DIY House Renovations: Entry Hall

Tearing out a wall is soo fun what with the uncertanties and risks. Who doesnt love a little fleeting anxiety right?

Okay, it really was fun though. But it was also a lot of work. I kept looking at this little nook that we never used and thinking how great itd be if it disappeared to reveal the teeny tiny little entryway into the livingroom on the other side of the house. The idea pecked away at me for months until one random gloomy winter afternoon I just started pecking back. I hammered out the old built-in desk

Annnd I tore the wood panelling away from the wall behind it. There was this awful thick paper that I started peeling off and thats when I discovered all of the cool stories the walls had been waiting to share! Old newspaper and magazine pages on the walls, a dear-diary letter from an angry Sandra, and even a bunch of old toys tucked between the studs:

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Anyway by this point I was like “ya we’re definitely doing this”. Of course, when the husband returned from work to my new “if you love me” challenge we began pulling the shiplap from the framing in preparation to completely remove the wall and open up the space:

You can see just how teeny-tiny the entrance was beyond this wall.

And look at the studs! We soon realized that the stairs once were straight, leading directly to the front door, and someone rebuilt them into the 90° treachery they are now.

This threw us for a loop because now we werent sure what classified as “load-bearing. So the project went on hiatus for a couple of days while I gave myself a crash-course on structural engineering at googleU. And then out came the remaining studs. You can see the front door in this photo:

That stuff on the walls! Omg it was tedious. Peel, spray, scrape, scrub, repeat.

Two days later,

Paint!

We had planned to restore the subfloor to match the rest of the house but under that sheet of plywood was proof that the stairs used to reside there and we didnt want to attempt to mitigate that. Normally I’m a make-do kinda gal and for a while I entertained the idea of a durable high-gloss paint but between trying to pry the old tiling and wear/tear destined for this space (read: 5 kids) we settled on new flooring instead.

Options:

I painted the walls my favorite go-to white that I’d been using for all my furniture re-dos and I was taking the shade into consideration in choosing the floor. Also the rest of the house is worn original hardwood that I would never be able to match to, so I chose a contrasting finish; a faux-weathered greywood that I still love

Eventually when those lotto dollars roll in we will do the whole house in this stuff because I love it so much.

Once the floor was layed I realized my love for ‘imagine’ by Beautytone had diminished. It looked pink! So I found instead ‘London Fog’ a cool/neutral grey. I ended up carrying this paint color into the livingroom and hallway later on.

See how fresh and new the ceiling looks? It’s tongue-and-groove pine from the lumber store. Also destined to be carried through the rest of the home post-lottery windfall. The original ceiling was beautiful shiplap but was just too much work to restore and didn’t carry through the former staircase area.

The final space is bright and open and organized and we are very happy with it!