Homemade Railing

The original design for our stairs and loft was a short wall, framed and drywalled. But we wanted to maintain the open feeling of the loft and the cathedral ceiling.  Our builder told us it would be very expensive, so we started looking into designs we could make ourselves.

In trying to maintain a modern feel to the house, we didn't want the traditional wood balusters with lots of ornate features. I had heard of using piping for railings and got some ideas online. Using copper pipe would accent the copper counter top we are installing between the kitchen and dining room.

I decided to test the idea first, before we invested too much into this experiment. Here is the "mock up" we did with only 3 of the spindles and rough framing lumber.

 

It seemed doable, so, after lots of consideration, sketches and calculations, we went for it...

Bottom rail set with pipe spindles inserted.

 

Setting the top rail of the first section...

 And I'm very happy, as you can plainly see.

And the first section of railing turned out very nicely! 

 Checking the bottom rail for a tight fit. Note: the use of the jigs which keep hold the rail at the same height every time.  I definitely have over-used that the term "jig" in the past week or so.

 Cathy cutting the copper pipe spindles.

 Drilling holes for the spindles.

 The finished product.
I'm adding plugs into the pilot holes I used to hide the fasteners. Each end of the rail is "toe-nailed" with 3" screws on top and bottom.