New Little Railing

It's amazing how a little project can make such a big difference.

After many years of beseeching Mr. Grand 

to build a little railing by the side door to our lake cottage, 

I finally got my wish.  

While Mr. Grand was off hiking in Montana last week, 

I hired a carpenter to build the little railing.  

Two hours later, it was built and ready for paint. 

Here is the side door, before the railing was built -

(full credit to Gridley and Graves 

for this photo taken of our cottage for Cottage Style Magazine.)

 

For years now, I have been using the door knob 

to hang on to as I went up and down these stairs.  

Not a good idea...

But since Mr. Grand has never seen the need to hang on to anything there 

he never quite got interested in the project.

I have had several friends who have mentioned 

that a railing would be nice after using the steps 

and I knew it needed to be done.

We had some cedar planks and 4" x 4" posts left over from building our deck 

and they were perfect for the job.

I love it when a plan comes together.

I didn't want the railing to go all the way down to the bottom of the stairs 

because that walkway was just recently opened up. 

Back when we first bought the cottage, 

the walkway used to look like this:

  

Then this:

You can see the steps of the neighbors' cottage on the right in the photo above.  

Those steps have since been removed and the doorway has been relocated to the back.

There is much more room to walk between the cottages now.

You can read about that little project here!

The neighbor's new back steps now

and their flower box, for all to enjoy!

Such an improvement!

Back to the little railing.

Here's Mike at work on it.  

Amazing craftsman.

We repeated the spindle pattern that we used on the railing around our deck in front.

The photo above was taken before we landscaped the front

 but you can see the railing detail better this way.

Here's another great Gridley and Graves photo.

Here's the new railing before I painted it. 

It literally took Mike two hours to build this.

I was amazed. And thrilled.

Sorry about the blurry.

And here it is after a few coats of primer and paint.

The biggest dilemma was whether or not to paint the hand rail portion of the railing.

It's not painted on the front deck and the cedar has weathered nicely.

You can see it below, before the sidewalk was relocated.  

And you can read about that here...

But the top board on the outdoor shower surround is painted and it's very close by...

You can read about the Outdoor Shower here.

For now, I've decided not to paint the hand rail 

and see how it looks when it has weathered.

I know this little railing will come in HANDY when the weather gets nasty, 

all too soon...

For now, I love the way it looks.  

One of our neighbors paid us a great compliment 

when they said it looks like it's always been there.  

I'm happy with that.

It's Just Grand!





Linking to:
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
The Scoop at Stone Gable
Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Summer Vegetable Garden Salsa

It's that magical time of year.

Local gardens are bursting with beautiful vegetables 

and nothing ever tastes as good as it does right now. 

To take advantage of the bounty of the season 

I'm sharing one of my favorite late summer recipes today.

It's from my friend Joan, who creates magic in her kitchen every day...

 Summer Vegetable Garden Salsa

To make about 4 cups, (which is never enough) 

you'll need:

2 large tomatoes (about one pound) seeded and finely diced

(Joan peels them. I'm too lazy)

1/2 medium red pepper, diced

1/2 medium yellow pepper, diced

1/2 medium orange pepper, diced

1 large carrot peeled and diced very finely

1/2 cup corn kernels (about one medium ear)

2 T finely chopped cilantro

1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped

2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tsp salt

1/4 t pepper 

1 avocado, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Combine all ingredients except avocado and refrigerate 1 hour.

(May be prepared up to 4 hours ahead)

Add avocado just prior to serving with crisp Tortilla Chips.

I strongly recommend doubling or tripling this recipe.

You're chopping 1/2 of those peppers anyway...  

This could be dinner, all by itself!

There will be NO leftovers.

I'm off to enjoy these last golden days of summer....

Linking to:
The Scoop at Stone Gable
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style