We hit a bit of a snag with the bathroom and kitchen remodel when the plumber got busy with another project, stalling our momentum for a week. He is off my friends list. :)
The good news is, the railing guys came through and installed their work of art! Wow, it is even better than we imagined!
We decided to pull out the old oak railing on day 1. It was orange and dated, and we had been through what it takes to sand and stain oak railings in our last house and resolved not to go through it again. Besides, in keeping with the design Shelly had in mind for this house, only steel railings would do.
Do you remember those old oak railings? Check out the before and after differences!
I spent many weeks last spring calling around to various welders and railing companies, looking for someone willing to do black steel railings with stainless steel cables per Shelly’s wish, only to be disappointed. It is tough to find a steel fabricator willing to work on a custom residential project in our area.
One day Shelly saw a big black truck at our local hamburger joint, Pickle Time, with the name “Evil Metalworks” on it. We wondered aloud if perhaps they would be interested in the railing project. A few months later, once we returned from our summer vacation I saw their names come up on our local city Facebook group, and after looking at their portfolio on Facebook, gave Jason a call.
Jason Cullen and his crew are serious artists in metalwork. If you’ve ever worked with steel, you know it is not an easy material to work with. It commands precision cuts and welds and it is easy to mess up. The moment Jason came by the first time, I knew he was the guy to work with - he had a wide smile and an easy-going manner and clearly knew his stuff. He threw out several options for Shelly to choose from, and made some recommendations which changed the way we thought about the project.
First, he said that while they could powder coat the railings black, as we had planned, he recommended that instead they blacken them naturally with oil and heat, leaving a finish that is super smooth and very refined. Here is a shot of the blackened steel handrails.
He offered to do the stainless cable runs as well, or suggested that to save money he could weld bare stainless round bar horizontals for a completely unique and custom look. We went with his suggestion and love the look of the bare stainless, it goes really well with the stainless rounds in the giant chandelier overhead.
We love the way he built the posts...rather than using square tubed steel, he paired two thick lengths of steel for each post. And the contrast between the blackened steel and stainless is very alluring..it practically shimmers as you move around in the light.
At the top of the stairs we have a small balcony with a 4 foot run of railing in front, connected to the stairs. They did the union perfectly, check out those subtle bends of steel and the flat turn of the handrail with the chandelier behind.
We're very pleased with the craftsmanship Jason and his team at Evil Metalworks put into our porject. They were super easy to work with, did high quality work and we highly recommend them for any metalworks project you have in mind.
We couldn't be any happier with our new entry way - the rails complete the design!