Earlier this spring I was called upon, for one reason or another, to paint the stairwells in areas my father and brother (of Kottenstette Brothers Inc.) had not completed. Though it took a good deal of improvisation with the scaffolding, planking, and ladders on hand I managed to devise a way to get at these. (A more direct way, in hind-sight, would have been to make one main scaffold stack inside the stairwell from the ground floor up to the fourth floor ceiling.) It was an adventure involving a lanyard and body harness I would attach to the railings. Though at times awkward I got used to it and found myself using it to brace against to alleviate some of the body fatigue and tedium.
The mauve and pink colors on the plaster stringer previously keyed into the marble wainscotting, with the black on the rail, newel post and balustrade. Ralph Lauren metallics in green, two types of gold and bronze where used.
Below is a view down from the fourth floor.
