Banister

Since we moved here, 6 years ago, we've had this old, and slightly dangerous for kids, banister. As you can see from the pictures, we had baby gates at the top, so no one would fall straight down from the hallway above.

 You can also see that one of the rods was completely removed by Austin last year. It was a secret passageway for the kids. Erik discovered it the day before we had it taken out- phew!

 It was our plan the entire summer to paint all the ceilings, including the high one above the stairs, and then have the banister replaced. We finally finished the ceilings at the very end of the summer. It turned out that we got the banister replaced the week before my mom and her very hard-working husband, Jim, arrived. Here it is in Victoria's birthday party picture, unfinished.

 Jim came to the rescue to make a very long project for me, happen in just three short days for him. I helped the first day with the staining, as it did need two people.

 He did the next two days with a coat of polish on each day.

 Thanks Grandpa! Now Erik won't fall through the banister and it looks great!