A modern kitchen with white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and a central island featuring two sleek metal stools. The space is elegantly defined by a black cable railing that separates the kitchen from the lower level, while a small green plant adds a touch of nature in the foreground.
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DIY Cable Railing

ByLisa
16 Comments

Hey guys! Is it Wednesday already? This past week has completely flown by. We have been so busy with week 2 of the One Room Challenge and I am not joking when I say we have been burning the midnight oil to finish our DIY Cable Railing. If you missed week 1 make sure you check it out to see all the plans for this makeover. This week we opened up our breakfast nook to the family room below which was a high priority on the six week to do list. Are you ready to see how it turned out?

Modern kitchen and living area with sleek cable railing. The space showcases white cabinets, a built-in bench with patterned cushions, and wood flooring. Text overlay reads "DIY Cable Railing, One Room Challenge week 2," highlighting the DIY spirit behind the elegant improvement.This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my policies.

Gahhh! I am seriously in love! Words cannot express how much this railing has changed both the kitchen and the family room. To give you the full picture, let’s take a look at the original state of this wall when we first bought the house.Interior of a home featuring a split-level layout. The lower area has beige carpet and walls, with a ceiling fan. Steps lead to a kitchen with wood cabinetry and recessed lighting. A sliding glass door is visible on the right, and a man stands near it. A living room with a built-in window seat featuring patterned cushions and wooden shelves. The room has tiled flooring, a glass block partition, and a large window with closed blinds. The area is dimly lit.

 And this is what it looked like just last week before we took down the wall.A modern living room with high, beamed ceilings and wooden floors boasts a casual elegance. It includes tan leather sofas, a patterned rug, and a black ottoman with decor. A ceiling fan spins above as natural light streams through the sliding glass door. Shelving and art complete the makeover.

I first had the idea to change this half wall to a railing when touring a similar house to ours with some clients. From that moment on, I could not stop thinking about how open the floor plan would feel with a railing. Not to mention the glass blocks felt so dated. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I recently got the Mr. on board with my crazy idea to take it down and put up a railing! 

DIY Cable Railing

Naturally the next question was what do we put in its place? I have seen so many jaw dropping railings from completely custom to semi DIY. Since we are in the middle of a pandemic, I wasn’t crazy about having someone working in the house so I priced out a semi custom option we could install ourselves and a few DIY options. Let’s just say there was a significant price difference between the two. I am frugal by nature, but also love to create! As such, we chose to fully customize a DIY Cable Railing.A modern kitchen with white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, and a central island featuring two sleek metal stools. The space is elegantly defined by a black cable railing that separates the kitchen from the lower level, while a small green plant adds a touch of nature in the foreground.

Now I am not going to go through all the details right now because I just don’t have time for a full tutorial, but I will do one after the One Room Challenge is over 🙂 To kick off the project, I ordered the main components of the railing, the cable and lag screws.

A flat lay image showcases a spool of 300 ft cable, a drill bit, and two bags of screws on a wooden surface, perfect for your next DIY project.

Then we got to the fun part, DEMO DAY! You can see more of the demo process as well as behind the scenes in my Instagram stories and ORC story highlights. Spoiler alert, we don’t use a sledge hammer, because, well this isn’t HGTV and we actually have to fix things we break, haha!  

A home interior under renovation showcases an unfinished kitchen counter with exposed cabinets, surrounded by brown hardwood flooring. A tarp covers part of the floor. The room, featuring vaulted ceilings and visible support beams, embodies a DIY spirit with a light fixture awaiting installation.

Demo was actually pretty easy and painless. The worst part was cleaning up all the drywall dust and debris.A living room with high ceilings and exposed beams is under renovation, with plans to install a sleek cable railing. Tarps cover the hardwood floor, and construction debris is scattered around. A large window lets in natural light, and a ceiling fan is visible above.

Once the wall was down, we were in awe! It was SO open! Luckily Marvin didn’t think it was a shortcut to the sofa 😉Spacious living area with high ceilings and exposed beams, featuring a large ceiling fan. The room includes a brown sofa, decorative pillows, and a table with a plant. Sunlight streams in through sliding doors, highlighting the view of the dining area on a raised platform with sleek cable railing.

