Tag: Victorian House

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

    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 Entryway

    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.

    Oak-Paneled Victorian Staircase and Front Entry with Curved Window | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Front Entry Details | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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Our IKEA sideboard continues to work well for us (inside are shoes, hats, gloves, etc.), but the single lamp on top has been replaced by a matching pair by Visual Comfort from ATG.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?

    Front Entry Sideboard | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Victorian Hall Tree | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    Making it Lovely's Front Entry for the One Room Challenge

    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.

    Victorian Wooden Staircase | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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!

    Victorian Front Screen Door | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Queen Anne Victorian Front Entry | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Victorian Oak Paneling Entry and Stairway | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    Pink Roman Shade, Original Victorian Wooden Window, Thomas Gainsborough Print | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    Ready to see more?

    Victorian Stairway with Oak Wood Paneling | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    Oh, there’s more.


    Back Entryway

    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.

    Back Stairway, Torn Apart, and a Cracked Plumbing Stack | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Karastan Antelope Print Runners, Black and White Stairs | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Sconces with Black Chandelier Shades | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

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

    Black Pleated Pendant Shade from AllModern | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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

    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.

    Black Painted Doors with Brass Hardware from Nostalgic Warehouse | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Third Floor Hallway | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    Hand-Painted Bathroom Floor | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Faux Shagreen Tray, Ceramic Bowl and Dog Figure | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

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

    Antelope Print Stair Runner Rug | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

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


    Second Floor Hallway

    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.

    Black Doors, Tourbillon Farrow & Ball Wallpaper, Victorian Hallway | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Brass Rope and Tassel Crystorama Sconce on Pink Farrow & Ball Wallpaper | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Stairs' Progress | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Antelope Print Stair Runner Rug | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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…

    Hallway Changes Over Three Years

    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.

    Wallpapered Hallway in Progress | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    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.

    Vintage Mirror from South Loop Loft, Arteriors Brass Grasshopper, Chairish Vintage Portrait, Bellacor Visual Comfort Tiny Terri Brass Lamp, Joss & Main Dresser | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

    White Dresser from Joss & Main, Black Octagonal Mirror from South Loop Loft, Runner Rug from Dash & Albert, Tourbillon Wallpaper by Farrow & Ball | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge

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

    Looking Toward the Bedroom from the Wallpapered Hall | Making it Lovely, One Room Challenge


    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!

    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 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!

  • One Room Challenge: Week 1 (the Before Shots)

    One Room Challenge: Week 1 (the Before Shots)

    I’m thrilled to be taking part in the One Room Challenge again! A huge thank you to Linda at Calling it Home for organizing the event and inviting me back. I worked on our bedroom and den last time; both are right next to each other on the second floor. Going to sleep and waking up in a finished space is especially nice, but what’s that just beyond the door? Oh, right. A hallway that still looks like this after we rewired the second and third floors of the Victorian.

    Hallway Ceiling, Second Floor, with Conduit for Electrical Rewiring

    So as I was thinking of which space I wanted to do this time, everything just felt wrong when we still had glaring issues along that hallway. Conduit along the ceiling! Holes everywhere! Bare bulbs and missing light fixtures!

    But is that really enough of a ‘room’ for the One Room Challenge? After working simultaneously on two spaces for the ORC last time, just doing a hallway seemed way too easy. Hmmm… What if I do the hallway and down the back stairs, out to the back door. We’ve never touched that space, and it could really use some help.

    Back Stairs

    Back Door

    Back Stairs

    That’s more like it. Now we’ve got some work to do. Ah, but what about the front entry? It doesn’t need all that much, but wouldn’t it be nice if the front and back door hardware matched? Plus I’d been thinking of changing the paint color again and I hadn’t gotten around to swapping out the light fixtures yet. Let’s add that to the mix.

    Front Door

    OK, the front entry, up the stairs, down the hallway, and down again to the back door. Wait, maybe I should update the third floor hallway too? It isn’t as awful as the second floor hall, but it is in need of some repair. I was already planning on changing the sconces up there and the doors could use a bit of love at the same time.

