Entryway Update

* Disclaimer! The photos are all over the place on this post because I can't seem to beat my hubby to the mark. I always procrastinate and think "Oh, I will take pictures before we start", but when Mister is ready there is no waiting for photos!

We live in an antique colonial-cape. Upon entering my home you have a choice of three directions. You can close the door behind you and turn right, through the french door, into the living room,

Old photo, not these colors anymore.

turn left, through another french door, into the dining room,

Also doesn't look like this anymore...click here to see after.

or head straight upstairs to the office, bedrooms and only full bath.

When we moved in the stairs were covered in carpeting (no pictures) and ya know that had to go! The stairs, in keeping with the old house feel, are narrow and steep.....and boy, did they creak!

We painted it to look like this:

The bead board wainscoting and stairs were a raspberry-chocolaty color.  In keeping with the times, the walls had gotten a paint technique. First we painted the walls a warm yellow. Once dry, I went over with white paint that had an additive that extended the drying time. It allowed me to roll on a coat of white then I pulled a wallpaper brush through the wet paint to leave a stria effect with the yellow showing through.

Of course I couldn't leave it like that. Using my Donna Dewberry (remember her?) skills and stencils I painted two topiary on either side of the stairs. The floor was covered with an ugly piece of linoleum but neither of us were brave enough to want to try to tackle that at the time as it was securely glued down to the wood floor.

This was taken after we had already started the process, hence the big blob of white paint on my topiary.

But all that was over ten years ago and it didn't match where my home and style are now so what's a girl to do? Right.... Pinterest! First, I found pictures then...  pitched the idea to Mister. It took some time for him to get used to the idea but he is a good sport. When he does get the vision he is all in and I've already told you there is no waiting for my photos... First thing was to remove that linoleum! Underneath, the maple wood floors were in good condition, all things considered.

The stairs. Ugh. We first had to fix the squeaky steps so that took us to the basement door and a big mess of taking down the peel n' stick wallpaper, horse-hair plaster and lath. Yuck!

When we took down the plaster the only support was the dark piece of wood going down the center.

Once that was done we were amazed that we had not fallen through to the basement long before now! There was nothing supporting the stairs other than either end of each stair. No center support!

The center wood was not even notched into the stairs; just resting on the inside corner of each step!

Because these stairs were put in 150-200 years ago they were not done on uniform sets of stringers. Each step was individually cut thus the uneven stairs.

Mister put in a center support (1" thick plywood) then cut individual triangular-ish pieces to screw into that support in order to sure up each step. He went back up to the top side of the stairs and screwed right into the top of each step. That did the trick; not a squeak nor creak! Next, our favorite tool for an old house... caulking1 We used wood putty on the top side.

Now we (yup, Mister) could paint. Mister painted one side of the stairs first leaving us access to the upstairs while it dried and the next day he painted the other side. They ended up getting two coats as did the trim and doors upstairs. Ahhhh...clean. We used my go-to white, December Starlight, by Valspar.

The walls got a couple coats of this lovely gray, Ralph Lauren's Elgin Gray.

And............... bad idea............that was NOT going to work! The treads were going to be ugly within days. We decided that the risers would stay white but the treads would get a nice couple coats of blue; Behr's English Channel.

Sometimes you just have to put on your big girl pants and let go of the pretty dream. I will be much happier, long term, with the blue.

And this is the tiny entry way now. I still want to replace that light fixture as it does not go with my decorating style now but I have not found what I am looking for yet.

Now I am thinking I may need to paint the front door but don't know if I can bring myself to do that. What do you think?

Party Time!
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