Then we installed the newel posts. This was the part I was probably the most nervous about. Luckily, we found these newel post installation kits that made things a bit easier since we didn’t have existing posts and working from the basement was complicated, even though it isn’t finished.A black metal post stands at the corner of the wooden staircase, secured with metal brackets. Blue tape near the top marks its installation. The staircase railing leads to a beige wall where a white electrical outlet is visible, perfect for your next DIY touch or cable management solution.Once the posts were in, the rest seemed to go a bit faster. We opted to create our own top and bottom rails because I wasn’t a fan of the intricate and detailed options available locally. I wanted something simple, clean, and modern. We used these slim  intermediate pickets for the middle supports.A modern interior boasts a split-level open floor plan. The raised kitchen area, with counter and stools, is separated by a sleek cable railing. The lower cozy area features dark hardwood floors and soft neutral walls. Overhead, a modern chandelier casts its glow.The most anticipated part was the cable. I am not going to lie, I had some serious anxiety about this part. We basically came up with this entire design on our own, never installed a railing and never ran cable outside of our backyard string lights, (which was totally different). So what could possibly go wrong? HAHA!A modern living room features a beige sectional sofa, decorative pillows, and a tree-patterned lamp. A mirror reflects the DIY touch with sample paint patches on the wall. In the foreground, a sleek cable railing adds contemporary flair next to the countertop with a sink in view.

There were definitely a few mishaps along the way and lessons learned. We did end up buying a hydraulic crimper to make installing the cable easier, and I can say it was definitely worth it! We actually almost bought one when we did our string lights, but thought we would never use it again. Who knew? I can also tell you if you cut your railing cable too long you will have to start over with that line, aka, make sure you have extras 😉 But overall, I am calling this DIY Cable Railing a win!

A modern home interior featuring a kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a breakfast bar with stool seating. A sleek black railing divides the space, providing a stylish touch. The lower level boasts a wooden bench and a potted plant, perfect for your next DIY project.

Now I cannot wait to finish the room so the view through the cable railing is just as good as the railing itself!
Modern interior with a cozy reading nook featuring a cushioned bench and decorative pillow, accented by a DIY touch. The nook is adjacent to a kitchen area with white cabinets and a sunlit window above, while green plants thrive beside sleek cable railings in the foreground. Modern kitchen with white cabinets, a tiled backsplash, and wooden floors. A black cable railing divides the kitchen and adjacent room. The space features built-in shelves and a cozy DIY window seat with cushions, while potted plants add a touch of nature to the foreground. A cozy corner features a white built-in bench with patterned cushions and a throw pillow. Behind it are shelves showcasing decorative items, including a framed "HARVEST" sign, a small plant, and a cutting board. A sleek DIY black cable railing is in the foreground.

Join me again next week to see how the rest of our makeover is coming along! The plan is to get moving on the fireplace makeover which includes new brick paint and some fun extras 😉 

See the Full DIY CABLE RAILING TUTORIAL HERE! 

If you enjoyed my DIY Cable Railing, please share it on Facebook or hover over an image and save to Pinterest! And if you don’t already follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook, I would love for us to be friends!A modern kitchen features white cabinets and a black island, complemented by three metallic barstools. A sleek hanging light fixture illuminates the space, while a glass railing separates it from the lower level. A potted plant adds a touch of nature to this elegant DIY-inspired design.

Make sure you sign up here so you don’t miss any of our progress! It’s going to be a crazy few weeks! I will also be sharing behind the scenes of all the makeover madness on Instagram and Facebook. 

Don’t forget to stop by the One Room Challenge to check out all the other participants and their amazing spaces!
Garrison Street Design Studio - DIY Cable Railing

A modern interior highlights a stylish DIY cable railing on the staircase. Light-colored walls and wood flooring create an inviting ambiance, with a glimpse into the kitchen. A plant adds a touch of nature in the foreground. Text below reads, "DIY Cable Railing, ORC Week 2.

This post, DIY Cable Railing, appeared first on Garrison Street Design Studio.

16 Comments

  3. I am redoing the stair railing for my challenge as well. I knew I wanted to vertical design and this is perfect. Thank you for the inspiration.

    Reply

  5. Hi ! How much give does the cable have? We are wanting to install a cable raibling but I’m nervousour littles will be able to push through it. Thoughts? Thanks!

    Reply

  6. Love this! My husband and I are building a house and are going to DIY our interior railing as well as our deck. What did you use for the top hand rail?

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Kristen! We made the handrail from a 2×3. I will be writing a full tutorial, so stay tuned 😉

      Reply

  7. Wow the before and after is amazing! I love the railing and the change of paint and color of the furnishings brought it up to a modern level! It’s so much brighter and cheery even!

    Reply

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