Foyer, Part Deux

November 2016.  We moved in.  Since then I have been dreaming, thinking, measuring, Pinteresting, drawing, Googling, budgeting about how this house should and could be.  Not just how it should look, but how it should function.  There were parts of the layout that made me mad, like angry!  Why is a pantry across from accordion laundry doors, two feet away from a 2 foot door to a half bath that is large enough to be a full bath that sits behind the stove and fridge?!  WHY?  Grrrr.  The small projects were scratching my DIY itch and making things prettier to look at, but overall I wasn’t satisfied and new that in order for this house to work for our family and become our home AND become a valuable property for future renters, it needed major changes.

Over the past few months, I’ve signed with a contractor who is willing to teach me a few things and let me do the bulk of the demo and finishing to save money, drew up plans, ordered new windows, visited multiple architectural salvage shops, online shopped until my wrist and eyes hurt and now, FINALLY, it is all becoming a reality!  There are so many changes taking place, so let’s start where I initially started my blog – with the foyer:

• Foyer Changes:
  • Converging pocket doors into the office (front room)
    
  • Widen the front closet by 15″
  • Re-position the closet door to the hallway
  • Move half bath into front closet (and no longer call it front closet, but instead the powder room.)
  • Replace foyer pendant
  • Remove old floors and replace with new ones

Here are the plans I drew up to help make my scrambled descriptions more cohesive:

Here we are now!  A biiiggg pile of debris, some almost installed windows, some new walls, one sanded pocket door and bare sub-floors.  Satisfaction level: 6/10.

You’ve seen the general foyer aesthetic from my earlier post HERE.  I had a lot of fun hanging out with Pinterest and coming up with inspiring ideas for the powder room.  Here are a few of the ideas we found:

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Dark walls, loving the idea of large scale wallpaper or high gloss paint.  Those brass sink legs!  All of these designs are so visually appealing.  My inner-designer is drooling over the keyboard.  I’m on the search for the wallpaper and would appreciate any suggestions for this uncharted territory.  I did however, find a matching toilet and pedestal sink (similar to the one picture above with the tile and floral wallpaper) at my local Habitat for Humanity for $100 total!  They.were.never.even.used.  Can you believe that?!  American Standard, both of them, bright white and not a single scratch or blemish.  Now if I can just find some vintage brass legs at an equally amazing price.

Flooring.  I have the wood, but do I want to use it?  Come with me back to my glory days at Oregon State University.  I worked for the Dean’s Office at the College of Agriculture doing basic office work.  My favorite part of the job was running papers to the different departments through out  Strand Hall, one of the oldest and grandest buildings on campus, built approximately in the 1880s.  The huge 8″ to 10″ moldings along the ceiling and floor, some of the original wood floors, the expansive and wide stairwells with huge balusters and newel posts.  I always pretended to be Scarlett O’Hara coming down them until I saw another human being and had to act normal.  My favorite detail of the building though?  The hexagonal black and white tile floors in the bathrooms and the marble stall dividers.  It was so luxurious for a state school bathroom!  They’d never be replaced to match, so luckily for us, they’ve been pretty well maintained.  Naturally, my powder room floors needed to inspire me as much as Strand Hall did.  To modernize, maybe I invert the color pattern?  Hummm….

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Now the question exists of: busy floors or busy walls?  I can hear my Mom’s voice as if she was right next to me: “Ashley, that’s way too busy.  You’ll make people dizzy!!!”  Okay, Okay…geezzz Mooommmm…  For now, I have plenty to keep me busy.  Would love to hear your thoughts!

A few end notes:

1. Total Cost: So far: $100 (for sink and toilet) + ~$1000 of materials and labor.
   
2. Biggest Lesson Learned: No time like the present!  Once I finally called and starting getting contractor quotes, I knew all of these projects were more feasible than I thought!
3. Best Tip:  Live in your house for a while and fix the parts that make you angry, but first figure out why they make you angry so you don’t just relocate the anger.
4. Most Favorite Part:  Scoring that AMAZING deal on the toilet and sink!

Cheers!

-A.A.