Attic Entryway Hallway One Room Challenge The Victorian House

One Room Challenge: Week 3 (Work Very Much in Progress)

We have a ceiling in the hallway! It’s all very exciting. I mean, it looks like this, but still. It’s an improvement.

Drywall Ceiling Going Up

It might be finished by the end of the week?

Drywall Ceiling Going Up

We’re also having the walls skim coated! Signature Look Painting and Decorating did some painting for us back when I was pregnant with Calvin and not all that interested in climbing ladders, and they’ve since expanded their services to offer wall prep (like skim coating) and wallpaper installation. We’ve hired them to do the wall from the back door up to the second floor, knocking down the texture, fixing some soft spots where the plaster has begun to pull away from the lathe, and then repairing and resurfacing everything for nice, smooth walls.

Textured Wall in the Back Stairway

Blech. Don’t judge that back stairway too harshly — it’s what we inherited when we bought the house. So glad to finally be giving it some attention! Picture the walls all smoothed out and painted a creamy white, black stairs with white risers, white trim, and that antelope print runner.

A whole lot of sanding is about to happen which means that there’s about to be a fine layer of dust, oh, everywhere, and any painting downstairs is on hold. Meanwhile, I’ve been working away on the third floor and my goal is to finish that by next week. The doors on the first and second floors all have Victorian hardware — skinny brass back plates and ornate details. I don’t think it’s all original because there is some variation, but the differences are slight and not something you would pick up on unless you were actively looking for it.

Vintage Wooden Dresser Between Black Painted Doors in the Bedroom | Making it Lovely's One Room Challenge Bedroom

The third floor? Yeah, not so much. Every door is different in finish, size, style, and hardware.

Mismatched Door Knobs

That last one with the Victorian back plate and black porcelain knob, was a first attempt at improving the situation. It was a decent match to the rest of the house, but oddly, it didn’t feel right. The third floor of our home was originally an unfinished attic when the house was built in the late 1800s, and I believe it was finished when the house was converted from a single-family home into a 3-flat during the Great Depression. The attic space was used well, but the trim is not as detailed and all of the overall proportions are different (lower ceilings, smaller rooms, narrow trim, shorter doorways, tighter hallway, etc.).

Bringing the top floor hallway into my One Room Challenge design means a lot of painting and swapping out some lights, but mostly it’s all about getting those doors right. White trim and black doors will match what we’re doing throughout the second floor. The knobs will be a nod to those found downstairs too, but instead of long back plates, I chose round rosettes with a rope detail. They’re a better size and shape, and the rope is a nod to the rope and tassel sconces that are going to line the second floor hall.

Nostalgic Warehouse Door Hardware

New Door Knob, 3rd Floor Bathroom

The new mortises are all about 1/4″ bigger than the old ones, but I used a drill with a spade bit to make the opening bigger, and a hammer and chisel for the faceplate. I’ve been filling holes with wood putty and building up some of the bigger chunks that are missing with wood epoxy.

Door Repair in Progress

Here’s what needs to be finished by next week’s update to keep us on track.
• Hired out: The new ceiling in the second floor hallway should be done. Skim coating should be in progress or nearing completion.
• Me and Brandon: The third floor should be completely done; I need to finish repairing the doors, prime, and paint them, and install hardware. Patch a few holes, then paint the trim, ceiling, and walls, and finally, install new lights. The trim and doors in the second floor should be sanded and prepped for painting. The carpeting on both the front and back stairs needs to be pulled, and the stairs should be repaired and prepped for painting. The stairs from the basement up to the second floor are keeping their carpeting as a drop cloth until the skim coating is done, and hopefully those will come up soon too.

So… I should have a big update of all the work that’s been done by week 4? Oh, let us hope.


Follow along with the One Room Challenge participants!

