Beautiful Metal Work: A true Artisan

We've recently, well over a couple of years now, expanded our house by turning our attic into a new upstairs. It's been a long, frustrating, but, ultimately, hugely rewarding experience.

From the start, I decided that it was important for me to take charge of each stage of the building. I didn't want to hand over control to a 'room-in-the-roof' builder for lots of money and a result suited to his economies and ideas. I wanted to be sure that we enjoyed the completion of each stage, celebrated it and, seeing exactly how it was, designed the next stage properly.

I'm so pleased that I did. The whole upstairs is a delight - we spend lots of time in it. It is my new office, because I work from home, and, more than that, it's a great place to be after my work is over. The defining touches were, of course, the carpeting ( coir, that's deliciously sensual to bare feet, and lovely kelims that we've spotted and bought as bargains ), the colour, of course, the stairs ( art noveau carpentry and magnificently carved naked ladies as posts at the bottom) and to crown it all, wonderful metal-work for the balcony railing and the upstairs balustrade.

I thought that it would be interesting to show the results. So I've attached some photographs - the stairs, the balcony railings and the balustrade.

I also wanted to mention the brilliant metal work done by Malo Geldenhuis ( malo.comment@gmail.com - mention my blog!) - the railing and the balustrade. When you hire a master craftsman, you can't be in a hurry, but, if you can rely on getting exactly the result you imagined, Malo shows himself a brilliant craftsman. I've put the design we agreed upon before the pictures of the actual result, so you can see for yourself: