Don't tell me I can't...

When we bought this old house of ours we had lots of changes planned...that was before we met our 88 year old neighbor, Paul, that helped to do a lot of the work. He is the best neighbor & we hated the thought of destroying something he created...but the wagon wheel banister on the balcony had seen better days & needed to be replaced.

Eli & I found some new ballisters we really liked at Home Depot, but they were going to cost more then we had budgeted. So being the resourceful handyman that he is, Eli suggested we go to Metal Mart to price out how much it would cost to purchase the materials & create it ourselves. When we got there Metal Mart also had the ballisters we liked, but they were even more then Home Depot. Eli asked the guy at the counter if they carried 10 feet lengths of 2" wide metal. The man asked Eli what he was going to use them for, and when Eli explained he was going to cut them to size then bend them to the shape we wanted, the salesman told Eli he didn't think he'd be able to bend the metal himself...but then he doesn't know Eli!

On the first trip we just bought one length & had Metal Mart cut it for us. Eli got started making a jig the shape we wanted to bend the metal to, then started shaping the metal lengths. Through trail and error Eli was able to create the ballisters we wanted...and after working with the metal, he also figured we could save $80 if he cut the lengths himself.

First he cut the old wagon wheels out of the existing banister...then he cut out the old ballisters...it was kinda fun seeing our neighbors drive by really slow as they were trying to see what we were up to. After cutting off the old handrail, Eli created a new one out of 2x6's & used 2x4's the bottom rail...they looked really good after he stained them.

Now it was time to cut & bend the metal we had purchased to create the ballisters. Eli & Connor took the 3 foot lengths & bent them to have what Eli was calling a belly. Then they would check them against the jig Eli made to be sure they were all the same. After they were bent & had holes drilled in them, I spray-painted them black...see I contributed too! Eli finished screwing the last few of them on tonight. The new banister is beautiful!