'Round the House

Our front hall...

...as it used to be.  This entryway off the porch is actually the back entry to the house, but is really the only entry people use unless they are not familiar with the parsonage.  For about 6 months after moving in, I attempted nothing here as I thought about what to do.  I wanted it to have a classic look that might fit the age of the house more.  I knew I wanted to lighten up the walls and we were hoping we could tear the carpet off the stairs.  It's hard to see in the first picture, but there was light carpet going up the stairs and into the hall at the top.  This carpet was soooooooo dirty and stained from many years of much use.  

I started with primer on the walls which took forever because not only was the color dark (so it took 2 coats), but the walls are very tall.  

Here's a picture of the carpet and the walls all primed.  It was also really hard to clean the stairs because their so narrow.  Plus, over time, the edges had worn and now were quite slippery.  People were always slipping down them.  Not Good.

So, I started with a deep brown under the coat hooks to match the stair rail and treads.  Also, NOT GOOD.

Quick fix with the primer...

See that floor?  Keep that in mind...  Anyway, the walls became a nice Cappuccino White with crisp white trim and we got a light fixture for the entryway and the upper hall (which was also missing one...)

...AND we got permission to tear out the rug!!!  Woo hoo!  The only question was, what was under them?  We were planning on redoing the stairs and treads, so no biggy, but what about the floor upstairs?  We had almost all the carpet off the stairs when I pulled up a corner to find plywood!  Oh no!  I did a bunch of research and found it was still doable to paint over it, so we kept plugging away.

This was the result on the stairs - many layers of paint and many staples for Justin to pull out.  He pulled out all the staples and then we lived with this for MONTHS.  I kind of liked it in a weird way.  

Cute, right?  In a rustic farmhouse kind of way?  Maybe??  Anyway, when Justin got to the top of the stairs, he discovered...

 

Hardwood!  Yup!  The corner I pulled up (you can see it on the right side of the picture) has a little slab of plywood for some reason.  I ended up putting a rug and dresser there so you can't see it anyway!  We were very happy about the discovery.  

Anyway, we started this project January of 2010 and Justin finally was able to paint the stairs after Samuel was born (September 2010).  It's been a long time coming, but he did amazing!  They look so great.

(upstairs landing)

NOW, the only thing left to do (in this hallway) is the first level floor.  Remember that picture earlier?  There's the lovely floor...

and you can see the floor sample we would really like to get in the upper right corner of the picture.  It's a gray/blue slate (sticky tile).  I love it AND it was the cheapest one!  Double Bonus...except, that was a year ago.  Now that I'm actually ready to do it, they don't have that one anymore.  What to do?  Wait in case it comes back or go for something they have that I don't love as much??  Decisions.  Decisions.  But I'd love to wrap up this hall before summer, so I'm probably going to have to settle.  

(before)

(after)

******

(before)

(after)