Next time you’re in an older home, take a close look at the stairs to see if you can find a unique quirk. Sometimes you’ll see a single baluster that doesn’t match the others within a staircase ...

It’s like an age-old riddle: What’s tall and sturdy and something you lean on every day? If you guess a balustrade, you’d be right—but that’s probably not the first thing that came to your mind. The ...