    Third Floor Rewiring Damage

    Third Floor Hallway Doors

    The front entry, up the stairs, down the hallway on the second and third floors, down the stairs, and out the back door. Have I made enough work for myself yet? Yes? Good. All of the connecting spaces together at once. I’ve been planning the design, but work hasn’t started and will be progressing in real time. Six weeks! Six weeks to do all of this…

    • Repair Walls and Ceilings
      back entry and stairway: fix cracked plaster, patch holes
      2nd floor hallway: patch holes, new drywall framed, hung, and taped
      3rd floor hallway: patch holes

    • Stairs
      front stairway, second to third floor: remove old carpeting, repair treads (as needed), install new runners after painting
      back stairway, basement to third floor: remove old carpeting, repair treads (as needed), install new runners after painting

    • Prime and Paint
      front entry and stairway: walls, ceiling, stairs (second to third floor)
      back entry and stairway: walls, ceiling, door, trim, stairs (basement to third floor), railing and spindles
      2nd floor hallway: ceiling, doors, trim
      3rd floor hallway: walls, ceiling, doors, trim

    • Hang Wallpaper
      2nd floor hallway: walls

    • New Door Hardware
      front entry: door knob and deadbolt
      back entry: door knob and deadbolt
      3rd floor hallway: door knobs, hinges

    • Window Treatments
      throughout: roman shades

    • Install Lighting Fixtures
      front entry: two pendants
      back entry and stairway: pendant and two sconces
      2nd floor hallway: four flush mount fixtures, three sconces
      3rd floor hallway: flush mount fixture, sconce

    You know. Plus the pretty stuff. Lamps, art, furniture, all that.

    Making it Lovely's One Room Challenge (Before Shots)

    I’m going to get more into the design details next Wednesday, but for now, I’ll leave you with my color inspiration. The red and pink sandstone of Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, India.

    Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, India
    Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, India
    Images: 123

    It’s going to be so good! Every single room in this big old Victorian feeds off of these connecting spaces. Getting these right is going to make a huge difference.


    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!

    p.s. If this sounds like the kind of thing that would motivate you to work on a room of your own, join in as a guest!

  • Tending to the Climbing Roses

    Tending to the Climbing Roses

    We have a bunch of vines and climbers in the garden. Autumn sweet clematis on the front fence, grapevines on the back. Honeysuckle on a bird feeder post, ivy on the neighbor’s house, and a newly planted climbing hydrangea to grow on the fence behind the kids’ play area.

    And then there are the roses! Mine are not so photogenic right now because they’re not in bloom, so let’s pretend they look like these David Austin garden roses.

    David Austin English Rose -  A Shropshire Lad

    There was an arch between the front yard the side garden with roses, and we removed them. That was a mistake. The thorns were pretty scary and encroaching upon us as we passed, and Brandon was worried about the kids getting hurt each time they passed through. I wish I would have learned how to properly prune the roses back and maybe it would have been okay, but we cut the canes back and killed the whole thing. We’ve kept them alive in other spots though! By the front door, the cutest storybook effect comes from the little pink roses growing up the side of the porch. There’s another pink one where the side yard meets the back, and two yellow climbing roses by the garage to soften the expanse of wall. Those were growing on trellises that have fallen apart and fallen off of the garage, so we cut the roses back last summer out of necessity, but not so far back that we killed them (hooray!). I need repair or replace the trellises and attach them more securely. The roses are small, but they’re ready to be trained soon. I think.

    Training roses. Pruning them. Both things I had no idea how to do! But I’ve been watching tutorials and reading tips and tricks, and I feel like I have a rudimentary grasp on the techniques now. The best time to work on them is late autumn or winter, so hopefully after I can get out there and get to work, they’ll be looking really good again next year. (Fingers crossed.) If you have any favorite books, videos, or sites, I’d love to hear about them.

  • Finishing the Third Floor Bathroom

    Finishing the Third Floor Bathroom

    I was all set to finish this space up last summer. And then I thought, well, if I just install a new toilet, maybe some tile, a new sink… you know, gut the whole thing…

    Dangerous thinking! This is a tiny bathroom in the dormered space of a finished attic. It does not need to be a little jewel box — it just needs some freshening up. As a reminder, here’s where we started.

    Third Floor Bathroom (Before)

    I removed the medicine cabinet above the toilet and styled it up a bit, and last year, the bathroom looked like this.

