Cozy Cabin Stair Railing

I had some time after the holidays to make a little progress on the stairs in my cabin.  After much research, I decided on rustic logs for a top rail and bottom rail and a plain dowel for the baluster.  The plain dowel actually matches the floor.

I have kept a bucket of wood for this project from a tree in our back yard that we lost in an ice storm a few years back.  I first selected the pieces for the newel posts and cut them to size and trimmed the branches back.

I decided to drill holes through the newel posts because I want to put either a finial or a light on each one.  More on that later.

It was rather tricky trying to even space holes on a curved rustic piece of wood and the holes to line up and then get it to line up with the holes on the branch.  This took several tries.

Here was my first attempt.  I am a little bothered by the different colored wood, but I think I will touch it up a little with some paint.

Here is the view from the front.

This was dry fitting the right side rail

I put it in place with a little glue while I ponder it. 

more to follow.