We purchased our house virtually, so we were very excited to get the keys to our new home on move in day. However, when we walked through the front door for the very first time, there was nothing about this house that felt warm and welcoming. This house was beautiful when it was built 20 years ago, but now everything appeared to be dated. The colors were dark and heavy. The foyer lacked natural light. We knew that we had to make some changes. Some of the changes were going to be small, but other changes were going to be big. Some I would be able to do myself, but others would need to be hired out. Either way, we were determined to bring in some light and warmth into our home.
Of course the flooring and paint were the first projects that we tackled and that made a huge improvement. But, over time, we did a few more projects… new stair rails. tore the carpet off the stairs and changed to hardwood, added wainscoting and trim around the windows. All of those projects made a big impact on the staircase, which is the first thing you see when you come into our home.
One of the things I never quite understood was why the previous owners had glass on the built in ledges next to the stairs (you can see it in the first picture). I get that they were probably placed there to protect the paint, but they really were just giant dust collectors. In the final picture, you can see that we removed those and covered the ledges with wood to make them look more like shelves.
After we finished the stair project, we moved on to the front door!
This is the front door that is original to the house. I couldn't get over the fake wood and the orange color so my first attempt to alter it involved paint... because paint makes everything better!
The paint helped, a little. But our foyer still felt so dark and we didn't like that we couldn't enjoy the views out the front of our house. So, the decision was made to put in a new front door.
Isn't that so much better? We have a beautiful mountain we can now see. And look at that light! This door was a game changer for our house, both inside and out!
