Cabin Handrail

How was your weekend?

We headed down to our cabin for the weekend.  We are so thankful to have a place to get away for the weekend.  

Our cabin build will air this December on DIY Network.  When I get a confirmed time and date, I will share with you!  

It's been a little while since I've posted about our cabin build because we haven't been able to make it down there to grab a few photos I needed to complete these posts.  Today, I want to share with you how we built railing in the cabin.

You've already got a sneak peek at the railing when I posted plans for our bed at the cabin and the bench nightstands. 

The upstairs in the cabin was the first area of the cabin to get fully finished.

While the downstairs is a complete construction mess, with tools and projects taking up every square inch, upstairs is wide open and clean.  Its been such a challenge having kids - especially a toddling baby - on the consturction site, in the winter, with no where to play and run around.  That railing couldn't go up fast enough for me!  I wanted this space for the kids to be able to be safe and play and take naps, away from all the tools and construction dangers.

We didn't have a solid plan for the railing, but we did have some leftover lumber in the same wood species as the rest of the cabin - Alaska Spruce - so I decided I wanted to use what we had for the frame of the railing.

But to tie in the black pipe element that you'll see throughout the cabin - in the wood stove, the lighting fixtures, the hardware - I thought using pipe spindles would be perfect.  And you can also see through pipes better than wood spindles, because we definitely want the upstairs loft to be as open as possible to the downstairs and the lake views.

Using what wood we had leftover, we built frames for each of the railing sections.  The legs are 4x4s, with a 2x4 on the bottom to tie the 4x4s together and give us something to screw the railing to the floor with.  We ran another 4x4 between the legs for the spindles to end on.

Since these railing sections will be tied into beams and walls on ends, we just screwed through the ends with timber screws.

The metal pipe spindle kit came with hardware for connecting to the wood frames.

 You just screw the hardware right to the wood frame where ever you want a spindle.

For the upper part of the railing, we used a 2x4 that we drilled holes where the spindles will get threaded through.  These holes match the location of the hardware on the lower part of the frame.

Then the spindles just get placed through the holes, and then screwed to the hardware end pieces by turning the spindles (the ends of the spindles are threaded).  We built the railing sections on the ground, then handed the entire section up to the loft.  The railing section is leveled with a level and put in position.

We then screwed the railing sections to the walls and timbers to secure.  We had to leave off a few of the spindles on the ends to give the drill room for attaching.

Once attached, we can pull the last spindles through,

And finishing screwing off to the hardware.

To cover all of the holes drilled in the tops of the railing sections to thread the spindles through, we capped the entire railing with a 1x board.  

Doesn't it look beautiful?  I love how it doesn't compete with the wood, and the pipes match the wood stove -

Now both the wood stove and the railing look like they belong!

And here's the upstairs view from the bed.   

And the view of the other bed.  

Finally, he has a place to nap.

We've done different types of railing, all have been my favorite for each of the applications.  For this cabin, I love the metal pipes mixed with wood.

What do you think?

XO Ana + Crew

PS - Check out a few of my other DIY railings -

Wood and stainless steel cable handrail in our current home.

And DIY 2x4 and 2x2 with 4x4 posts handrail for Grandma's house,

That we painted white.