Tuesday, March 08, 2011

The Stairs

Can you tell that I'm starting to run out of rooms to blog about?


Our entryway is probably my least favorite room of the house... because it's so incredibly tiny.  Picture Doug and I struggling to enter the house with the kids, our bags and Emerson's carseat while trying to kick off wet boots, shrug off jackets, and not bump into each other.  Meanwhile, Caleb has found the light switch for our exterior lights and is flicking them on, off, on, off.... sending an SOS message to the entire neighborhood... the Toews family is home!  Much frustration has been expressed during these episodes, as can be imagined.  But, even though our entryway is not great from a practical standpoint, it does LOOK better nowadays thanks to a much needed makeover.

Here are some of the before pictures...

Wow.  Now there's an ugly room.



The carpet on the stairs had seen better days.  During the pre-renovation days we let Caleb run around in his boots... and apparently nothing else.  It was a hot day.



Today, the entryway looks much better .  We started by painting and ripping the nasty carpet off the stairs.  Then we couldn't decide what to put back onto the stairs.  We debated between hardwood and carpet for several months... meanwhile had bare plywood for stairs.  That was a dream come true with a 2 year old just learning to walk up and down stairs on his own.  Finally, we opted to go for the carpet... even though I'm not really a fan.  In the end it's the safest option for kids... and it was a kind of nice to hire someone to finish the stairs rather than do it ourselves for a change!  We also added style and rail wall panelling to the stairs and entryway to give the room a bit more interest.  Here's the one side of the stairs...


And the other side.


Laying tile on the landing would have probably been the most durable option, but we had a couple of extra boxes of laminate so we decided to just go with it.  I put down a pretty large seagrass mat by the door and it's protected the floor really well.  When it came time to pick the color of carpet for the stairs, I decided to go for a color that picked up the same natural looking tones of the seagrass mat instead of matching the grey-ish tones of the paint color (the color above the panelling)... and I love the end result.  I envisioned sand at the beach when I picked the color... and it turned out great!

And let me just give a big thank you to Caleb for straightening/organizing the shoes for me.  It's one of his "jobs" at our house... and for some reason it's one of his favorites :)


Last year I picked up these hooks and had Doug hang them up for me in the entryway.  Having a place to hang our coats (even though it's not all that big) has made a huge difference.  We only keep the jackets and footwear that we use on a daily basis by the door... everything else is stashed in a basement closet.


I don't know about you, but I can't wait for summer.  I am so ready to say goodbye to jackets and hello to flip flops!  And I think my entryway feels the same...

13 comments:

KDees said...

I think your entry way is adorable! Love the paneling and the hooks. I've been trying to get Dan to hang some sort of shelf/hook unit at our back door since we moved in almost a YEAR ago.....when I attempted to do it myself, I made two gigantic holes in the wall and had to patch, prime and repaint that, so I learned my lesson! Anyways, you have done the best you can with the small space and it looks great! And, ditto for the "can't wait for summer" comment. I am DONE with winter. Today, it was -20 when I got up :(

Melissa said...

Like the rest of your house - the entryway looks fantastic! Love the panelling and the clean light paint color! I have a similar seagrass mat in our entryway that I got at Home Sense. I adore your yellow ballet flats! Fun shoes like that make me long for summer days and flip flops, too!

Bonnie said...

Gorgeous. Just like everything else.
And I think we have the same boots. Roberto Vianni??

Lexi said...

You have great taste! Your house looks like a magazine article!!

Jacqueline said...

Hey Elissa
Love your blog also your decorating style is so awesome. The clean lines and white so great. We moved into our house almost 3 years ago and it was brand new so I can't quite talk Paul into letting me paint it but soon. Our colors are warmer more of the browns and taupes. Can't wait to see your chair finished I'm super jealous. Happy blogging
Jacqueline!!

Anonymous said...

I am very late to this, but I want to say THANK YOU for posting pictures of your split foyer entryway! It is so hard to find inspiration for this type of house on the internet! We've lived in ours for several years now, and I'm so ready to change it up. Your house is beautiful!

Ashley said...

I too have a split entry and am wondering if your paneling follows the angle of the staircase going downstairs? Thank you! Looks great!

Unknown said...

We have the exact same entry way and I absolutely LOVE how you did it! I'm trying to convince my husband into doing the same for ours.... I was hoping to see how you started at the very top of the stairs on the left hand side with the panelling...
Any chance you'd want to post a picture?
Thanks
Kim

Haute Hathaway said...

I LOVE this! We live in a split level and I HATE it so I'm trying very hard to fall in love with it like when we bought it (Who lets a 23 year old buy a house honestly) I am super interested to see how the paneling transitions, I can't figure it out in my mind and it would be very helpful to see an example before trying to do it in my own house. Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful home with us!

Margie Lou said...

Would you mind sharing your paint color and carpet color/brand? We are also redoing our entry and the second I saw your entry picture on Pinterest, I knew I had hit pay dirt! I loooove your style! :) thank you in advance!

Anonymous said...

I would love to see the transition, also! We have a split foyer, too!

Lemon said...

I would love to know what paint colors you used in this space! Do you remember?

Anonymous said...

We just purchased a home that has this almost exact same setup. I was back and forth with what to do. Should i take down the little wall or keep it up. I keep racking my brain on what to do, then I saw you entryway. I love it I think I will definitely be doing this. Turned out beautifully. Did you add the shelf and cabinet or were they already there. Thanks for the inspiration, Pattie