Loft access at last

Parts and pieces

Before pic of empty space

Everyone's in on the action

Sure, this is exactly how the pros do it

Another ladder?  Sure, why not?

Dark outside - but we must finish!

Victory climb

Hey, it's still standing the next day - not bad!

We're nothing if not ambitious... So one auspicious Sunday we undertook the building of the spiral stair kit, just R and I! And by golly, we did it!

Check out the precarious multiple ladder/stacks of books/boxes support system we constructed to hold various points of the stair until it could get connected to the top ledge. I was definitely part of this mission, but spent much of the time holding said contraption.

Finally, we can claim the loft space -- once we deal with the mass of boxes waiting for us up there.

Note the guillotine -- I mean ceiling fan -- at the top. A little 3D planning mistake. Yep, that'll have to come down.

Certificate of Final Completion

The coveted document

Oh happy day!

This calls for something special!

The fateful day arrived - our final inspection, strategically scheduled for a Friday afternoon, started off well enough. So well, in fact, that the inspector was sitting down to fill out the certificate and got halfway done before suddenly asking questions about our deck stair. "Yes, sir, we will get a handrail on that stair. No, sir, you'll hear no complaint from our neighbors. Yes, sir, go ahead and have another look at the plans..." A few tense minutes and several nervous looks between Rene and I, and miraculously the inspector finished signing the form and walked out of our lives, hopefully forever (nice guy though he is).

With all we went through with the city, we thought the day might never come. But it did! Boy, did we celebrate!