The Spiral Staircase

August 12, 2015 by dorannrule

Extraordinary Staircases from AD Features : Architectural Digest www.architecturaldigest.com Water Mill, New York staircase

Extraordinary Staircases from AD Features : Architectural Digest
http://www.architecturaldigest.com
Water Mill, New York staircase

More on Stairs.

I am preoccupied with stairs.

Oh elegance!

When I was a young girl with ah, so many longings, I yearned for a splendid home of my own – a home with a sweeping spiral staircase!

As a new bride I harbored dreams of the mansions featured in magazines like Architectural Digest – gorgeous homes of the rich and famous with circular staircases leading to enormous bed/sitting rooms, with silken draperies, libraries, and the artwork of the masters on the walls.

And my yearning for such a home was always punctuated by the impressive, inspirational, sumptuous spiral stairs.

And would you believe I finally did get what I wished for?

Have you ever seen the GEICO commercial about a guy who meets a genie and makes a wish for a million bucks. And that’s what he gets – a million male deer?

My wish was exactly like that. The genie appeared in the form of Bill (my singularly brilliant spouse) and he magically produced a spiral staircase for the house of my dreams.

The stairs are spiral all right, and they are

metal,

not particularly elegant,

slightly rickety,

even dangerous

(particularly in lightning storms),

frightening to those who fear heights,

and the railing is similar to a stiff rubber hose!

Bill is a Civil Engineer who spent a lifetime building roads (not houses), but he knows all about blueprints and measurements and since he is a highway man, getting from one point to another. The point is, his design plan worked.

We do have a lovely, much beloved, mostly one level, mostly comfortable, unpretentious home. Bill designed it – drew out the plans and everything. AND THERE IS A UTILITY ROOM IN THE BASEMENT.

Evidently, the most utilitarian way down to the utility room was to install a pre-fabricated metal set of winding scares stairs.

AND YES, BILL MADE MY WISH COME TRUE AND I DO HAVE THAT SPIRAL STAIRCASE!

It is not a million bucks, and certainly not a mansion, but who can complain with a literal wish coming true?

Eeeeeeek!!!!!!

Posted in Beauty, Buildings, Country Challenges, Country Thoughts, History and Places, Home and Hearth, Humor, Simple Solutions | Tagged A Virginia View, country life, country photo, dream house, dreams, fear of heights, Home, Home Design, humor, Mansions, rural life, rural Virginia, Spiral Stairs, utility rooms, winding staircase | 18 Comments

18 Responses

on August 12, 2015 at 5:26 am Jill Weatherholt

I’m with you, Dor…eeeeeeek! There’s those cracks again. 😦

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on August 12, 2015 at 5:45 am photosfromtheloonybin

Good old Bill :).

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on August 12, 2015 at 9:28 am Anne Mehrling

Your circular staircase is exactly what I dreamed of for years. Thank heavens I didn’t get it, because it would be treacherous for me now! I loved your story.

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on August 12, 2015 at 9:49 am The Coastal Crone

I used to dream of a house with a staircase too but at this age I don’t want one. You be careful down there!

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on August 12, 2015 at 9:53 am dorannrule

Thanks Anne! And yes, the spiral staircase is treacherous….. 🙂

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on August 12, 2015 at 9:53 am dorannrule

Hanging onto the little rubber railing is the trick to getting up and down safely. 🙂

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on August 12, 2015 at 1:57 pm Eliza Waters

Wow, I guess what they say is true: “Be careful what you wish for!” 😉

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on August 12, 2015 at 10:49 pm Life With The Top Down

Staircases can be grand and works of art. How sweet of your hubby…he’s a good egg. Now hold on tight and walk those stairs like the 20 year old he thinks you are.

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on August 12, 2015 at 11:47 pm dorannrule

Bahahaha! Thanks for the great advice my friend, but it will require white knuckle ascent and descent to maintain the impression of a 20 year old bounding up and down those stairs!

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on August 13, 2015 at 1:48 am ritaroberts

Yes Dora, I love the look of spiral staircases especially those in magazines, and those you see in films where the stars come gliding down them. But one has to have a ” big big ” house to install one wide enough and so that the steps are not placed too deep between each other. Many people have installed spiral staircases in renovating the old cottage houses here and they just don’t work, they are supposed save space, well yes they do, but they are very difficult to use as they are cramped to tightly .I know because I had one and soon left the place for that reason.

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on August 13, 2015 at 8:36 am dorannrule

I should have known you Rita, 26 years ago when we built the house! 🙂

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on August 13, 2015 at 5:08 pm pattisj

I always thought I’d like a winding staircase, but then I got the opportunity to try out the one where my husband worked. Now I’d rather have a sliding board.

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on August 14, 2015 at 12:18 am dorannrule

Bahahaha! I would love to have a sliding board to the basement or a fireman’s pole. The problem would be getting back up. 🙂 Come to think of it, that is still the problem, even with stairs. 🙂

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on August 14, 2015 at 2:32 am pattisj

My grandkids climb up the slide section more than they slide down! We need to put them in charge of laundry.

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on August 14, 2015 at 12:45 pm katespencer17

I noticed Bill built the staircase true to what I imagine his nature is: very practical. Metal stairs, no maintenance! LOL. Funny how we all have had similar dreams: mine was gliding down a huge grand spiral staircase in some grand dress.

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on August 15, 2015 at 1:15 am dorannrule

Yes!!! 🙂

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on August 15, 2015 at 1:22 am dorannrule

You have imagined Bill accurately Kate. He is definitely practical. And yes, my dream also included a “grand dress” gliding down a magnificent staircase. The grand dress would undoubtedly kill me now on Bill’s narrow metal staircase descending to the water heater. 🙂

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on August 19, 2015 at 5:19 am apronheadlilly

How fun, but the one up top is a bit more elegant. Funny how tastes change. Bigger always was appealing to me, and now I find myself watching all those tiny home videos and dreaming. I could never do it though. Too many books and too much fabric!

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