Upgrading Your Home's Style With a New DIY Rail System
Fall is the ideal time to consider an important home upgrade - a new interior stair system. Earlier this year, several influencers tackled this same project by using our IronPro™ system.
Working with L.J. Smith® Stair Systems and their local contractors, Suzannah Hamlin Stanley and Denise Sabia upgraded their home’s style with new stair systems.
Suzannah Hamlin Stanley – Create/Enjoy
When homeowner Suzannah Stanley started looking at changing the second-floor stairway system in her older home, she turned to the IronPro system.
“We have a toddler at home and I wouldn’t allow him on the second floor because the balusters were placed too far apart,” says Stanley, with Create/Enjoy. “As he grew, so did our concern about the hazards of the stairway. So we looked into repositioning and replacing the balusters. The option of using the IronPro system made it exceptionally fast and easy.
“In one afternoon we replaced the balusters but kept the structural aspect of the stairway. The IronPro level kit includes both a pivoting top piece and a stationary bottom piece. That made it easy to install the iron baluster style we wanted.
“This turned out to be a really affordable project. We gained peace-of-mind by having the balusters relocated. At the same time, we enhanced the way the entire stairway looks by keeping the wood handrail and adding the iron balusters.”
Denise Sabia – The Painted Home
Influencer Denise Sabia also chose the IronPro system to replace an old stairway in her townhome.
“The railing system is the very first thing you see when entering the home and it had to go,” says Sabia, with The Painted Home. “The old stairway was an ugly shade of brown with a yellowish tinge. The style of the newel posts did not reflect the style of the rest of the home. I couldn’t wait to replace the whole thing.”
“We started from scratch,” says Sabia, the Pennsylvania homeowner. “Some portions of installing the new stair system were easy, like the IronPro fasteners and the baluster installation. For other aspects of the project, I turned it over to a professional carpenter to make sure this job was perfectly completed.”
After doing her research online to review several styles of stair railings, Sabia decided on a simple boxed style for the newel posts. For the railings she selected 45 iron balusters in a Satin Black finish. Each baluster was installed into a stained wood railing.
New Stairway Look with Minimal Effort
Both Sabia and Stanley discovered that swapping outdated wooden balusters for a trendy new look was easy with IronPro. They followed these easy steps:
After removing the existing baluster, the pivoting fasteners of the IronPro are attached to the handrail.
Then the new iron baluster is measured and cut.
The iron baluster is then inserted into the pivot fastener and swung into a vertical position.
The assembly is aligned and screwed into place to secure the baluster. It’s that easy.
Kits for Open Tread and Kneewall Stairways
Two different IronPro kits are available from L.J. Smith, both featuring products in Satin Black. For an open tread stairway, the IronPro Level Kit includes a ball adaptor, round and rectangular sockets, a base collar, a threaded disk and centering plugs. For a kneewall stairway, the IronPro Kneewall Kit includes a ball adaptor, threaded ball adaptor, round and rectangular sockets and centering plugs.
One IronPro kit is needed for each baluster replacement in a stairway system. L.J. Smith offers 35 different ½” solid and hollow iron baluster styles as replacement options when using the IronPro kit.