Entryway Update Phase 1: Brightening the Entryway

THIS IS PHASE ONE OF OUR ENTRYWAY UPDATE. NOT ALL RENOVATIONS ARE COMPLETED IN A FEW WEEKS. WE WORK IN REAL-TIME AND AT A PACE THAT MAKES SENSE FOR ALSO HAVING ONE OF US OUT OF THE HOUSE FULL TIME.

We have been working on our entryway for a good couple of months now. It was painted a very deep wine colour and had very little natural light coming in.

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Off the entryway, you will find the master bedroom as well as our girl's bedroom. It is not ideal knowing that people entering our home are able to see into our bedrooms. Closing the doors to our rooms made the entryway even more undesirable, creating an even darker, narrow space.

In order to make our entryway inviting I did what most homeowners would not do. With Greg's blessing, we decided to go ahead and demolish the entryway closet. Usually, more storage in a space is the goal, but for this project, I knew less storage would be our better option. I spent months scouring Pinterest for ideas, my Pinterest page is full of inspiration for this space which you can check out here.

I believe that everything should have its place in the home, a process we are forever working towards in our home. Taking away a closet, especially at the front door leaves a lot of everyday items without a home. So we took something undesirable, like bedrooms directly off the front entrance and viewed it as a blessing.

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We now put away our coat and shoes with the rest of our belongings, in our bedroom closets. We all have great bedroom closets so this solution worked perfectly giving us the open-concept hallway we were hoping for.

Phase 1: Completion List

• Replaced parquet flooring with laminate (for visual flow into the rest of our home)
• Removed front hall closet (to create more room to enter and get ready)
• Added beadboard (to create a more historic design)
• Removed drop ceiling (making the space feel larger)
• Added new baseboards and door trim (nothing was consistent in this space)
• Centred the doorway into the rest of the house to line up with the front door
• Added coat hooks for guests, and dog hook for Pete's leash

Which takes us into phase two of the entryway project. With any renovation, one project can spiral into another project. Sometimes changing your initial design goals altogether. For the next phase of the project, we are going to tackle the ceiling and last two feet of the walls. This will be a rather long project because we are harvesting wood from our porch to put into this space.

Entryway Phase 2: To-Do List

• Harvest wood from porch
• Decide on paint or stain for ceiling
• Refurbish new bedroom doors (might have to be in phase 3)
• Electrical (adjust to new ceiling height)
• Find a bench for seating solution

Our home projects take time, way more time then it would if we hired someone to do the work for us. But this is why we love doing our own projects. Taking our time allows us to learn some new skills, it also allows us to really think out our plans, and revise them to make them work for our needs.

More Before and Afters

Basement Entryway Transformation

Living Room Update on a Budget

Walkthrough Dining Room Update with Inspiration

How To Install Cabinet Hardware: Before and After Laundry Room

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