Tag: Victorian

One Room Challenge: Week 6 (Front and Back Entry, Stairs, and Hallways – Final Reveal!)

Hey, who needs a distraction right now? Today is reveal day for the Fall 2016 One Room Challenge! Let’s get into it.

I have been sharing my progress over the past six weeks as I’ve worked on making over our front entry, up the stairs and down the second and third floor hallways, and then down the other stairway and out the back door. There were major setbacks (hello, serious plumbing problems), but we’ve also made huge progress. These spaces touch every other room in our home, and the entire house feels more polished now that they’re (mostly) done.

Front Entry

Let’s begin with the front entry, which needed the least amount of work. The walls were cream when we moved in and I had painted them a silvery blue a couple of years ago, but I wasn’t completely happy with the color. A fresh coat of pink paint (Dutch Boy Sandstone Quarry, 408-2DB) went a long way here. The color choice was driven by my inspiration, the sandstone of India’s Hawa Mahal in Jaipur.

The gaslight-style fixture has been replaced with a modern lantern from Lamps Plus. Brass! Quartz! I’m into it. Then above the door, I replaced the red exit light with a simple white globe. Is it weird to miss the bizarre old EXIT light? We still have it and could swap it back out again. I sort of miss the way it would make our house glow red like a bordello.

The old rim lock on the front door had been temperamental for a while, and it finally broke just as I was about to work on the front entry. Nice timing! I had to bore some new holes in both the door and frame for the Nostalgic Warehouse deadbolt, and the new oval door knob is using the existing mortise.

Our IKEA sideboard continues to work well for us (inside are shoes, hats, gloves, etc.), but the single lamp on top has been replaced by a matching pair by Visual Comfort from ATG. That beautiful faux-shagreen tray normally holds mail as it comes in, but a stack of books is prettier to look at than a stack of mail, eh?

We have an antique hall tree on the wall, but it’s useful to have that freestanding coat rack in the opposite corner too. A boot tray hides out beneath the sideboard for wet/muddy/snowy footwear. I want a pretty entry, but it has to function for our family of five.

The copper chair is by Blu Dot and we’ve had it for a while, I just hadn’t written about it yet. It has a living finish, so the metal will patina over time (and has already started). I would have loved to go with a fabric chair, but this one will stand up to the kids and even improve with their abuse.

The semi-antique rug has been here for a while too. The basics of this entry were in place and I felt good about most of the choices. Including the space as part of my One Room Challenge was more about tweaking and perfecting than a complete overhaul. I saved that for the other areas that needed more help!

Beth from South Loop Loft came over a few nights ago and we played around with some of the styling throughout. She brought an amazing black mirror I’d had my eye on that you’ll see in the second floor hall, and she surprised me with the black candleholder you see poking out from behind the flowers. The perfect masculine counterpoint to the more feminine elements elsewhere.

I had planned on pairing the ‘Mask’ art by Jennifer Ament on the far wall with a more classical Thomas Gainsborough print, but in the end I replaced it with an abstract painting I bought years ago from Michelle Armas. The Gainsborough was moved to the top of the stairs, and I like the way the folds of the pink linen shade from The Shade Store mimic the folds of the dress in the painting.

Ready to see more?

Oh, there’s more.

The Back Entry

The textured plaster walls in the back entry and stairway from the basement all the way up to the second floor were dingy and cracked. We hired Signature Look Painting and Decorating to repair, skim coat, and paint them, and it all looked great! Then we had to cut holes in our lovely new smooth walls to investigate a plumbing leak. Not so great.

Add to that some stairs that were in need of more than a cleaning and a coat of paint after we removed the old carpeting, and the back stairway is just not finished. We have a new plumbing stack, several steps have already been replaced, we’re ripping up and replacing the wood on the landing, and hopefully soon we can move on and get to the fun part. Everything will eventually look like so.

Our Victorian has front and back stairs and we did finish the front, so you’ll see more of that amazing Karastan antelope print carpeting in a moment.

The walls are painted in Dutch Boy White Linen (007W), a soft creamy white, and the windows have pink linen roman shades from The Shade Store again. There’s a mirrored sconce from AllModern just above the back door and a tassel sconce by Crystorama on the second landing to match the others in the second floor hallway. I added black chandelier shades to both.

