By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Those curlicues have got to go. That’s what I told myself when Jon and I first laid eyes on this house of ours back in 1978. The original 1950s red oak floors were beautiful. The 1950s tile bathroom and kitchen countertops were charming, if a little chipped and dated. But those goofy geegaws decorating the wrought iron staircase railing? Fifties kitsch, it seemed to me. They had to go.

And go they did. Finally. Last week. Forty-one years after I first turned up my nose at them.

Somebody, back in the Fifties, thought those curlicues would be just the thing to spiff up the wrought iron railings and balusters that grace our

otherwise perfectly acceptable oak staircase. And for years I’ve been resolving to get rid of them. But who do you hire to remove something like that? And how in the world would I remove them myself, DIY-style?

Thankfully, 2019 arrived and with it a highly skilled neighborhood handyman who’s got both tools and brains and who had no trouble removing the dratted geegaws from our staircase and my life.

I love intricately wrought iron. I’m a fan of Salzburg’s Getreidegasse and its whimsical shop signs. But our pre-fab over-wrought iron curlicues just didn’t measure up. And now, our much-simplified balusters look terrific without them.

Next up: finding a contractor to replace our aging deck and — maybe, maybe take out the wall between our kitchen and dining room. That wall has been the subject of much back and forth deliberation between Jon and me and everyone who’s set foot in our house over the past twelve months. Do we want to go with the open concept concept so popular on HGTV? Or do we want to keep our kitchen mess tucked behind that old Fifties wall? Stay tuned.

More about the kitchen wall deliberations at “Too Many Walls — and Not Enough Bathrooms — at Our House.”