Before and After: Entry

We've done so much to this home over the years, so I thought posting our "Before and Afters" would hopefully give you some inspiration.  I also thought it would be a nice "trip down memory lane" for us to see how much work we've done. I catch myself feeling like we "have so much more to do to this house", but when I look at old pictures and see how far it's come, I am so proud of what we (mostly, the hubby...) accomplished.  I'm so lucky to have such a talented, hard-working partner that puts up with all my ideas and is the main reason why any of this is executed!

(PS - To avoid boring you with text, I'll be sure to share how we did everything in a separate post!)

With that being said, let's take a look at the entry. 

Below is the before picture (I hope that would be obvious...hehe)
Doesn't really scream, "WELCOME HOME!" does it?

Entry / Before

The tile, carpeted stairs, and maroon paint with a "stucco inspired" texture really were, for lack of a better word, a HOT MESS.  There was hard wood underneath the carpet, so we ripped that up, cleaned up the stairs, and added some poly so the tone would stay the same as the banister. Below is a process pic, before we ripped up the carpet.







Walls primed, before we ripped up the carpet

Unfortunately, I don't have an "After: Part 1" pic to show the stairs. Although, I guess it really doesn't matter since they weren't that way for long! In Dec. 2011, I finally convinced Rick that we should stain our entry stairs a deep espresso brown and add wainscoting throughout the house, starting with the entry. The rest of the hard wood is light, but the contrast really works, and I still get my fix of the dark floors even if it's not throughout the house! A win - win! hehe..


 

Entry / After

This picture also shows Rick's first tile job that was done a few years before we stained the stairs and added the wainscot. The stain and the tile really work together, and I'm so glad he gave in! We still need to add the framing to the wainscot, but two little projects called "siding the house" and "planning a wedding" took precedence over this for now!