Up the stairs...

I love the special scent of old attics. It reminds me of the childhood hide-aways upstairs, old boxes with treasures, hats and coats hanging from the rack, dusty books, a collection of dried flora, chairs missing legs...

Our attic had two so called summer rooms and a dark open place between them, no floor but two narrow boards as a path to connect them to the stairs.

The old stairs upstairs began from the veranda and were too steep for the modern standard.

We had to build a new but kept the railing in case we could use it - it was beautifully polished by generations of hands.

The first job was to carry out all the old moss and sand that had been used as insulations and the dangerous glass wool that could absorb humidity. And as the work proceeded with  a new roof and constructions we had to manage without proper stairs.

The old staircase was dismounted and ...

where there used to be the veranda and the stairs...

were big holes - here seen from the kitchen.

A new wall was built between the veranda and the hall.

The view to old summer rooms started to change but we still had the same path to go...

The instructions for the stairs were very strict. How much room do you have to have to every directions,  how high every step should be, how sharp turns you can have...

This was too steep!

and for a person afraid of heights almost impossible to get up...

We decided to build the staircase at the place and wanted to use old material as much as possible. 

and the stairs needed a railing upstairs, too.

It is always nice with suprises...

The steps have to feel natural....

and even suitable for a nap! 

For the walls we could use the old ceiling from the kitchen, wonderful red pine boards.

We still have left the nicest part of building left - the painting! The hall walls are painted with a warm yellow shade and with red pine panelling and the upstairs is painted with different shades of blue walls and grey-white ceiling, but how shall we paint the staircase?

- But we have lost the old dusty scent of treasures and have now instead the perfumes of teenagers, pop corn evenings and drying laundry...