Life At Villa Boswell

Now that I’ve caught up to the work done on the exterior of the house, it’s time to give some attention to the work done inside.  What everyone says is true: when it looks done on the outside, there is still a long way to go.  But let’s not dwell on that. Here’s some shots of work that Chris did on the staircase leading from the main floor to the master bedroom.  Beginning with, of course, hardly anything.  This shot was taken in January before the house was sealed up.  You can only see the beginning of the curved wall, marked out by the studs in the center of the shot.  At this point, framing was the order of the day and ladders and scaffolds were used to go between floors.

About the time the stucco work was being done, and the house was sealed up, Chris began work on the staircase.  You can see to the left the beginnings of a small curved soffit marking the lower left curve of the stair.  The area inside this soffit will house one of the return air vents used in the heat recovery system for the house.  There will still be room on the shelf to place a decorative urn.  On the left side of the stair, you see what is called a "kickboard," since it extends above the level of the staircase and it’s what the stringer is attached to.  On the right, he’s placed the stringer without a kickboard because it’s an open stair on that side.

Now you can see both stringers in place and all the treads are set.  The risers are yet to be designed.  In total, there are 16 steps from the main floor to the upper floor.  Building code rules state that all of the treads have  to be precisely the same depth along the "walk line," and all the risers have to be exactly the same height.  When the inspector comes, he’ll ensure that there is no more than 3/8" variance between any two stairs for these requirements, and not necessarily adjacent ones either.  Talk about precision work! And this was Chris’ first staircase.  In fact, it was for him one of the most satisfying and enjoyable parts of the building to date. 

Final rough staircase.  Naturally, there’s more to come in the finish work.  But you can see the curve of the interior wall a little better since part of the drywall is up.  You can also see beneath the stair a small storage closet, and, at the back part of the stair past the curved wall is another full closet, so that all the space of the stairwell is used to its maximum capacity.

Our interior door from the inside, and the nice arch that frames the view from the dining/kitchen area.  Our next door neighbor, who has done fine carpentry all his life, was quite complimentary of Chris’s work.

This staircase layout was done by a framing contractor, John Whittinghill. John also set up the stringers for this staircase, while Chris completed the rest of the work himself. This staircase was done before the curved staircase.