The stairs at Old Farm scared everyone away when all saw it
for sale, and there didn’t seem to be a better solution around the new; larger
chimney recently built. The present stairs were roughed in with mostly plywood,
and ran along the widest side of the chimney base, changing directions at the
bottom and top. The difficulty was entering the upstairs well under the eave
with little head-space (or much else) and no way to install a safety rail which
wouldn’t make it more of a challenge.
I believe this issue was why only builders had made offers
on the property with plans to tear down the buildings. We offered a bit more and
bought Old Farm with plans to somehow create a better stairs solution. Yikes.
Before
During the fall of this past year, I spent an afternoon at Old
Farm measuring and drawing up designs until I had the best plan. I moved the
first step into the foyer and with 9 steps of 9” risers and 7” treads heading up
towards the peak, there was room for a comfortable landing at the chimney wall
to turn onto a last step to the left. Next I visited the Hoxie House (built in
1636) in nearby Sandwich with a tape measure, to see how my new stairs might
fit a similar house. The exit stairs at the Hoxie House were the same
proportions as were my back stairs home in Hopewell – almost.
At home I built a cardboard stringer (support for the steps)
as a guide to pin on the wall once the stairwell was gutted. Bill liked the
design and widened the last step to extend around the chimney side. With one
week of Christmas vacation to gut the space and build new stairs, we hoped for the best in
reconfiguring the chimney some, to accommodate the landing. On Christmas Eve,
Bill and Christian spent the entire day sawing, chiseling and re-mortaring the
chimney base, in order to fit our new framing. The next day the new steps were
built and then the landing was built while a downstairs coat closet was roughed
in. This closet was a big perk and
another reason I wanted to change the direction of the stairs, since it also creates
a desk space above in the upstairs now.
The Work
The vintage painting at the top of this picture was a birthday gift to me and titled “Whale’s Tails”. It will move to a nearby wall when stair railings are installed. The boys love this painting which is great because it is in their space. I am planning on steel cable rails upstairs, so you can still see the painting from the large bedroom. A cathedral space over the stairs was made by removing two wide original floor boards which we re-used for the stair landing. I wanted this opening to allow furniture up and down more easily and to add some drama in the foyer.
Christian finishing the stairs. The treads were made from the newer floor boards we took out.
The landing - some of the photos in this blog were late night cell phone shots.
View from the top...
The closet...
I suddenly recognized the original stairs outlined by the newly
exposed old wallpaper. They were much steeper with 12” risers and 7” treads! We
are excited to have a comfortable/working solution now in such a historic
house. The old wallpapers were quite beautiful but beyond saving.
Happy New Year Old Farm! XO
