Renovation Success!

Almost 4 years, ago my husband and I decided to buy a 1968 "fixer" in a fantastic golf course neighborhood.  Before we purchased it, we had all these plans to renovate before we moved in.  Of coarse life has a way of foiling our best laid plans.  We ended up moving in as-is.  Fun right?  This was our lovely entry way until I got the crazy idea to completely change every part of it.  How hard could it be to renovate a house we were living in, right?  So I scoured the Internet, reading every blog that showcased DIY staircase make-overs.  I was so inspired by the many stories from busy moms like
myself who have made it happen for their homes.  After finding a Craftsman style I liked and convinced my slightly hesitant hubby, we began demo!  Just  about everything had to go and it had to progress fairly quickly since it was a safety issue not to have a banister.  Luckily, when we ripped the carpet off the stairs we discover wood treads underneath.  They were pretty beat up but would end up saving us a lot of money if we could refinish them.

before

Don't you just love all that wallpaper?  How about the yellow popcorn ceiling?  One of my biggest complaints was the wobbly banister that was surely not kid-safe.  When we walked though this house before we decided to buy, I was so excited to find a vaulted entryway.  Of coarse I was thinking about how hard it would be to remove the wallpaper or even change a light bulb in the chandelier.  All I saw was potential.  We became very familiar with renting, assembling and using (I left this part to my hubby) scaffolding.

after

Quite the improvement, right?  There are still a few things I need to do in this space:

• Add more to the gallery wall
• Possibly paint the cabinet
• Pain the newel posts a glossy white

All in good time though.  Now that it's summer, I'm busy enjoying the amazing weather so these projects will have to wait.  Check back soon to see the updates and more pics on my other spaces!

Trisha