We have the grandest staircase! There are 16 stairs going up, and with the spindles on either stair railing, the railing at the top parallel to the stairs (to the left) and perpendicular to the stairs (to the right), and the railing behind the stairs (next to the open basement stairs), we have 107 spindles. That’s a lot of dusting!
No one (including the builder) realized the stairs would be as big as they are. They are nice and wide (good for moving furniture in I say) and have nice curly ends at the bottom. The last step is wider than the rest of the stairs and has a very sophisticated look.
We had to make sure the spindles were nice and durable before the 
carpenter finished installing them. 
(No actual sparring was involved.) Don’t tell, but I also run up the stairs with a small pen (cap closed, of course) in my hand to hear the dink-dink-dink-dink-dink of the spindles. I figured someone needed to do it before we have children and we have to hear it all the time. I think I deserved to be the first one. And it was fun!
This picture, looking from the second floor landing, shows just how big the staircase and foyer spaces are. At the bottom, you can almost make out the curlicue at the bottom of the railing. You can also see the front door straight ahead, the doorway to the office to the left (where we will hang french doors), and the entry to the living room on the right at the bottom of the stairs. The doorway to the fourth bedroom is peeking at the top right. We have decided to paint the foyer area and beautiful yellow gold called #213, er, Harp Strings. We hope it will make the entry to our new home feel warm and inviting, and we can’t wait to greet our friends and family at the bottom of our grand staircase!
19 April 2008 at 1:42 pm
Why does it not surprise me that you counted all the spindles? And I bet yo know how many have knots in them too. (Hey, i know I’d have done the same.) Love Dad