Another Small Home Improvement - Our Entry Way

Our entryway was seriously in need of some love.  The wallpaper was close to twenty years old.  It had some damage on it, the walls were a bit dingy and there were some paint chips here and there.  I have really been wanting to spruce it up a bit, make it a little more stylish.  And finally I was able to get to do exactly that.

Looking good!

One of my awesome helpers!

For starters, I needed to do something about that wallpaper and I really didn't want to put up any new stuff.  Mainly because one - I'm totally over it, and two - well, to be honest, I'm not very good at putting wallpaper up on the wall.  However, after much thought, I decided to give it another shot, only this time I wanted to try a paintable textured wallpaper.  I ordered some that looks like beadboard and up it went.  I have to give thanks to Tania over at Little Vintage Cottage for giving me the idea.  And as it turned out this stuff is really amazing.  It went up surprisingly easy and it looks fantastic!

See that spot above the door.  Yeah, that was how far
the first roll made it.  So we opened up a second roll just for that spot.

We used our Pampered Chef pizza dough roller to roll the paper onto the wall

I removed the baseboard heater so we could paper behind it.

Of course when I measured the wall I planned to install this on it came just shy of a full roll so I had to buy two rolls ($25 each on Amazon) in order to cover it.  Isn't that always the way?  But no worries because I have a great idea for how to use the rest of that roll, or at least a good chunk of it.  But in the meantime the girls and I got the paper up and let it dry overnight.  Then the next day I painted it Pure White by Behr, the same paint I used in my kitchen.  In fact, it was the half gallon I had leftover from said kitchen.  In addition to the wallpaper I also painted the ceiling, all of the trim, the wall where the pantry is as well as the pantry door and our front door.  It was the perfect amount to complete the job.

Two coats of paint

I took the light off the ceiling so I could paint under it

A new doorknob for the pantry door ($5.98)

Clean, crisp, white and bright that paint made it look so good.  All shiny and new.  But I wasn't done.  I left the remaining wall, the one you see when you walk into the house and after a few days of drying time I taped off the trim and floor so I could paint it an actual color.  I've never been one to do color on the walls, but I decided it was time to venture out a bit.  I painted it a gorgeous shade of gray called High Speed Access by Behr.  And I LOVE it!  Especially once I hung Dracula back up on the wall.  Looks fantastic!

Before

After - love!

The painted wall is a bit lighter but complimentary to the kitchen cabinets.  It is a warm gray too, because I didn't want it to look cold and sterile.  It really adds a touch of class to our entryway.  I have almost a full gallon of paint left along with the almost full roll of wallpaper.  And I have big plans for what I'm going to do with it.  I'm super excited about it too.

And this little putty loves the new entryway too

Soooooo......  on to the next project!