Final Rainbow Interim Update

We are actually sleeping in the new house now, and even have a few clothes here! It is mostly done, with just a few hardware type items left to do. No art on the walls yet and some furniture yet to come. But before we do a final post on this fun project, a final "in progress" report seems to be appropriate. First an early morning picture from Rainbow lane, just up the street from the house.


Clear back last summer we began to suspect that the folks who were doing the iron work were struggling to get it right. The fact that the original installation was not to code seemed to exacerbate the problems, and soon the curved entry stairs with the iron railing just wasn't seeming right.


To her credit, Paula finally put the hammer down on what was clearly a less than great idea, and it was rip out the staircase and start from scratch. The replacement stairs were framed with a typical two runs and a landing layout, and we were then left with how to finish the railing to fit the rest of the house.

Our friend Terry came up with a great plan for using the Acacia wood flooring for not only the steps, but the aprons as well.


Note the lack of scars on the head, and in the photo above the hardhat on the table saw. I won't show the wound, but it was roughly in this same location that I smashed my finger trying pretty much the same trick that laid Terry out a month earlier!


Terry was kind of secretive about putting the treads down, and I even called him a sneaky Swede at one point. Turned out he had a reason, and the morning after it was completed I discovered that we had a special treat at the top of the stairs.


Terry's wife Jean works at Aloha High School and got the Japanese teacher there to help with this little subterfuge. For those who don't read Japanese, it say's "The House Of Rainbow". Like Terry said, it is for sure named now. We love it and it perfectly captured the whole reason Terry was here. As our friend and home teacher, I had mentioned to him that I was hoping he would do something on the house so we could remember him for the work. Well, he got more than he bargained for, and we certainly did too! And....the stairway looks great!


We still had to figure out what to do for the railing however, and I spent the better part of two days driving around Portland looking for the right wood to use in building a ranch style railing. I couldn't find big enough pieces to do the posts in any hardwood, and just wasn't feeling it. Green fir would be a disaster when it started to twist and check, and so what to do. At the Vial Pham warehouse we found some old fir beams and timbers and with the help of Nic and Hoa, we milled our own posts, railings and picket material. This was actually really rewarding. The old wood had real character, and although it was hard work, we had a fun time sawing, sanding, routing, cutting, sanding, staining, sanding and.......


It actually came out pretty nice after some late nights putting it together.





After using this fun recycled wood on the entry stairs, we ended up using it for the top on the balcony wrought iron railing as well.


We are in the process of having a couple of finish carpenters put the same material on the curved railing. They are up to over 80 pieces, and have dubbed it the HELIX. Will post the final product soon.


Meanwhile we are loving the house and looking forward to some fun times here. One of the best parts is I finally have my garage!


And how can you beat something like 3 naked babies in a hot tub?


Oh and did I mention that I love the garage.


The house just feels good.


I love waking up to the birds.


And then there is........


Ok, back to work. Peace Out. Rich