pot lights installed in the bathroom--just not enough light.  Working out the placement was finicky, as the circle on the left would not work because the roof-vent was there; the electricians did not really want to place the lights in the shower--even though we purchased glass-covered baffles rated for damp locations...

Brings back memories...

Placement decided upon.  Finished pics coming soon!