Woman in Real Life

We have lived in our current home for 9 years. When we moved here, the kids were 3 and 5, still just little tikes really. We moved from a decent-sized, semi-detached house to a bigger, detached home with plenty of space and storage. (And then we proceeded to fill that storage up, but that's a story for another day.) Over the next couple of years, we installed hardwood flooring throughout the main level and we painted most of the rooms. (The previous homeowners liked clay and ochre colours. We were going for something lighter and brighter.)

The Before

For all these years since we moved, we have basically ignored the foyer and first-floor hallway. In fact, we have never painted it. Why? Mostly because the foyer leads to the staircase, which leads to the second floor, meaning there's a nice high wall over the staircase that needs to be painted. So we just avoided it. And we pretended it all looked okay. But it really doesn't. We've spent some formative years as a family tromping through this foyer, wearing flip flops, shoes, rain boots and winter boots. Not to mention those wet doggy paws.


The taupe-yellow wall colour has become a source of irritation for me. The standard builder trim is dinged up and dirty. And the front door (which we hope to replace next year) is still its original shade of boring white.


You can see that we have a fair amount of space to work with and there's a lot going on in it currently - plenty of pictures, storage cabinets and doorways to other rooms. Now that our family is older, with a preteen and a teen, I think it's about time for a fresher, more sophisticated look. When we (and visitors) enter our home, I want it to look clean, bright and calming.

Here's a quick video to give you a better idea of what the foyer space looks like "before" the makeover. You can really see the bumps and bruises:

The Vision

I think you can see that these elements will create a cleaner, more sophisticated foyer. With all of the new trim, I believe it's going to look like a different house, actually! We are super excited to complete this small reno. If all goes well, we'll be done in November and I'll have a fresh, new backdrop to decorate for Christmas. So far we have removed all of the old baseboards and door casings, moved furniture out and taken down the pictures from the walls. Up next is paint! Stay tuned...

Steps in Our Foyer Makeover

The Before + Mood Board (you are here)
The Progress Report
The Reveal

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