In my previous post, I mentioned that the contractor building my new retaining wall made several changes to the wall design. One of these changes involved the integrated stairs. The original design, which had been approved by the city, included a landing level with the planting beds.

Unfortunately, because of the change made by the contractor, the stairs were considered unsafe. I needed some type of railing or wall to keep small children from falling off the side of the stairs. The idea of putting in an ugly wooden wall or boring metal railing was not very appealing.

After thinking about this problem, I came up with an idea for a trellis to be placed on either side of the stairs. These trellises would be made of cedar and copper to match one I had made two years ago for my backyard.

A couple of solar caps for each side and a clematis to vine up the copper and my problem stairway was no longer a problem.