Downstairs Foyer Updates

As if redoing a room every year was not enough, I'm not 'finding' rooms that aren't really 'rooms' to redo! I tell you, I'm a little sick in the head :)  I cannot stop and I'm sure my husband just groans and shakes his head when he sees that little head tilt and hearing me go 'Hmmm...'.  He just runs the other way...far, far, away! My latest 'project' was an interesting one.  It started with 'We need a coat rack. We have no closets upstairs except in our bedrooms, which are packed and during the winter we have no place to hang our coats without making a trip downstairs EVERY time we need a coat.' I was tired of them hanging out on the backs of the dining room chairs (mostly mine), so a new project idea was born.  Our little foyer to the basement was in some desperate need of some help - how incredibly convenient!  The walls were drab, the paint was peeling on the trim from the many scrapes we have caused carrying items down to the basement once it was finished, the floor left much to be desired, a horrible attempt at trying to paint the wainscot did not end well (red was just not doing the trick and was a cruddy paint job at that - you try painting all those little crevices!), AND to top it all off, the ceiling had peeled off by the kitchen door because of our wonderful roof that began leaking last fall - Awesome! SOOOO, a trip to Home Depot for paint and Menards for all the other supplies, I came home with a room to be 'put together'.  Only 1 tiny, itsy bitsy problem though - 12 foot ceilings! BIG problem!! WHAT was I thinking? Thank goodness for friends :) Remember my bathroom renovation friend? She is the home renovation queen and thankfully, not afraid of heights. She not only repaired the ceiling and made it look JUST like the other part of the ceiling, BUT she painted all the high spots I could not reach with a normal step ladder AND gave the ceiling a fresh coat of paint!  She is AWESOME!!!  (P.S.-you can watch her home renovations here!!). Anywho...I chose brown tones for the walls and wainscot, and white for the trim to offset the dark brown wainscot.  The coat rack/umbrella holder came from Hobby Lobby (at 40% off), new curtains came from TJ Maxx ($16.99 for both panels), new curtain rod to hang curtains that cover ugly, unscraped, pealing door ($10 at Target on sale), flooring from Menards ($.59 a tile on sale!), hooks from Hobby Lobby ($2.50 a piece!), and a new picture with hooks to hang my cleaning supplies ($10 from Hobby Lobby at 50% off!).  Whole new project including paint - under $100 (the coat rack doesn't count since it was a Christmas present) : )

Here is the finished look! MUCH classier than the before (I wish I had a picture of before - imagine lettuce green on the walls with a bunch of shelves that were in the way, then we painted it antique white-ALL of it, then painted the wainscot red-and I mean RED and now this) :)! 

This was a wood picture at Hobby Lobby that I just nailed in hooks to the back and now use it to hold my mop, broom, duster, etc.  We had a friend hang a new chandelier last year to help with the one light bulb we had before that did not help with lighting what-so-ever!

Our new floor to help the ridiculously stained flooring from before.  Even bleach could not help the previous floor!

Then I thought we needed a little something else on the wall with the coat rack so I found a cute little mirror at Hobby Lobby (have I mentioned I love Hobby Lobby for home decor?!), which doesn't add to the cost since it was a Christmas present as well! SO, for under $100, we have a functional space! LOVE home improvement projects....now....what's next :)