We’ll hang a black pleated pendant shade from AllModern in the back entry after its repairs are finished.

I’m excited about getting the pleats I had wanted, but I don’t think it’s going to mix well with sawdust and plaster dust! Better to wait a bit.

Third Floor Hallway

Take those back stairs all the way up, ignoring the new holes and general awfulness that has happened, and you end up in the third floor hallway. Behold! Many doors, painted black (Dutch Boy Authentic Black, 437-7DB).

There were 14 doors throughout the second and third floor halls, each taking between 3-5 hours for repairs, prep, priming, and painting. The ones up here are each different, but fresh paint and new brass hardware from Nostalgic Warehouse and House of Antique Hardware unify them.

I would like to replace that carpet, but it’s not a priority. The other side of the hall has space for an old IKEA Effektiv bookcase, which is filled with kids’ toys (their playroom is nearby). The architecture isn’t as interesting up here as it is elsewhere in the house, so I went with a simple brass sconce and I tried my hand at a gallery wall outside of the bathroom. The art is a mix of old and new, mostly from South Loop Loft and Artfully Walls.

Oh what fun it will be to destroy my hand-painted floork there! Plumbing, you are the worst. Well, maybe electrical issues are the worst? I don’t know. We’ve had both! Quick, let’s look at something pretty. Another faux-shagreen tray, a cute little dog, and Jill Rosenwald’s Versailles coping bowl, customized in pink.

All right, down the front stairs to the second floor. That Karastan antelope carpet is something, eh?

So good. As is the wallpaper you’re about to see.

Second Floor Hallway

The hallway is not completely finished, but it’s far enough along that you can get a sense of it. Please pardon any dust I didn’t get to before taking photos — it has been a construction zone for weeks.

The radiator is on wood blocks to protect the floor; those will be removed after it has been reconnected. Above is another tassel and rope sconce from Crystorama on Farrow & Ball’s Tourbillon wallpaper in pink.

Opposite the radiator are the stairs. They looked like this not too long ago, so I’m feeling pretty chuffed about how they turned out.

Brandon ripped out the old carpet and staples, then I cleaned and prepped the stairs before painting them – black treads with white risers. Overall, it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but it’s so worth it in the end. The other stairway will get there too. Soon.

Down the other side of the hall, the wallpaper has not all been hung yet. This hall has been through so much in our three years though! A quick refresher…

So much better now. A new drywall ceiling has been dropped down a few inches below the old plaster one to cover conduit piping from our home’s rewiring, and our brass Schoolhouse Electric fixtures are back up.

I have two runners from Annie Selke’s Dash & Albert, but the other is still in its packaging since we haven’t finished working up here. That white dresser from Joss & Main replaces the built-in storage that used to divide the hall. Above is the mirror I mentioned earlier from South Loop Loft, along with a miniature portrait from Chairish, a brass bug, a vintage blue and white jar with a plant, and a wee brass lamp from Bellacor.

There’s more to be done, but I’m pretty happy.

Thank you to Linda at Calling it Home for organizing this event and inviting me to participate again, and thank you to House Beautiful for your partnership and coverage. I’m also grateful for the support of my One Room Challenge sponsors, and for the opportunity to work alongside the other participants, each of whom are listed below.

And thank you for following along! It has been a hectic six weeks. I have so much more to go into about the behind-the-scenes madness and the back stairway is still a mess, but I’m thrilled with where we ended up. The house is closer than ever to my vision for it, and that feels amazing.

Follow along with the One Room Challenge participants!

• 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 Sponsors

Thank you to the following sponsors for generously providing product.
• AllModern • ATG • Bellacor • Chairish • Crystorama • Dash & Albert • Dutch Boy • Farrow & Ball • Jill Rosenweld • Joss & Main • Karastan • Lamps Plus • Nostalgic Warehouse and House of Antique Hardware • Schoolhouse Electric • South Loop Loft • The Shade Store

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!

November 9, 2016
The Nursery, as a Clean Slate

I had been considering a few colors, but I decided to go with white walls for Calvin’s nursery. It just felt right.

It’s creamier than the stark white that’s so prevalent today, but it works nicely with all of the wood. (The color is Crisp Linen White, by Glidden.) Without white trim to contribute to a light airy feeling, white paint that was too bright would have fought with the woodwork and made the room feel cold.

Before and after time!

