The roof balcony rail had been lying on my window sill, and every time I saw it I just took a deep breath and said to myself: Not now. All the railings I had sanded and painted and sanded again made me reluctant to start on a piece with 48 spindles. Yet one day it had to be done, and the day had arrived. After all my training I now have some shortcuts. I have also finally figured out how to use a tool that I had never used for its initial purpose: a lady shaver with a nail polishing tool.
I know some people use electric toothbrushes, but I have never managed to attach sandpaper to a brush. But here it was simply to use tape. It made the job easier and faster, but I had to wear a mask for the dust.
Then there was painting and more sanding and trimming, and it turned out that what I thought was a deliberate cut-off for adjustment was actually a broken piece. Well, too late.
While I was at it, I also glued on the large pediment. I am not sure why I had not done before.
Result:
Lessons learned: unlike many other steps where I immediately saw the improvement I am not sure. Does it look more finished? I can see from the picture that the upper front edge, right below the railing, must be repainted white. I can state again that the fronts do not close properly so I need to work on that.
The next step on the exterior is the front staircase, and I have already spent hours of frustration over it. The instructions I received, upon repeated requests, from the manufacturer were not helpful, and there are things that don't match. The only thing I could get the manufacturer to admit was that the stairs cannot be attached to the house because the main fronts won't open then. I think this is a big miscalculation in this new model.
The easiest way would of course be to ignore the stairs altogether, but they do add an interesting feature. So this will keep me busy in the coming weeks. Come back soon.
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