Interior Updates!

So this whole interior update started back in January, but it's still not finished really. The weather got too nice so we started working outside instead. We actually didn't have any plans for updates inside the house this year at all. We thought it would be a really low key year for us with DIY projects. 

It all started with our front entryway...we had a coat tree there and for some reason Charlie kept peeing on it. It was driving us crazy! No matter how much we would clean it up...I think he could still smell it and then he'd pee again. Michael decided to set the coat tree out in the garage for a while. 

Here's what that section looked like after he moved the coat tree. I immediately loved the way it looked. It opened up that whole window to the left of the door and brought in so much light. I had always been complaining how dark our entryway looked. That towel holder that was hanging on the wall was used to hold our scarves and hats, but I was done with that being there too. That's when I found a picture of a shiplap wall that had dowels in it. I thought it was simple, beautiful and functional. 

That is all I wanted us to do! Normally I'm the one spearheading all these projects, but for once Michael was the one saying we needed to do more. He thought if we were going to be changing the millwork for that wall we'd need to go ahead and update all the millwork. In all honesty, the millwork in the house was cheap MDF baseboards and they've been in the house since we did our first remodel back in 2005 so it was due to be updated. 

Michael taught the kids how to remove the baseboards. 

They love getting involved!

For Christmas I went out on a limb and bought Michael a laser level. I thought he might be able to use it for an outdoor project that we had coming up. It has ended up being one of his most used tools ever! It wasn't even expensive either. Here he was using it to rehang the door to the bathroom. Our house was built in 1975 and nothing is square...everything is wonky. All of our doors were not square so he used the level and they are finally square. It's wonderful! 

We decided instead of normal millwork on the top of the door we would go a little fancier. At first Michael cut the top at an angle and I said I liked it, but the very next day I came down and it totally reminded me of a Japanese pagoda and that is not our style at all so I had him cut the ends off so they were straight. 

Here is a progress shot of the section that started all this. I wanted just a small portion of shiplap with dowels to hang coats on. I love that there are only 4 dowels so it can't get out of control with coats. We've decided that we will only bring down the coats that we need for that particular season. The rest will be put away! 

Removing more trim! 

When Michael decided he wanted to do the trim I thought we might try to do each room separately a little at a time so it wouldn't be so much expense all at once. Nope...he wanted to just get the whole downstairs done with. Alrighty! 

Since we were doing those nice headers over the doors we ran into an issue with one of our doorways. See the doorway behind Owen that goes from the dining room to the kitchen. There isn't a door there and there never was a door there. Michael had to wrap it like there was because we didn't measure correctly when we remodeled our kitchen when we first moved in. The countertop hung over just a hair too far. The quick easy fix at the time was to frame out the doorway. You can also see in the pantry door that's cracked open. If we left that doorway framed out the way it was there was going to be the doorway and the pantry door framed out together and it was going to look very chunky. I did not want that! 

So my amazing husband spent a lot of time and energy adding 2 inches to this doorway so that it wouldn't been framed out anymore. Have I said how awesomely amazing he is lately! 

He also fixed a couple other issues we had downstairs. When we first moved in our fireplace wall was all brick from ceiling to floor. Michael didn't like that so he drywalled the top and created a mantle. The top portion of the mantle had quite a bit of overhang. When the contractors redid everything outside a couple years ago they replaced all the windows and in turn the window casings became larger. That meant that the mantle was now in the way of the window casing so they had to cut the window casing to fit around the mantle. It was not a very good look at all. Michael ended up trimming the mantle down the on sides and it's like they should have always been like that! 

Since we were replacing all the millwork and painting it, Michael decided it would be a good time to repaint the whole downstairs too. This was how my living room looked for a couple of weeks! It was totally worth it though! 

Then I got to build a little something. 

It was very simple. 

Michael did help by holding the wood in place. 

Ta Da....a little bench to go in the front entry way for people to have a place to sit to put on their shoes. 

Here's the entry way all finished. I love the new color Michael chose...it's call Humble Gold by Sherwin Williams. I love the new millwork and it's real wood so it's going to last so much better than MDF. The bench will eventually be stained to match my laundry cabinet that you can see in the back. If you look closely you can also see our new doors. Michael has wanted solid, stain grade doors for a long time now. We ended up buying all new interior doors for the whole house. This is the portion of the job that's on hold since we have outdoor projects going on while the weather is nice. We'll pick up with the doors later this fall. They will all be stained to match the laundry cabinet. We love a good, dark reddish stain color. 

Here's the doorway all finished. It was really a pain, but I love that it now matches all the other doorways in the house. The color in the dining room is Restrained Gold by Sherwin Williams. It's the same color we've had in there forever. It's a slightly richer tone and I love it. 

The mantle with it's smaller cap piece and the windows with trim around them. 

After living here for 16 years our front door finally feels finished. The side parts with the windows have never felt finished because the trim was funny. Michael added some new sections to it and it looks so nice....like it was always supposed to be there.