Last fall, working for Cregg Sweeney Artisan Builders, I helped build a decorative railing for a veranda on a large, Craftsman-style custom home in South Orleans, Mass. This was a huge project. Cregg and his crew had been working on the house for two years before I was hired last winter to supplement his finish carpentry crew. We finally worked our way out the front door and turned to completing some exterior details, which included the railing for the covered deck.
Up until this point, I’d only heard rumors of some elaborate wave pattern, but final drawings had been pending until just before we were ready to tackle this piece of the job. Aline Architecture of Orleans, Mass., delivered a detailed sheet depicting 34 individual railing sections incorporating 567 vertical slats—each with a small, rectangular (1/2- x 2-inch) perforation in staggered elevation—which would combine to create a running sine-wave pattern in the railing face. Built in solid mahogany, this promised to be a one-of-a-kind undertaking. See the slideshow for the decorative railing’s layout and assembly.
