I believe that the entryway to a home is very important. Beyond it being someone’s first impression of my home, it is also my first opportunity to make them feel loved, welcomed, and experience the love of God through my home. To be quite honest, my entryway was ugly and outdated. And while I cannot say that people did not experience the things I mentioned above because of it, I can say that I just did not like it and I was ready for a change. 

For months, years even I toiled over how to make it look better without a complete overhaul. What I decided is that I would like to eventually do a total overhaul that would include the stairs, stair rails, walls, etc, but for now I can live with a few minor changes. 

First we needed to remove the chair rail from that main wall. When we first moved in, there was literally chair rail in EVERY. SINGLE. ROOM. Well, I take that back… the boys’ bathroom and the master bathroom were the only two finished spaces without chair rail. I don’t mind having it in some rooms, but it can be a bit much. Thankfully, it is easily removed but it does leave behind a little damage to clear up. We used a multitool to sever the ends from the wall, followed by a crow bar and a hammer to loosen and remove the remaining pieces. That entire process took less than five minutes on a wall this size. 

We then applied Dap Drydex to make those ragged areas smooth. This stuff is great because it dries in around 30 minutes. For people who are impatient like me it also turns from pink to white when it is dry and ready to be sanded. Without that I would literally be trying to sand it while it is still wet. 

Once it was sanded, it was time to add the vertical wood pieces. Joe measured from the molding at the top to the trim at the bottom and cut the wood pieces using his miter saw. He then came in and was able to nail them to the wall using his nail gun. 

Then I realized that what I REALLY despised about the space were those swirly things on the stair risers. I finally got the courage to knock them off and I am not mad about it! We used the same DAP product to smooth and then sanded it down prior to painting. I also painted the railing all white to give it a cleaner look.

From there things went quickly, caulking, patching, priming, and painting and we have a wall with vertical boards installed. I added this round mirror I had on hand from Hobby Lobby, the sconces from Amazon, and this bench from Target with pillows and a faux plant from HomeGoods and we were good to go! 

So what do you think?