Our Entryway Makeover: From Walls to Railings

Our Foyer’s Revival

Sweet hallelujah! Oh wait, it’s not THAT kind of revival. However, it is kind of like God has shone a light down on our entryway and given it new life—or maybe it’s our new light fixture. Well, either way, our entryway looks NOTHING like it did when we bought our home, which is definitely a good thing.

By the way, we’ve since moved into our new home. 

When I first walked into our home, I felt like I was walking into either a townhome or a home with a basement suite – NOT a two-story single-family detached home. The entryway was like a secret warren of walls, doors, and passages, and I half expected a gnome to come through one and say, ‘Right this way, madam, to the dungeon/family room.’ Okay, seriously, it wasn’t that bad – our home has always been beautiful, but it sure needed a little bit of TLC (or KLC if you’re so inclined).

And while it may have taken almost three years, it’s FINALLY done!

By the way, I want you to play the ‘Where’s Doug?‘ game. See if you can find all four Dougs (and one Henry).

THE MAIN ENTRYWAY AREA/FOYER

Pretty meat n’ potatoes – and lots of gravy, hence the wall color…

That rounded area at the top was awkward and added to the narrow feeling. By opening it up, our home widened and opened right up…

Did you notice all of the changes?

Before, a cased doorway leading to the family room / After, no door OR or cased opening.

Before, a solid drywall hid the upstairs area from view / After, wood and metal curved railing.

Before, an ugly pine beam over the header underneath the curved wall / After, no ugly beam.

Before, while you can only see it in the first photo, there used to be 12×12 tile flooring with IMPOSSIBLE colors.  It also transitioned to another ugly tile at the doorway to the family room /  After, we decided to take our new flooring almost everywhere, creating much more flow.

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And I knew that one day, the curved wall would be LONG gone, as would the walls going up the stairway. Amazingly, it took me three years to bring out the sledgehammer (who am I kidding? I hired someone to do the dirty work and sat back and drank wine by the jug…with a straw).

Before, who even KNEW what was up there???

After, the light from both the entryway and the upstairs great room co-mingles, creating a bright, open space.

The paint colours are…

• Light Colour: Sherwin Williams Creamy SW 7012
• Grayish Colour: Benjamin Moore Steel Wool 2121-20

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THE STAIR LANDING

From the middle stair landing, you can see a lot of air space (it is a 2-story foyer) and a lot of…wall.

See the changes?

Before,  drywall on the right-hand side of the stairs / After, wood and metal railing

Before, fugly pine molding capping the foundation wall on the right / After, more traditional white molding on the foundation wall, and YES I was so tempted to do shiplap, but I’m hesitant to commit to a trend that will require major wall-patching once I’m over it (so in like three months)

Before, top left curved wall / After, top left curved railing

Before, while you can’t see it, there was a multi-armed light fixture straight outta 1996 / After, with scaffolding, a good friend, and some good beer, we got a new light fixture up (and the old one is still sitting on our back deck rusting)

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THE VIEW FROM THE FRONT DOOR

Here’s the view coming in the front door…and yes, that IS a big badass clock.

And did you know that this armoire used to be THIS armoire below?  I painted the heck out of it in about three hrs with Rustoleum ‘Chalked’ Ultra Matte Paint.

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP

Before, this was where I felt like we were in a narrow townhome, which would be fine…if we lived in a narrow townhome.

It had a pretty dark, dense look—which I like in some rooms—but I didn’t feel it in this large, bright area.

After, you can see how things opened up and brightened up. In the top photo, you can probably see a flash of my lovely chartreuse doors, which will soon be changed to Hale Navy (can’t wait!).

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Ahhhh, there she is—my beautiful 1990s light! Epic photo quality, I know. At the time, I wasn’t planning on becoming world famous with these photos.

Doug alert! Seriously, he’s such a poser.  I’m not sure if this was before or after he ate five granola bars from the pantry.

Before, again, epic photo quality by yours truly…

I love this view, and while it was a close one (thanks to a messy contractor), we managed to keep the carpet on the stairs, helping to keep the budget in line!

Before, wall on the left side of the stairs / After, wood and metal railing

Before, there was a disturbing black railing on the right side (I like black railings, but not this one), and there was no hand railing.

Before, no dogs / After,  the installation of a dog/pig and a Muppet at the top of the stairs.  And yes, the poor lil’ bugger has a skin condition that he takes prednisone for, hence the pinkish tone. The other one had a golden retriever Mom and an Animal from the Muppets as a dad.

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ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN 2017, UPDATED IN 2022