It Takes A Village...

Today I woke up with a clear vision in my head of what I wanted the porch railing/wall to look like.  It would have to be 36" tall with a wide shelf all the way around to hold drinks or maybe a pretty potted plant or two. Because of this, the design had to be modified slightly.  Instead of the end posts reaching all the way up to the ceiling with the eventual screening in mind, I would cut the studs, lay the board for the shelf on top and when I am ready to screen it, I could just cut a stud from the shelf to the ceiling.  No biggie.

This might be better anyway, because then I could take the screening down at some point without having to tear down the railing or trying to make awkward cuts sideways to cut it flush with the railing wall.  I'm not sure the set of circumstances that would lead me to take down the screening - perhaps a sharp blow to the head or some world wide event that led to the destruction of mosquitoes, but you never know.  I'm sure the little bloodsuckers fulfill some sort of biological nook that if empty would lead to something horrible, such as a shortage of hops or some such catastrophe.

At any rate, after employing my youngest daughter, I was able to obtain accurate measurements.  Guess what?  The top rails were indeed slightly bigger than the bottom ones.  Measurements in hand, I headed down to the local home supply and purchased my supplies.  I decided to try my idea out on only one side for the moment to see how I liked it, so I only bought enough material for the driveway side.

Since I don't own an electric saw, I got one of the helpful sales associates to cut my pieces to my specification.  This is one of those services they offer that is priceless.  I also stopped and looked at house numbers and signed up for a free estimate on a kitchen cabinet facelift.  Or whatever they call it.  Where they take the doors and drawer fronts off and slap some new ones on and veneer the cabinet bases.  That thing.  I doubt I would go for such a thing at this point, simply because a.  the cabinets are of the cheapest quality (although they ARE wood) and b.  I want the kitchen to be redesigned to actually be practical.

Getting back to the porch... here is my materials list:

1.  4 2X8 framing studs cut into the following lengths:

• 83" for bottom rail
• 83 1/4" for top rail
• 4 pcs 32" 

2.  1 8"X1"X96" pine board cut to 83 1/4" long

3.  Finishing nails

4.  Masonry screws

5.  3" long deck screws guaranteed not to rust

6.  Caulk 

7.  One male neighbor to come over half way and tell me what to do

I did not have to get that last one at the store, since I already have several of those at home.  I got home, dug out my drill and got to work.  There were a couple of moments where things started to go pear shape, but I persevered and this is what I ended up with:

Now from the other angle:

I'm pretty freakin' proud of myself.  Now I have to get the panels and attach them to both sides to finish it up, cover the edges with molding, paint it and I've got my first railing/wall done.  

About the point at which I got the top rail attached and was trying to figure out how much of an overhang I wanted for the shelf (known as the reveal), one of my male neighbors came over to tell me to use screws and not nails because I was "killing myself with the nails."  I held up the drill and a handful of screws.  This did not bring the instruction to a close, however. 

 "Use finishing nails for the top and then take this little thing that looks like a round screwdriver and tap the ends into the wood."  

"A nail set," I said.

"Yes," he said then continued, "Then hit it with some wood filler and it will look great."  

"Thank you for your help," I said and after he walked away, I walked over and picked up the box of finishing nails, the nail set and the wood filler I had sitting on the porch about 2 feet from where he was standing.  I've got this.