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Journal

Renovating The Hayloft : Copper Staircase

June 20, 2022

handmade staircase featured in our Brighton and hove kitchen and bathroom showrooom - now open

Building The Hayloft Copper Staircase.

Renovating our new showroom in Poets Corner in The Hayloft space was an exciting opportunity for our team to work together on our carpentry and coppersmith skills to display our newest range of Copper and Brass taps, showers and handles for local home owners interior designers and architects.

The Haloft 85a montgomery st hove copper and brass showroom

The building was formally a mechanics and historically thought to be a horse stables for the casket makers in the building adjacent where we have created our Copper Workshop and hub for Proper Copper Design .

renovating the hayloft staircase timber building restoration

The existing staircase was nothing more than a wooden ladder which made access to our new space upstairs difficult to climb. Restoring the staircase became a top priority to make an inviting entrance and feature element to The Hayloft.

floating stairs building a reclaimed staircase
Here at Proper Copper Design, we strongly believe in reducing our carbon footprint. That’s why we began our staircase renovation scouring Brighton & Hove for reclaimed timber from wastage from building projects in the city.
panelling the reclaimed staircase carpentry
 We were able to collect and salvage beautiful timber boards, giving them a new lease of life with time, care and attention. The process began by de-nailing each timber, after which Henry our apprentice carpenter set about hand planing and sanding.
planing timber for a reclaimed copper and wood staircase
We set to work reconstructing the opening, tearing back the space to start a fresh and reinforcing the floor support to create a structural spindal staircase. 
copper spinal banister
Building our way up, we began to clad the staircase. Adding small features of copper nails and tacks to decoratively lead you to the first room of our showroom which has a copper theme throughout from copper Taps and Showers on display to Copper lighting and fixtures.
copper staircase banister
To create the banister, we wanted to draw attention to the stairs while merging together the two rooms. We felt that this would be a statement piece in itself for people to observe and enjoy!
copper banister rails and copper stair rods
A final sanding of the timber steps and banister framework then attaching more strips of copper sheeting with copper tacks; a custom statement design! As well as varnishing the staircase all over to seal all our hard work!  
reclaimed staircase with copper trim
ageing the staircasecomplete copper and reclaimed wooden staircase by proper copper design
The final process in building this copper and reclaimed wooden structure staircase involved ageing the copper banister spokes and the copper edging strips. Over time, copper naturally ages and develops to a rustic reddish brown shade. To enhance this we can add a light wash of a salt solution which will speed up the ageing colour change.
looking down the copper stair banister
We have a full range of individually aged products for example our Aged Copper Handles  which are a popular choice with our customers for vintage kitchen and bathroom projects.

The staircase is a key feature of the reconstruction of our new showroom The Hayloft drawing our visitors from the Outdoor Shower display area downstairs up to our refreshing light studio space / copper and brass showroom.

If you are local to Brighton or you are visiting the area and you would like to book an appointment to visit our showroom then please give us a call on 01273 973 650 or email our Manager Khan at team@propercopperdseign.com

Thank you for reading.
Blog written by Bronte Simpson-Little
Proper Copper Design

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