    Third Floor Bathroom with Pink

    I’ve made some changes since then.

    • Installed new sconces

    • Swapped out the toggle light switch for a push-button

    • Changed the toilet handle and toilet seat

    • Replaced the centerset faucet

    A fine layer of dirt covered all of the surfaces when we had the third floor rewired from all of the holes being cut into the walls, so the room is in need of a new paint job. Here’s what I have left to do before calling this room done.

    • Replace the right roller catch on the top drawer

    • Replace the door knob

    • Shorten the shower curtain

    • Clean the walls and ceiling, prep for painting

    • Repaint the walls, ceiling, and floor

    • Prime the window trim, door trim, and door

    • Paint the window trim, door trim, and door

    Here we go!

  • The Lay of the Land

    The Lay of the Land

    OK, done with the front of the house! For now at least. I’m eager to get out there and make some changes and additions, but the perennial beds have been cleaned up, the boxwoods trimmed and thinned, and everything fertilized and mulched. We’re good.

    Onward, to the back! But first, a layout of the property. The lot (50’x145′) and house footprint are to scale, though the details on the house itself are not. They’re close, but the roof lines are definitely a little wonky (the house is not entirely the odd assemblage of angles it appears to be!). I gave up on getting them exactly right because the focus is on the overall land here.

    Balch Property

    There’s a 3′ purple cast iron fence out front, a 5′ black cast iron fence next to one neighbor, a 4′ wooden fence next to the other, and 6′ wooden privacy fences elsewhere. None of them match, none of them are in perfect shape, but they’re there. The boxwood hedges, we’ve talked about. Everything else is garden space, aside from the parkway, the small patch of grass out front, and the flagstone patio in the back.

    Our neighbors in the greystone are clearing out their yard and putting in a paver patio. They had some flagstone that matches ours, so we’re taking it (thank you!). The plan is to either create a small patio, use it for stepping stone paths, or both.

    Patio Option 1

    The first option would be solely for the kids and their friends. We have a table and chairs on our patio, and there’s a kids’ picnic table off to the side. It’s cute and they like to sit there because it feels secluded next to the fence, beneath a row of lilac trees, but it’s just dirt and mulch beneath the table right now. I feel like we could turn it into a pretty cute space! It would only be useful for the next five years or so, but I’m OK with that.

    Patio Option 2

    Option number two would be to make a lounge area. There’s a dirt path to the egg chair right now from where foot traffic has trampled the plants. Go with what has already been started and turn it into a paved area, or just make a stone path? If we’re going to do a patio, we’ll have to do a lot more planning before we can get started, but if it’s just a path, I can dive right in and get it done.

    Kids’ area, lounge area, or a combination of both? I’m thinking the way to go may be to do a stone path to the chair, leave the rest alone, and then a small patio area beneath the kids’ picnic table. I’m heading out now to figure it out.

  • A ‘New Horizon’ for the Front of the House

    A ‘New Horizon’ for the Front of the House

    I spent a full day yesterday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. pruning boxwoods. That’s insane. I’m assuming it’s faster if you are a more experienced gardener, but I was trying to do a very thorough job of removing dead wood from the interior of the hedges. (My arms bear many scratches today.) The boxwoods were butchered a bit last spring in an attempt to reduce their size, but they’ve filled in enough to move on to phase two, which is hopefully making them more dense.

    Last year:

    Cutting Back Overgrown Boxwoods

    This year:

    Hard-Pruned Boxwoods, Year Two

    They’re not great, but they’re improving. I’m going to fertilize them and add mulch, and then be patient.

    There was another big change from last year to this year — one that was beyond our control.

    Mature Ash Tree

    I miss that tree so much. It was on the parkway and the village removed it because of emerald ash borer infestation (though the tree still looked perfectly healthy). It came down in only 20 minutes, and instantly our house was bare. They did plant a new tree yesterday though!

    Wee Baby 'New Horizon' Elm Tree

    Can you even see it? It’s a wee baby elm tree, so they traded one doomed variety for another, but it’s a new hybrid (“new horizon”) that is supposed to be resistant to Dutch elm disease. Here’s a head-on shot.

    Making it Lovely's Queen Anne Victorian House

    Grow little tree, grow! (You too, boxwoods. Fill in.)