One Room Challenge• Jana Bek • Chris Loves Julia • Shannon Claire • Coco.Kelley • The Curated House • Driven by Décor • The English Room • From the Right Bank • Sherry Hart • Hi Sugarplum • House of Jade • Hunted Interior • The Makerista • Making it Lovely • Marcus Design • Pencil & Paper Co. • Megan Pflug • Place of My Taste • Suburban B’s • Waiting on Martha • Media Partner House Beautiful • TM by CIH

My One Room Challenge Posts

Follow along from the beginning!
• Week 1: The Before Shots • Week 2: The Design Plan • Week 3: Work Very Much in Progress • Week 4: Those Stairs, That Hall • Week 5: When it Rains, it Pours • Weed 6: Final Reveal!

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  • Sarah Walker
    October 19, 2016 at 10:23 am

    I totally share your passion for the details (AND for vintage hardware) and can’t wait to revel in all of your beautiful work on reveal day! Until then, I’m with you in the trenches and cheering you on!
    Sarah xx

  • doodletllc
    October 19, 2016 at 10:43 am

    Love your choice for the door hardware and black doors…it sounds perfectly stunning…can’t wait to see the transformation.

  • judy
    October 19, 2016 at 1:10 pm

    it’s all so beautiful! I love love love those ornate doorknobs and back plates-why did we stop using those?

  • Laura @ Rather Square
    October 19, 2016 at 7:26 pm

    Love all the original details you’re adding! We are doing some drywalling in our basement right now as we reconfigure the space to include a dedicated playroom. Drywall is so hard to integrate into a space that also includes 1920s plaster and lath. We are totally DIYing this so it’s not going to be perfect, but hopefully the kids won’t notice and will be too distracted by the giant chalkboard wall we’re making for them. ;)

  • Sandy
    October 20, 2016 at 4:02 pm

    I also have an old house with vintage door knobs. I’d be tempted to keep all those mismatch knobs and make all the doors the same paint colour instead as a way of preserving how the house grew over the years. Love the progress you are making, it is giving me great ideas for my hallways.

  • themakerista
    October 21, 2016 at 12:30 pm

    You are the hardware queen! I totally love where it’s all going and definitely understand your excitement for the new drywall on the ceiling! Can’t wait to see this all come together!

  • Annie
    October 22, 2016 at 11:00 am

    I love the hardware! The rope rosettes will look amazing with the tassel sconces! I can’t wait to see the finished spaces. While my doorknobs mostly matching crystal rosettes in my old house, outlets and light switches are another story. I know you’ve mentioned moving towards push button switches and brass switch plates as you work through the house, but when you did the electrical work did you also change out the outlets? I have mismatched outlets in every room, our living room has black, brown, beige, ivory, white and one pink outlet, and they are starting to drive me nuts,even after I swapped out the covers for brass ones. it’s an unsexy design element, but if you did replace your outlets, how did you choose the color?

  • Brittney
    October 23, 2016 at 10:41 am

    You were right to trust your gut, the new door plates are perfect and fit the space perfectly! I love that little rope detail. I can’t wait to see the big finish!

  • Julie
    October 23, 2016 at 10:52 am

    Really keen on the way you do wiht both the door hardware and the black doors. Hopefully, it will look stunning and awesome finish will appear after all.

  • sherry hart
    October 24, 2016 at 5:58 am

    My house is old also and I would love the change out the knobs…..mine are crystal but maybe I can find new backplates! Never really thought of that since I did not want to change the insides but you have given me some new thoughts!!! Your black doors with the gold will look fantastic!

  • Linda
    October 24, 2016 at 2:55 pm

    You sourced a perfect hardware solution. I love the rope detail. Wow, this is so much work. In a strange way, it makes me miss our first home, circa 1901.

  • Kyla @HouseOfHipsters
    October 25, 2016 at 12:34 pm

    That runner is unbelievable!!!!!

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  • stephen
    February 22, 2017 at 9:28 am

    Wow Awesome!! I love both the door hardware and the black doors! The painting looks stunning with the nice frame too :)

  • Lisa
    July 14, 2017 at 11:57 pm

    Sexy design. I really loved the door handles and other hardware.