It’s been a while since our last Room by Room Recap.  I hope you’re ready for photo overload!! Today, I’m giving you a recap of the transformation of our foyer and stairs.

This room is so large that it has traditionally been used as a living room rather than a foyer.  But with a formal living room and a den downstairs, we didn’t see the point in that, so we decided we’d just have a grand entry instead.  So we took it from dated with green trim, multi-colored walls, and gold carpeting on the stairs to clean and crisp.  Check it out!

What we’ve finished

1. Repair plaster walls and ceiling
2. Remove carpet from stairs
3. Repair and secure stair railing
4. Prep, prime, and paint walls, trim, and ceiling
5. Stain stair railing with varnish
6. Repair minor termite damage in the floor
7. Install new light fixture in the foyer
8. Clean and lubricate pocket door tracks
9. Install alarm system
10. Paint fireplace inlays
11. Install new fireplace trim + stain
12. Hang privacy sheers on the front door and windows

What’s left

1. Oil and/or refinish the floors
2. Stain the stairs
3. Install a stair runner
4. Install a Nest thermostat (we already have one installed upstairs)
5. Decorate

We painted the walls in Kitten White and the trim in a high gloss white.  We had minor termite damage (no active termites – yay!!) in the floor, so we went ahead and filled that in to prevent further cracking.  We will eventually get around to oiling and refinishing the floors.

Since you can see all the way through our house and out our back kitchen window when you look through the front door, we definitely needed some privacy added to the front door and windows.  We decided to hang sheers on the outside windows, and my mom made us the perfect taut sheer to cover our door.  They still let plenty of light in, but provide enough privacy that we no longer feel uncomfortable.

This room is in serious need of some decorating.  Right now, it’s kind of serving as a catch-all for furniture and accents that we aren’t sure where to put yet.  You may have noticed the blue painter’s tape in the corner around the brass etagere…we are planning to move the piano into that space and the etagere into the formal living room.  The black dresser is just waiting to be moved upstairs, and we are in serious need of a rug.  But those things will have to wait for now.

You can read more about our plans for the foyer here, and see my inspiration here.

The figures…this room is 13′ x 21′ 6″ with 11′ ceilings.  There are 4 windows, 1 fireplace, 1 exterior door, 5 interior doors, and 1 closet.

Be sure to check out these other Room by Room Recaps:

1. Formal Living Room
2. Den
3. Den Bathroom
4. Dining Room
5. Gold Room
6. Bear Room
7. Butler’s Pantry

PS- all of the items on the brass etagere are for sale here.  I’m still trying to decide if I want to sell the etagere or not…it’s pretty fabulous! ;)

To continue the Room by Room Recap series, let’s move into the butler’s pantry.  This small room between the dining room and kitchen is one of our favorite features in the house, and luckily didn’t have a ton of work that needed to be done before we could move in.

We’ve had a few people suggest that we knock out this room and create more of a “great room” feel that connects the kitchen and the dining room.  Like they say…noses are like opinions: everyone has one.  But Charles and I agree on this one.  That’s a BIG no-no! We’ve worked so hard to preserve the character and historical features of the house, and we feel like knocking down those walls would be a slap in the face to all we’ve done.

Anyway, let’s get started.

What we’ve finished

1. Repair plaster walls and ceiling
2. Remove shutters
3. Remove vinyl flooring
4. Prep, prime, and paint walls, ceiling, and trim
5. Install new floors

What’s left

1. Strip all cabinetry
2. Repair, prep, prime, and paint all cabinetry
3. Replace wooden shelves with glass shelves
4. Install lighting in cabinets
5. Install new light fixture
6. Decorate

(Please ignore the really tacky directors chair with all the cords and wires! We just set up our internet, and are looking at options for hiding all of the equipment.)

We painted the walls in this room Lazy Gray by Sherwin Williams, which is a shade lighter than the Morning Fog in the kitchen.  We opted to install engineered hardwoods in the butler’s pantry and the kitchen, and lucked out with a steal on these dark floors at Lumber Liquidators.

Many people have asked us why we wouldn’t just leave the cabinets as they are.  They certainly would fit into many homes as is, but rustic or shabby chic or whatever else you want to call it just isn’t our style at all, and wouldn’t go with the rest of the house.  So we plan to paint them in a high gloss color eventually. The glass knobs are original, so we will definitely be keeping those!

I’d also like to remove the wooden shelves and replace them with glass shelves so that the light shines all the way through the cabinets when we add lighting inside.  This will most likely be our bar area, so down the road I’d love to make it into a wet bar by adding a sink and wine fridge.

I still have plenty of shelf styling to do in here, but it will do for now. You can see more of my inspiration for the butler’s pantry here.

The figures…this room is 6′ 10″ x 8′ 8″ with 11′ ceilings. There is 1 window and 2 interior doors.

Be sure to check out these other Room by Room Recaps:

1. Formal living room
2. Den
3. Den bathroom
4. Dining room
5. Gold Room
6. Bear Room