Stairs Handrail- Finally!!!

I have been putting off any more sanding of the stairs for a long time, months. I was tried of all the sanding. But in a couple weeks, we have some family coming into town and a handrail would be very nice for them to get down the stairs. (Sometimes a little push is needed) So I finally pulled out my sandpaper, stain, and polyurethane, its about time...

If you can not remember the stair before, here is a reminder. 

 After removing the carpet, we had wood that needed a lot of work.

 Then after removing varnish, sanding, staining, and painting. (The handrail has been gone since I started the project.)

 I completed the handrail like I did the stairs but it took a lot less time. I first, hand sanded the rail with 120 sandpaper then moved to a finer paper (did not take longer then a hour). After cleaning the rail, I applied the stain. After two coats, I applied two coats of polyurethane. (Make sure you follow the directions on your stain and polyurethane for dry time) Here is a picture of the stain and polyurethane I used for both stairs and handrail.

After everything had dried it was time to put the rail back into place.

 I first added the hardware (I do not know what they are called) by screwing in the screws just a little bit.

 Then I placed the rail were it should go, and finished screwing the screws in.

 All done...

One thing to check off the list, handrail, done....

Here is a picture of another thing I finished on the stairs, see the big hole. 

I finally finished painting it and put it back into place, see Mr. Cheese ball, he is excited too. I am planning on adding some coat hooks right above the door. This will help hid the door and have somewhere to hang things. But I still need to paint the walls and the back door. 

I really want to change the door out (but do not have the money for that right now) to a door with glass. This way there is light on the stairs during the day. Here is a picture with the door open.

 And the door closed, not as much light. One day...

 Another big plan for the stairs, is to add a new light and add some storage w/doors in the big unused space.

 Also, I want to remove the wall that the previous owners adding, to make the room feel bigger downstairs. And previous owners did not do a very good job at adding the wall, you can see tape everywhere. All this will have to wait for awhile because I have other things that are on the list first.

But the before and after of the stair so far, is a lot better...