Foyer Before

Looking back on the before pictures now, I wonder momentarily why in the world we entered into such a voluminous redo in the first place? My vision begins to clear and I once again see the quality of materials and craftsmanship (or lack of), used throughout the house. I wondered aloud to anyone who would listen, as to how the house could have possibly passed the building inspection? Honest to goodness it looked as if the drywall work was done by a tilt-a-whirl operator from the carnival!!!!

Foyer before renovation

This before picture of the foyer looks decent enough. I’m just not a fan of the 80’s! It was just all wrong. Being realistic, we knew that our renovation was going to be a (multi year) process and things would get alot worse before they got better. Knowing that we would be walking into concrete floors and drywall dust, I wanted the entryways to be pleasing. They were smaller areas that we could do in between the major work that I felt would make a huge psychological impact! With that in mind, changing the front entry door was at the top of my list! I was in a love affair with wood doors! We had just hired a contractor to begin work in the foyer replacing the pony walls. I know it sounds like a strange place to start, but I had a vision!!!!

pony wall under construction foyer before

Foyer during renovation

I guess luck was in the cards on that fateful day, because minding my own business, browsing craigslist while enjoying my morning tea, there it was!!!!!! The ad stated it was a 5K$ Borano, solid mahogany, oversized door that had never been installed. At a fraction of the cost!!! Happy Happy, Joy Joy!!!!! What’s a Borano door? I had no idea but never mind the details. It was WOOD!!

So, we drove over an hour and half to take a look, sent photos to our contractor with measurements, remeasured and prayed. The last thing we needed was unnecessary labor costs on top of the already mounting costs of this little redo. Verdict was in!!! Our contractor said it would fit!! Had we not been working with a contractor at that time, we would have had to pass on this great door. Thankfully, Steve was able to remove our standard door and sidelite and install the oversized door in the opening! Everyone that enters through that door from family and friends, to delivery men and girl scouts selling cookies, they all comment on the door! We don’t use the front door often, but it is certainly a lot more welcoming for guests when we do!!

Over time we replaced all the hollow interior doors with solid five panel doors and installed new bronze hardware. All the door and window trim was also changed from traditional to craftsman style. Much, much later our floors were installed. Read about them here. The baseboards throughout the house were replaced with the same larger baseboards used on the pony walls.

We added a new lantern from Northeast Lantern, a wool runner from Home Goods and a pillow, art and an antique bench. The walking sticks and Japanese fishing buoy are finds from antique stores. Our Westie in the before picture is Holly. Sadly she passed away last year at the age of 17!!!! She is missed every day! The after picture shows our other Westie Maggie. Westies are the BESTIES!!!