Phase 1 Before

We began working with a contractor last Fall, in October or November of 2012.  We were trying to decide where to begin remodeling and what would become of some of the space within the house.  We felt we had to begin with the entryway and stairs.

We decided to start here from a safety standpoint.  The spindles on the stair railing were not up to code, in fact all three boys could fit between the spindles.  Our stairs are open from the second level with a railing surrounding them.  We were constantly afraid while upstairs that Alex would get out of our site and fall through the railing down to the main level.  Plus the entrance was really dated.  (But so are some bathrooms and the kitchen and the basement...)

Here is the entrance when you open the front door.  We had already begun taking down wallpaper when I took this picture.

 Off the entrance is our bedroom.  The wallpaper in entrance wrapped around to dining room.  It wasn't horrible in terms of wallpaper ~ just not us.  It was at least a neutral color.

 Our front door.  It was painted to look like wood, not very successful.  All of the woodwork on main level is pine and a dark dated stain.  I like dark stain but this just wasn't a nice dark stain.

Looking upstairs in the entrance.  More brass, more wicker paneled ceiling fans, dated spindles spaced too far apart.   Here you can see wallpaper down but adhesive remaining.  Chair rail removed.  Chad started painting the upstairs crown modeling white to see if we would like that look.

Here is the listing photo of dining room

(carpet in dining room + 3 young boys = bad news!)

For some reason the reality listing did not capture this mirrored wall in the dining room!  Hmmm?

(Impossible to take a picture of a mirrored wall without getting yourself in the picture!)

The mirrored wall was complete with mirrored switch plates and mirrored air return vents.

Here is the living room, which is on the other side of the dining room mirrored wall, again from the listing. 

(not our furniture or decor)

and again that wall behind dining room mirrored wall was also mirrored!

But on this side it was wall to wall, floor to ceiling mirror!

Lovely! ;)

 Fireplace and book shelves with glass doors in living room (blech)

Chad took down the mirrors and discovered this plywood.  At one point there was an opening/window between these two rooms and someone put up plywood and wall to wall mirrors!

 Dining room side

Living room side without mirrors

I listed the mirrors on Freecycle and an artist/woodworker came and picked them up.

 There is a half bath off the entrance.  Here is a piece of the wallpaper before we completely removed it.

Toilet with lovely ;) wooden toilet seat with more wicker

Half bath vanity

Here is a picture of the ceiling.  Chad also scraped the texture off the ceiling that was hanging down in the living room and dining room and then painted the ceiling.  This picture shows how dirty or just not a true white color the ceilings were.  He had started cutting in with a primer, the actual top coat is even more white than this.

This is a picture from the reality listing of the upstairs loft area.  I don't have any before pictures of the loft area from while we were living here, except the large stack of drapes in previous post.

Here is a video I took just prior to us starting this phase 1 project this spring.  Sorry for how strange my voice sounds (or maybe that is really how I sound!) but I was trying to be quiet since Alex was sleeping.