Home improvement... part 24601

Long time no building stories!
Which is mostly due to the fact that, well, I don't really get a chance to do any build-y stuff at the moment, and the project that kept Jörg & the MIL busy through winter is, while necessary, fairly unspectacular. And unfinished as yet.

However, there has been a BIG change this month and I feel I should celebrate that a little.
Sooo...

You may remember that, about a year ago, we renovated the downstairs hallway/stairwell. Due to a sorry lack of vacation time and money and cooperation on the side of our carpenter, the stairs to the attic remained as steep and decayed and untrustworthy as they were before.

A lot of things happened. Then, in February, the carpenter finally signalled that he was ready to tackle the second staircase now. So Jörg went to his workshop and, in an astonishingly short time (astonishing for me), they basically had all the parts for the stairs ready. Two more days were needed for smoothing and oiling everything - and then... and then... the new stairs could be installed.

Of course, this did not go without complications. The separate parts first had to be transported from the workshop to our attic (up the old rotted stairs, of course), where it would be assembled and then carefully lowered into position. Already sounds terrifying? Yep, it was. To be honest, I wouldn't have thought it possible. Of course, I'm not a carpenter. ;)

It took four attempts until the stairs were fully assembled, however - there had been some mistakes while fitting the parts, and moreover everyone had mistakenly assumed that the walls would be even, which in our old house they just aren't. Oh well. As I had to take care of Felix and prepare the birthday dinner for my mom, I didn't have to participate in the tedious process - I just heard the curses...

So everything took much longer than planned (Jörg had assumed that they'd be done by afternoon; instead, by the time we'd meant to leave for my parents', they had finally assembled the whole thing and could only just start putting it into place and fixing everything). But in the end, all went well, and now we have a beautiful new staircase and can finally use the attic normally again. It was a weird feeling at first - the old stairwell was very narrow and, as I said, steep, so when you went up the lower stairs you basically had a lot of air above you. The new stairwell is almost parallel to the lower stairs, so while there still is plenty of space for your head, you now have a constriction. Because it was new and strange at first, I constantly tucked my head in. XD But I got used to it quickly.

That was a lot of wordiness! Because pictures speak more than words, of course this post comes with an illustrative picspam. Marvel in the horror of the old stairs and the beauty and reliability of the new. Massive oak, baby!

( Under the cut for the sake of your f-list. )

Of course, a bannister for the gallery and the attic is as yet missing. But that can be easily installed now that the stairwell's in place...
Also, now that we have such a beautiful new stairwell, the cheap old doors our #%&§!% predecessors put in look shabbier than ever. We really need new doors. So many projects, so little money... :P