Revamping the Vestibule

Our house has this goofy air-lock style entryway. The porch seems to be an addition so the double entry would have provided some extra insulation back in the day.  Lacking a better term, I’ll be referring to this mini space as “the vestibule.”

I don’t actually have any good before pictures because I honestly didn’t give the space much thought before we started working on it.  You can see a bit of it from this picture of the entryway.

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The storage consisted of a single, junky closet rod.  While we do need a place to store coats, we could do a little better in the style department.

We ripped out the rod and the 2 boards that were poorly attached to the wall.  There was some wall damage underneath the boards, but that was fixed with a few layers of joint compound and some sanding.  Then we installed new boards (1x6s) so the closet rod would have better place to anchor than plaster.  We used 3 boards set in a U shape, rather than just 2 on the sides because we wanted a shelf above the rod for extra storage.

vestibule_4

Looking good, huh?  The boards are the same color as the trim (BM Simply White) and the wall color in the same as the rest of the entryway (BM Paper White).  The screws still need to be camouflaged, and the rod is getting a coat of paint this very minute so it looks less like a pipe.*

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The only other notable feature in the vestibule was the light switch for the porch light.  It was sort of gross looking and the cover plate had been painted over like a billion times.  Easy fix though, right?

vestibule_2

This is what I found when I removed the cover plate.  What. The. Fuck.  Apparently they wedged the switch into a mass of spray-foam insulation. There weren’t even any screws holding this thing in place. Why?  I have no freakin clue.

After cutting the power, I pried out the switch and the surrounding insulation.  Thankfully it wasn’t that difficult, I just scraped it out with a flat-head screwdriver.  I probably should have used a non-conductive tool but I wasn’t terribly concerned with the power off (plus I’d already be using a screwdriver while replacing the switch anyway).  Then it was just matter of attaching a new, non-grody switch.

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Not to shabby, huh?  A little touch-up paint is needed, but it’s still a huge improvement.  I also added some insulation that was actually designed for light switches/outlets.  Crazy idea huh?  You can find foam plates that are cut to fit around the switch and inside a cover plate. Easy-peasy and not a bad idea for exterior walls…. especially in older homes.

 

*Which is what it is–piping in the same diameter was cheaper than the wooden closet rods… go figure.  We had this left over from when we added a closet rod to my closet, so you get more length too.

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Destroying Historical Fabric One Room at a Time

A while back Matt was reading an article on restoring old homes and it mentioned that you shouldn’t insulate because it would “destroy the historical fabric.”  It’s one of the reasons the Historical Preservation Society is often referred to as the Hysterical Preservation Society and has been a running joke with me and Matt ever sense.

Don’t get me wrong, the HPS is important, and recognizing historically significant homes is important. Here’s the thing though, not every old home is historically significant.  Our house is an American Foursquare… sort of the cookie-cutter house the early 1900s.  Is it pretty awesome compared to more recent architectural styles?  Hells yes!  It this specific house historically significant? Our neighborhood is filled with the same style houses, are they all historically significant?  No and no.

When I shared my dining room reveal on Apartment Therapy a while back, a handful of people decided to ream me out for painting the trim.  They claim I had “destroyed” the house and the final design was a “travesty” and merely “trendy” (*gasp*).  What do I have to say to that?  BAH!

Your home is a reflection of YOU.  Unless you own a house that’s on the historical register you can do whatever you damn well please (and people often do*).  I have been trying to keep the bones of the house pretty traditional, but have some fun with the fixtures and furnishings which suits my more eclectic nature.  I also don’t feel like white trim is trendy and I’ve seen it in tons of similarly aged homes including million dollar properties and historically recognized homes (ok, only certain rooms in this one–but important, public rooms).  It also lets me brighten our home and cost-effectively replace damaged trim pieces.

Which is why we’re continuing to paint the trim.

Yup.  The critics haven’t dissuaded me and we’re continuing the paint into our entry way/stairwell/hallway.

We also picked an awesome weekend to start painting.  Saturday was in the upper 90’s and Sunday was (only!) in the 80s. Keep in mind we do not have central air.  Yeah, it was boiling.

HallwayPrimed_1

We got the first section primed on Saturday by working in the morning and then late at night when the temps were a little cooler.  We were still dripping buckets of sweat.  Lovely.

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Notice our lack of a door?  It’s currently hanging out  (haha!) between our living room and TV room.  It’s not the locking door so I insisted we take it off so I could better paint the trim.  Matt rolled his eyes and said I was crazy, but humored me anyway because that’s what makes our marriage work.

hallwayPrimed_3

Big difference right?  This is just the primer, but it’s already made a huge difference on the stairs–that smaller landing was nearly invisible on the way down (leading to many missteps and trips), now you see the changes outlined against the white and it is SO much easier to see!

We continued to power through on Sunday so everything has its first coat of paint now too.  It’s been super cloudy and rainy all week so I don’t have any good pictures of that, but it won’t be impressive until the final coat of paint anyway.

 

* Sure people make crappy decisions all the time but the worse case scenario is that future homeowners will roll their eyes, mutter WTF? and change it all.  Big whoop. The less rehab inclined may just not buy the house in the first place, so it’s good to at least keep resale value in the back of your mind, just don’t let it paralyze your own dreams.

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Before: Hall and Stairs

Oh hallways, another oft neglected part of the home.  Right up there with ceilings really.  While I’m a fan of neutral hallways I do think neutral still deserves thought and consideration to flow well with the rest of the house and our current hallway is just a little too builder-beige for me at the moment.

hallBefore_1

We have these AMAZING stairs that I really want to pop, but for now they just recede into shadow.

HallBefore_2

We also have quite a bit of open wall space, probably more here than any other “public” room.  The landing makes a great home for our cat tree (and the kitties love being able to lord over our back yard) but it’s not the most attractive feature (and I’ll be honest that I don’t actually have a good solution for this yet). Also, when this house was built why in god’s name didn’t they center that window???

HallBefore_4

The railings were lovely at one point but appear to have taken a LOT of abuse over the years.  Most of the newel posts are missing the trim around the cap, we have one spindle that’s completely missing and another that’s held together to electrical tape.  I think we may have to get the spindles custom made, but I think I can tackle the newel caps myself.

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