Yahoo! The loft ladder is in! 😀
You’ll notice I used the word ladder (not stairs), because that’s what it ended up being. We only had five or so feet to work with, and we had to go up twelve feet high, so there ya have it. The builder is coming back tomorrow to add a few more things to it, but Kevin taped off the railing this afternoon so that he could prime and paint it before the hog/goat wire gets installed. It’s that 4″x4″ wire mesh that looks like this:
And speaking of those photos, they were sent to me by my friend, Traci, from Beneath My Heart. She knew we were on the look out for creative staircase/ladder ideas, and her friend had just built that, so she forwarded them to me to show me how cool it turned out. So glad she did! I looooove the look of that stuff!
I will say- I wasn’t involved in the design process of our ladder at all. The builder just showed up with it already built, so I’m not sure it’s *exactly* what I would have done, but I think (with a few more additions/tweaks) it’ll work just fine for what we’ll will use the loft for. (And by “we’ll”, I mean me and Kevin. It’s going to be a workspace for us since we both work from home and don’t have an office in our side of the house.)
I’ve been thinking about possibly adding some wood to the back side of the ladder tomorrow, but I’m undecided on whether or not that would just create a whole bunch of places for dust to get trapped. Here’s an inspiration pic:
I would do it to make it safer and to create a more “nook” feel behind the ladder, where Jim and Katie’s chair-and-a-half and side table will go. Thoughts?
The wire mesh will cover all the (currently) big, open square spaces up on the landing and in the loft, and yes, it will be very secure.
And no, Steevenson will not be allowed to climb up and down the ladder (or be in the loft) without an adult for several years. 😉
Last but not least, I used Photoshop to color the ladder and railings so that you could see what everything will look like when Kevin’s done painting:
Oops…just noticed I forgot to color the right side of the ladder…but you get the idea. 🙂 I think it might look neat to paint the steps black, and tack individual sisal stair treads to each one to add some warmth and texture. Oh, and by the way- here’s where I found the inspiration for the black and white palette:
Good ol’ Joanna Gaines! 😀
I’ll be back next week with updated pics if you’re curious to see how the paint and wire turns out!
Layla
Ashlea
I LOVE IT!!!! The wire is such a cool, creative solution, and the black and white is so lovely! I painted our stair case white in the last house- and while it does show dirt it seemed more forgiving than our dark floors. I also attached a “runner.” I placed grip mat on the tread first , then stapled the runner right into the tread with a pneumatic staple gun.It held up wonderfully. I used $12 area rug runners! I think you could do the same thing with sisal. You might even be able to use a sisal area mat, and wrap it around the entire tread, then Staple along the edges and staple underneath to hold it all in place… just a thought. Happy Planning!
Marie P.
Fabulous ladder design! I like the idea of painting it and adding sisal to the treads. And although closing it in on the back might make it a bit more “polished,” if a table will be placed behind it, it’d leave it open to increase the amount of light. I think spaces are mostly about natural light!! Thanks for sharing, and happy new year to your sweet family!