Plastering & Faux Newel Post

[Spinny]

Hi, urgently trying to find a decent aesthetic way to finish around my understairs door and wall.

 

I am wondering about boarding and plastering over a newel post running up from ground floor to first floor, but then creating a 'faux' floating newel post at the top of the staircase stringer.

See photograph and sketch.

 

The aim being to resolve details around the doorway and allow an architrave to be fitted around the understairs toilet door.

 

Do people think this idea will work ?

Any other ideas for making the area look decent around the door area and surrounding hallway wall ?

[Mike]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not clear on the problem you're trying to solve / how & why your idea might improve the situation?

[Spinny]

ah ok. Just looking for a way to get the whole area around that door to look right when architrave is put around the door and it wasn't clear what to do with the newel post coming down. carpenter was suggesting I would have to put gloss paint on one edge of the newel post and then matt emulsion on the other face. But I think boarding and plastering over the newel post is going to work better.

 

Now under way - see pic.

[Nickfromwales]

 

Id have got some mini architrave and installed it onto the newel at the red line, so you’re not having to make good to the stairs and landing above that point; just stays as is in gloss. 
 

You’d just create  two sides around like a crown with a feature moulding to allow the plasterboard to be finished against and keep all the new works below that red line / ceiling height. 

[Nickfromwales]

[Spinny]

It has been skimmed now see pics. Quite happy with the way it has turned out, much better than some of the other ideas bandied about which involved having parts of the gloss white newel post on show lower down the wall.

I do agree with Nick that some added molding is likely to finish it off.

The horizontal timber along the edge of the upstairs landing has also been boarded ready to plaster, so elected to run the faux newel piece added to the front of the actual newel up as far as the top of the stringer as that seems like a structure related logic for where to end it.

[Nickfromwales]

I feel like we’ve just time-warped!

 

I guess I was replying whilst it was being skimmed lol. 🤷‍♂️🙃

 

Looks good, happy days.