Restoring a 1920s Staircase in a Santa Monica Character Home
About This Project
This Santa Monica home is a 1920s Spanish Revival, and its original staircase had ninety years of wear: worn tread nosings, a handrail polished thin at the turns, and two loose newels. The homeowners explicitly did not want it to look restored.
That is a harder brief than a rebuild. We consolidated rather than replaced — the worn nosings were built up with matched Douglas fir and refinished to blend, the handrail was re-glued and left with its wear intact, and the newels were re-anchored from below so no new fixings show on the visible faces. The stair is now structurally sound and reads exactly as it did before, which was the point.
What the Homeowner Needed
Make a worn 1920s staircase structurally sound and safe without erasing its age or appearance.
Challenges on Site
Original 1920s Douglas fir has a colour and grain that modern kiln-dried fir does not match. Repair stock was sourced from reclaimed joists of a similar age so the built-up nosings would age consistently with the original treads.
How We Solved It
Consolidation over replacement: built-up nosings in period-matched reclaimed fir, re-glued original handrail, and newels re-anchored from below.
Project Highlights
- ✓ Original handrail and treads retained
- ✓ Reclaimed period-matched repair stock
- ✓ No visible new fixings
Common Questions
Should I restore or replace an original staircase?
If the stair is original to a character home, restoration is almost always better — both for the house and usually for cost. Worn treads can be built up, handrails re-glued, and loose newels re-anchored. Replacement only makes sense where the timber has actually failed rather than simply worn.
Project Overview
A restoration rather than a remodel — the brief was to make it sound and safe without making it look new.
Materials & Details
- Reclaimed Douglas Fir
- Original Handrail Retained
- Concealed Newel Anchors
Guests do not notice anything was done, which is exactly what we hoped for.
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