Foyer Fabulous

 What comes with summer vacation?  Lots of house projects!  We've narrowed down a few things we want to get done around the house, and the "foyer project" was high on the list because, frankly, it looks like a throw back from 1978.  The wall paint was a quick fix by the previous owners to "neutralize the space" when they put it on the market, and I'm pretty sure that chalk water would have better coverage and stain protection.  All of the wood work was a little overpowering for such a small space.  I love the wood of the front door because it's real wood and looks awesome, but the baseboards and trim were just screaming for an update.
We went with the new "neutral"--gray-- actually a color called Aged Pepper which had a tiny bit of green in it.  Which I thought would look good with the slate floor, and I was right!  Even though we might not end up keeping the slate floor, I like how they go together.  I spent the last month...yes, you read that right.....the last MONTH cleaning, sanding, prepping, taping, and priming the staircase.  Every spindle.  Every step.  Around the carpet runner.  It was never ending.  We had to patch the nail holes when I trimmed the wall photo collection down to the just the ones you see below.  And all the trim around the ceiling and the octogon window needed to turn white too, and it was over 20 feet in the air.

The middle print is one I ordered off Etsy with 2 adult birds and 4 baby birds to represent our family.  I put a quote on there that Timmy and I say all the time, along with a carving in the tree trunk that says " T + J  1-31-2010"

new foyer!

See how great the white trim looks with the dark steps and slate (paint splattered) floor?!

Foyer landing before.....

Got my arrangement right before we painted....

The sanding has begun.....

Bye bye, old outdated foyer!