Hello friends! I don’t know about all of you, but I’m thinking about what kind of year I want 2017, and what I want to get accomplish. Much of what I want to get done for my house is more or less “finishing” rooms and spaces in my house. Some are big projects, and some are small. I’ve been working on making my house more welcoming when I walk through the door. Last fall, I was brave enough to overhaul my garage. It about killed me, but it was worth it! As soon as that was done, I turned my attention to my entry and stairs.

You see, I have a split-level. When I get come home, I come through the door in the picture below and come up the stairs. Split-levels are cramped when it comes to the entrances. This is the reason why I don’t have anything on the walls at the bottom of the stairs. I would seriously knock everything off!

I’ve painted the space a couple times. I’ve filled it with cute decor items, and then cleaned it out – multiple times. We’ve ripped out the flooring, and put down tile at the very bottom, and wood stairs with white risers. I have an exceptionally ugly octagon window at the top of my entry, that I once covered up with a painting. It worked until my entry got so dark from lack of sunlight. Well, I tried.

Speaking of dark, my first task was to continue the bright white paint from the upstairs hallway down the stairs. My previous walls weren’t dark by any means, but any shadows on the greige color would make the space feel very dark. We painted every surface white, and I love it. It does’t feel dark anymore!

Here’s the Painting Breakdown

Walls – Eggshell

Trim and Doors – Semi-Gloss

Risers on Stairs – Semi-Gloss (a must to keep shoes from scuffing it)

Baseboards and Moulding – Semi-Gloss

***All paint was Benjamin Moore Decorator’s White

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I bought the rug on sale for $30.

The front door previously was a dark gray. I bought the blackest paint at my hardware store. I bought a quart of semi-gloss and went to town with two coats. *forgive the bad phone photo!*

Hardware

I wanted simple, classic coat hooks, and one small hook for my keys to go by my garage door. I love how brass warms up a space. Not to mention, I wanted to carry the brass from my upstair doors down the stairway.

Artwork



I’m pretty excited about my new umbrella stand. It was $20 off for Christmas, and then I had a $50 gift card, so I bit the bullet and ordered it.

There is a new member of the The Striped Family. The day before Thanksgiving, I said my last goodbye to my sweet girl, Falala. I had Falala for 15 years, ever since I found her as an 8 week-old kitten. It was very sudden, and it broke my heart into a million pieces. She was my black fluffy kitty that appeared in blog posts and on my Instagram. She was my little buddy and I miss her like crazy.

Soon after Falala passed away, Bridget moved in. I did not plan on getting a second kitty, but she was my parent’s cat, and her cat brothers wouldn’t stop pestering her. I had a lot of hesitation. I didn’t want to try to replace Falala. But quickly, this fluff ball of energy and chirping (she “chirps” all of the time), quickly filled the quiet in my house and made me laugh again. She and Toby get along, or rather he tolerates her and gives me these looks that say it all, haha. While I was taking photos of my entry, she planted herself in my lens line. It was like she couldn’t figure out that sound my camera would make when it would take a picture. She’s a funny girl.

My original plan was to include all of the sources for the artwork in this post, but that will make this into a book, so I’ll make that it’s own post. You’re going to faint when you find out how little I spent on the artwork 😉

So until then, have a great week and happy DIY’ing!