Spindled

I suppose it is time to share the sorry state of our porch balustrade.

One side has rotted to the point that it completely detached from the column.  I'm really glad that we discovered this before painting the house. We are unsure if the new balustrade will fit nicely into the same niche in the column the old one had. Hopefully we won't also need to replace the columns.

We've decided that the replacement balustrade will be open, as in without beadboard behind it. Sure, we'll lose some privacy into the porch, but I think it will look better. Plus there's got to be some feng shui rule that states an "open porch balustrade will help to improve positive energy flow into the house"??? (I just made that up, don't quote me on that).

Chris ordered some sample balusters from a company called Vintage Woodworks so we could get a better idea of the size we'd need for the scale of our porch. I love the size of the one on the right (4" width), but just don't think it works for our house, so we'll be going with the smaller one (3" width) on the left. I like the simple, no fuss design of the one on the left as well. 

This is a project Chris has decided to tackle himself...but he's promised to finish the side tables for our family room first. Good man!