Get a grip!

I feel like I have been on vacation from you guys! With the giveaway and Fabulous Friday, I have not written a lengthy post in over a week! I gotta be honest, it has been a nice break. We just always have so much going on. I also had a week in between Master's classes this week so I took a little mental break from writing all of the time. But I have so much to share with you all!

When we bought our house, the previous owner had built a porch and on the stairs from the porch to the basement landing, he did not put a railing. Now it is only a few steps so we never really thought anything of it. Recently, however, we switched home insurance companies. They sent a guy out and he gave us an ultimatum to put a railing on those back steps or not be covered! Yikes!

 So my hubby got to flex his handyman muscles and build us a new railing. We were originally going to look for one of those pre-made ones, but they were not what we needed and were pretty expensive. So we just got the supplies for him to make it piece by piece. I think total we spent $40ish.

The first thing that he did was put the post up against the cement footer. He secured it there using Tapcons.

 It sits flush against the footer like this:

 After that, he attached a board between the post and the deck. (He did most of these steps, and took the pictures, while I was at work...so I am just going based on what I know he did. Sorry its not more specific!)

 He did the same with one for the bottom to nail the spindles to.

 Because of the position of the footer and the way that we wanted the post to sit, he actually attached it to one of the spindles, but it is really sturdy.

 Next, he nailed a piece of weatherproof coated railing (Leftover from where they did the rest of the porch) to the top for the handrail.

 Please excuse the scattered lawn furniture ;)

 Once he got that all secure, he went in and screwed the spindles to the top and bottom boards.

 And here is the finished product! I am so happy with the way that it turned out!

 Who knew my hubby could build railings so well! He is just becoming a regular handy-man!

 Now...I want to restain/paint the porch so that it all matches!

 He really did such a good job! I am so proud! I cannot wait to paint that dern porch. I don't think they let the wood cure properly before they stained it and now that we have fresh wood, it makes me realize how weathered looking the rest of the porch is!

I am so excited to show you guys some of the things I have been up to. I have a really awesome project for DIY Thursdays over at EAD Designs! LOVE you guys!