This is the best angle to look at the room from, to understand the changes to the hallway and relocation of the doorway. The sink is gone, and you no longer have to walk through this portion of the house to get from the front to the back.

Our Victorian was originally a single-family home, but it had been converted to apartments long ago (sometime around the Great Depression, I believe. We have some old paperwork and census information that I ought to write about!). Getting rid of this kitchen and turning it back into a bedroom is in line with how the house was originally designed.

The radiator was not moved, but we did get rid of each of those three doorways you see here. We relocated one of them to a new wall that was built and reused the door and trim.

I’m not in love with the cabinetry, but it is staying and will function as a closet, dresser, and additional storage space.

Now that the new room has been painted, I can finally get started on the fun stuff!

January 26, 2015
Heating Upgrades for the Victorian

We bought our Victorian just in time to experience the coldest winter here on record in Chicago. A pipe even burst in the basement! (Although to be fair, that happened to a lot of homes in the area. A pipe burst in our old house too, with which we had never experienced any heating problems.) After sealing our drafty windows with plastic sheeting the house stayed dramatically warmer, and we also had our old boiler serviced and bled the radiators. The house still struggled to stay in the mid to high 60s on the first floor though, while it was comfortably warm upstairs and hot all the way up on the third floor. So before another winter comes, we had some work done to the house’s heating system.

The boiler still has some life left in it, but its chimney is in need of big repairs. We could have added a liner to prevent further corrosion, but the age and condition of the brick would have made it an expensive and difficult job. Another option for roughly the same cost was to replace the old boiler with a new model that was more energy-efficient and that could be vented out the side of the house, so that’s what we chose to do. We also replaced the water heater at the same time. There was a backdrafting issue identified during our house inspection, there wasn’t enough capacity for a house of this size, and the thing also had to be fixed twice in the last two months. Those three factors swayed us toward replacement. We chose an indirect water heater which is now tied into our new boiler, so it’s piggybacking off of the radiator system for faster heating and more efficiency.

Ooh, get ready for some more Pinterest-worthy pictures!

So pretty, right? Our basement’s a gem.

And we’re down to a single gas meter! The Victorian was split into apartments in the 1930s (common in the depression era), and it was still a multi-family house until just before being sold. There remained both a residential and commercial account for gas, and getting them combined into one residential account (which has significantly lower rates) was a long process. Lots of red tape and hoops to jump through, and the expense of rerouting the pipes is the responsibility of the home owner. We started the process right away when we moved in a year ago, and it took a good ten months.

Then there’s the last of our heating system upgrades. We were cautioned against using the valves on our radiators because when they’re as old as ours, mineral build-up and corrosion can cause them to break with use. Hot water radiators are either on or off — there’s no middle adjustment — so ours were all on, all winter. That third floor was toasty. Now we’ve added thermostatic radiator valves to each of the six radiators on the third floor, and to two of them on the second floor (in rooms that were consistently warmer than the rest). They aren’t pretty, but they’ll automatically turn the radiators off when the room temperature is warm enough, so that the heat can be directed to where it’s needed instead. The valves are currently set at 68, but we’ll experiment to see what’s best when winter comes — they can all be individually adjusted.

Brandon and I can take consecutive showers now without running out of hot water, and between the new valves and the boiler, we should see more even and efficient heating this winter. That, and the elimination of the commercial account, will also bring lower heating bills. Working on the guts of the house doesn’t bring the prettiest pictures, but we’re glad to have had the work done.

August 27, 2014
The Second Floor is Taking Shape

Hey, no more visible lathe! We have walls!

That’s the door we’re going to reuse for the new nursery, casually hanging out all akimbo at the end of the hall there. You know, where the 125-year-old subfloor is exposed? Living with the floor ripped up like that for a few weeks hasn’t been as bad as we initially thought it would be, but one of the kids’ bedrooms is over there so we will be glad to have an actual floor down sooner than later.

The wood on the second floor wasn’t in great shape when we bought the house, and when we started pulling it up for this project, we saw why. It’s a very thin material — not nearly as nice as the solid wood downstairs. It’s old for sure, and it has reached the end of its useful life, so we’re going to go ahead and redo the whole hallway rather than just patch the portion that we’re working on now. It’s something that we knew would need to be addressed eventually, but doing it now will mean holding off on some of the more fun stuff we’d rather spend our money on. (Sorry, potential front porch swing. Maybe another time.)

