The lighthouse newel for this project was similar to a newel that we made for a customer in North Carolina. This particular stairway went to a customer in South Florida. The architect wanted to match the balusters to the newel so we created a simple taper with matching beads top and bottom.
The wood paneling on the walls is salvaged heart pine as well as the stair treads. The stair handrail, however, is mahogany. We turned the balusters and newels from poplar.
The challenge for the installer was to “cope” the handrail fitting unto the radiused newel (not shown). Most handrails attach into a “flat” on the newel or over the top in the case of an over the post newel. This one, however, attached to the round part of the newel.
Other images of the balusters and newels can be seen here: Lighthouse newels and balusters
Tags: architectural design, architecture, decorating, interior design, stair parts, wood balusters, wood turning
This is a new baluster design that I thought I would draw and render before I actually manufactured it. I got the idea from a stairway I saw in the Pacific Northwest. It is a simple taper with a small bead right at the tread. The size is somewhat deceiving from the rendering. The diameter of the bead at the base is actually 2 1/2″ inches. The pin at the top of the baluster is 1 ” in diameter. I wanted to try a two baluster per tread pattern but a three baluster per tread would look equally as good.
The drawing was made in Google Sketchup and rendered with Irender. I like the first rendering “style” supplied right out of the box by Sketchup.
Below is a close up of the baluster. Sometimes simple is the better than anything else you could do. BTW the newel is one drawn in a previously post. You can see more here: Pedestal Newels.
Tags: architecture, decorating, interior design, stair parts, wood balusters, wood turning
Lyptus is a very hard hardwood imported from South America that has gained some popularity in the US in the last few years. Lyptus is a wood that is being grown on farms and harvested by some produces. In hardness it is probably slightly harder than red oak but it seems to me to vary quite a bit in harness from one piece to another. It is pinkish in color with a rather wild grain pattern in many pieces. These stair newels went to an interesting stairway in Illinois.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, commercial interior design, decorating, newels, stair parts
Pictured above are four barley twisted table legs turned for a customer in Florida. They measure 3 1/2″ wide and 30 inches high. Normally table legs are made 29 inches in high to produce a 30 inch overall high with the table top thickness of one inch. But my customer needed the extra inch to make a wider apron (the horizontal member that connects the legs and supports the table top).
For a table with a 30 inch height normally you would not have less than 24 inches from the apron to the floor for knee space though most would probably consider 24 inches a tight squeeze.
Tags: architectural design, commercial interior design, decorating, home decor, home interior design, interior design, wood turning
These balusters are for a court house in Texas. They are rendered but not completed. In fact, the samples are not made yet but I thought I would draw and render them in Sketchup and Renderworks. I’ll be turning about a hundred of them in pine. They measure 2 1/2″ X 27″. I have not seen the rail profiles yet so my rendering is not yet complete.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, commercial interior design, decorating, wood balusters, wood turning
The balusters below are renderings for a job delivered to a customer in Oregon – I previously posted about them. I thought I would load the updated renderings from Sketchup. These were a quite nice profile copied from an historic home of a Silas Dean.
Tags: architecture, decorating, interior design, stair parts, wood balusters, wood turning
I have to confess this is a newel that I have not made nor is it one that I cannot “easily” make. I don’t have the proper equipment to make it. The machine that would make this newel is called a hauncher (hence the title). Though I cannot presently make it, I can draw it. If there is enough interest in the style I will purchase a hauncher to make it. The newel is 8 inches wide at the base and about 50 inches high. I really like this design.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, decorating, interior design, newels, stair parts
I thought it would be neat (different) to turn a baluster with a round or tapered base instead of the more traditional square base. These are two of the ideas I tried. The first is simply a tapered foot base with a length of square . The square and tapered foot are horizontally oriented The top taper is elongated to follow the handrail angle – “rake” angle. The newel used is my fluted N105.
The second idea was to use rope twists above and below a square center. The square section follows the rake angle. The second taller baluster has a longer foot.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, decorating, interior design, wood balusters, wood turning
I think everyone loves lighthouses- at least my wife and I do. And as stair newels have a the general shape of a lighthouse it seems appropriate that some would take the form of a lighthouse. I have to say that I designed one for a contractor in New York several years ago and he really didn’t like the outcome. One of the challenges of designing one is figuring out where to attach the handrail. Since lighthouses are predominately cylindrical there is no natural “flat” in a post-to-post lighthouse newel to easily attach the rail. An over-the-post version would eliminate (or minimize) the top of the lighthouse features. The only reasonable alternative is to attach the rail to the upper cylindrical part of the newel – an installation challenge.
Whatever!! The following renderings was designed by me as a prototype. It is 5 1/2 inches across the octagonal base. The handrail (not shown) would attach just below the band below the lighthouse lens.
The design below was copied by me from a magazine image provided by the customer. The base is 10 inches (mammoth) X 54 inches high
This is the same newel as above with the stair detail shown. The tread sort of wraps around the newel base. We turned this in poplar and the newel was painted as shown. The customer installed square balusters however.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, decorating, design, interior design, newels, wood turning
The following renderings are different versions of a pedestal newel I am developing. They go from about 5 1/2 inch base with 3 1/2 inch turning to about a 8 inch square base with 5 1/2 inch diameter turning. All models depict over the post style newel but certainly a post to post newel could be made. These would have to be shipped in pieces so that the final length of the base could be cut. The column and moldings could be attached after the base is cut and installed.
The spiral top of the newel below is another variation on a theme. Of course, there are endless possibilities. The bases on these have recessed flat panels which could be made with raised panels or left plain. The ionic columns could be fluted as well as plain.
Tags: architectural design, architecture, commercial interior design, decorating, interior design, newels, stair parts, wood turning
