Pretty much since we bought the house, the entryway has been a bit embarrassing.
Yes, that's duct tape all over the front door. Early on we removed all the wallpaper from the house. In a project that seemed to never end. As we've been moving room to room the entryway and upstairs hallway were next on the list. One final look at that hideous ceiling tile people thought was trendy in the 1950s.
There haven't been many truly satisfying demolition projects in the house recently. But this one certainly was.
There was some minor electrical work that needed to be completed while the walls were open. Even with minimal breakage, the plaster dust still flew everywhere. Unlike many of our previous projects, we opted to leave the original plaster in place and drywall over support slats. This dropped the ceiling about an inch but saved us from making a huge mess. We also decided to extend the design finishes from the living and dining rooms into the entryway. Just to keep things consistent.
There was a lot of skim coating to the walls prior to painting. Not just in the entryway, but the second-floor hallway as well. We did opt for a slightly more "period" light fixture in this area than the rest of the house.
The last project was to come up with a better solution for the ugly 1970s cold air return. Justin made a custom built-in in record time (one night). The benefits of having a woodshop in the basement.
Some additional touch-ups had to be done and the upstairs hallway painted. But after a few evenings working we were able to complete everything.
With this project out of the way, we really only have two small ones left. Finishing the tile backsplash/painting the kitchen. And painting the bathroom. We have ambitions on finishing these projects before we reach the 10 year anniversary. But it's hard to say if that will be possible. Either way, the progress we've made in the past 4 months has been amazing. And we're really thrilled to finally see some of these projects finally come to a conclusion.