There was a strip of wood molding along the walls in the former kitchen (soon to be nursery!) at chest height, matching up with where the beadboard backsplash behind the kitchen sink ended. After the wood was removed, the wallpaper had to be partially stripped so that any patching to be done could adhere directly to the wall. It looked like the paper was just applied over bare drywall in some sections and we were worried about potential damage, but it’s peeling off fairly cleanly and easily with just water. After our contractor is done working in there, Brandon will finish stripping the remaining wallpaper.

I’m about seven weeks from the baby’s due date now, so I’m not sure how the timing’s going to shake out, but the baby will sleep in our bedroom at first anyway. Really, we’re just aiming to get the loudest, most disruptive work completed in time, and thankfully that looks like it will be on schedule.

August 4, 2014
Moving the Door Over

We’re still a ways off from finishing the conversion of the kitchen on the second floor into a bedroom and finishing the hall, but it’s moving along.

We were going to keep the original doorway to the room and reuse one of the other doors to fit. The cabinetry is staying though, and it would have been difficult to find a good spot for a bed without making the room awkward or blocking access to drawers. So I talked to Brandon and the contractor about it and we decided to move the door across from the other bedroom door on that side of the house.

(You can see the original plan here.)

The hallway bumps out into the room a little on that side (where the door will now be placed) because we didn’t want the hall to feel cramped, and it also makes it easier to bring furniture in and out of both rooms. Since the radiator is behind the door (and thus unusable floor space anyway), it doesn’t make much of a difference on the new room itself, and the little nook that will now be next to the door will be a great spot for a comfy reading chair or a desk.

My sister came by over the weekend, and I was explaining the dangers of scope creep to her. We’re moving the door, which means we’ll also need to move the room’s light switch over. We need to put down new flooring from where the hallway built-ins started all the way to the bedroom doors, and now we’re wondering if we should redo the flooring in the entire hallway at once. I’m not looking to change the look of the wood — it’s appropriate to the house — but there are a couple of soft spots that do need to be addressed eventually.

And then there’s the whole issue of finding a replacement for the bathroom storage that we lost. There is a huge bedroom closet that could be split into two, with half of it accessed from the hallway near the bathroom. We could probably even reuse some of the wood that we saved from the built-in that was removed, but that isn’t a project that we’re going to do right now. Instead, I’ll reorganize the small linen closet down the hall and be on the lookout for a shallow dresser, cabinet, or armoire to place near the bathroom.

Moving along, moving along…

July 21, 2014
The Built-in Library Shelves, with Books

The library isn’t really finished, but the shelves have books, the house is neat, and I took photos. So? Photos!

Definitely loving that ladder. I’m also loving the play of color from room to room, but I plan to paint the library walls and both ceilings at some point. They don’t look terrible here, but depending on the lighting and time of day, the color can go pretty yellow. I do like the contrast, and I’m thinking I might choose white, or very pale peachy/coral/pink.

We’re only borrowing the gate leg table from a family member. I wanted to see if it would be a pain to sit around, and the answer is yes. I love the look (like so), but it isn’t very practical for us, and I want to be able to play games there with the kids.

What is practical though, is the shelving. A few people have been eager to see how the built-ins look “once they’re styled,” so I hope I’m not disappointing you here. The shelves are adjustable and we moved a couple to fit large art and photography books, but that’s the extent of the styling. Brandon and I have a lot of books, and these shelves were intended to be used fully for book storage from the start. We actually still have more, but I think we can whittle down what’s on the shelves a bit to make room, and only keep what we really love. We had so much book storage in the last house that we didn’t need to pare down much (though we did some before we moved).

The layout is not final. I think the rocker looks a bit out of place, but I would like to make it work somewhere downstairs. We’ll have our cushy upholstered glider for the nursery, but I’d like to have the Eames rocker out where I’ll be able to rock the baby while sitting with friends and family.

Having a dedicated space for all of our books feels really good. It isn’t done (or “Pinterest Perfect”) yet, but I like where it’s at right now. There are a million little things to change and tweak, but that’s part of the fun of decorating, isn’t it? My last house came together over seven years, always changing a little at a time. I’m eager to see how this space grows and changes too.

May 12, 2014