WOW WOW WOW. We c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y transformed our entryway like to the point that it’s not even closely recognizably the same anymore and I AM SO HAPPY.
As the entryway, or the foyer (whatever you want to call it), is any guest’s first impression of our home we reeeeally wanted to make it: welcoming, and beautiful of course, but most importantly fucntional. You kind of want to set a tone for what’s to come right?? But you also need a place to put all your stuff when you get in the door.
In an attempt to expand our washroom we knocked down three walls, and added a much more functional front closet (I’m obsessed) as well as another smaller closet by utilizing some extra angles from our very angular space. It was A LOT of work, and renovating during a pandemic definitely proved to be challenging, but wow it functions so much better now, and it’s true what they say : it’s worth it in the end.
Upon immediate entry to the space you are greeted by a double door closet to your right, where we added two modern shaker style doors with beautiful matte black Schlage Hinges, and latitude level door handles (c/o more details below) that open up to stack-able laundry, storage as well as racks for jackets and shoes.
With the addition of a more linear closet everything is tucked away inside helping to really minimize any extra mess upon your immediate entry into our home, but also ensures everything is always accessible. Wait until you see what we were working with before lol OMG the horror.
Next to the front closet is our front washroom (the guest washroom) where we added a stand up shower, and a nice sized vanity (you can see the full Bathroom Renovation Reveal by clicking here) but again it’s such a better use of the space, and looks amazing too.
Utilizing all the angles in our space, we were able to add another closet just behind the washroom, technically it’s just off the kitchen so we use it for recycling, storing our vacuum cleaner, as well as extra food storage for bulk health food items like protein powders which take up SO much space (which is much better then our old storage option which was keeping them on the floor lol).
Having a special designated space for everything is an absolute GAME changer. We’ve worked so so hard for this, and it just makes my heart so happy to know everything functions so much better, and everything has it’s place: especially after living in such chaos for SO long.
ENTRY WAY RENOVATION REVEAL VIDEO
Who doesn’t love a good reveal right??? OMG what a difference??? Let me personally welcome you to our home!! All me to walk you through all the items we chose for our entryway 🙂
*Make sure you switch you YT to HD 1080 so you see the video in the best resolution*
BEFORE + AFTER IMAGES
The photos do give a good picture of the changes we made, but to get the FULL picture definitely be sure to watch that video above.
ENTRYWAY DETAILS + FEATURED ITEMS
PAINT c/o FINISH COAT PAINT
I AM so so so so happy to have finally been able to paint my unit (it’s been a longggggggggg time coming my friends). Most people would paint first (and this makes sense), but because we were adding and subtracting walls it just wasn’t feasible for us because we wanted everything to be the same color and be super cohesive, so we had to wait until the end.
And well then Covid hit, and all of our renovations came to a screeching halt.
As some restrictions have finally lifted here in Nova Scotia, we did get the go ahead to let folks into our unit again, and despite it being slightly terrifying after so long , we honestly couldn’t have been more excited.
One thing renovations will teach you is patience (or at least be prepared for renovations to test your patience).
Brothers Matt & Dave from Finish Coat Paint
ANYWAYS! Back to the paint. Words cannot describe how happy I am with the quality of service, the professionalism of Finish Coat Paint. They did an INCREDIBLE job, and worked so hard to make sure everything was PERFECT. And it is perfect!! We are both so so so happy, and would highly recommend this local family run business.
If you want a good bang for your buck opt for painting!! Honestly it’s the most inexpensive way to make a huge huge huge IMPACT. And having professionals do the work lightens the load so much not to mention they work SO fast. It’s actually SO impressive.
We are so happy we opted to enlist professionals to do our painting! Not only does Finish Coat Paint guarantee their work for 2 years, so if something isn’t right they will come back and fix it, they also use Benjamin Moore paint (our personal fave), and the color we used throughout our entire space was “Chantilly Lace” which is rather sheer so it needed 3 coats. We both work around the clock so we just do not have the time, not to mention we never would have done this good of a job. It’s so perfect did I mentioned we’re so happy?? Forget Christmas I honestly just wanted my walls painted. I am one happy girl.
In addition to the walls, the folks from Finish Coat Paint did prime and paint our popcorn ceiling. We chose not to remove it because honestly I just didn’t have it in me to handle the mess since it takes up our ENTIRE living space, and we are and have been living here throughout this reno (during a global pandemic no less). It’s also important to note that underneath our ceiling is concrete so it would be a lot more expensive (and messy) to add drywall back up there. In all honestly I’ve been waiting 2 years living through all this mess I really just wanted to move forward, and so we decided it was more wise to spend our money on other things (like new rad covers blog post hopefully coming soon).
Painting the popcorn ceiling was the most cost effective, and least time consuming option so it was a no brainer on our end and honestly the folks at Finish Coat Paint made it look so great!
FLOORING c/o WACKY’S FLOORING
If you followed our Kitchen Renovation you’ll remember this flooring is the same as our kitchen (which we are obsessed with btw), but because our entryway fed into our kitchen we had to be really careful about what flooring we chose.
We live in Halifax NS, so the weather definitely gets super messy in our neck of the woods, most notably we get a lot of snow storms and thus we truck a lot of salt into our front hall area. We loved the idea of a darker gray flooring (you know for drama), but the idea of cleaning up salt residue day after day just didn’t appeal to me likewise many folks were surprised we didn’t go with marble tiles here, but likewise we decided a middle of the road soft gray (indoor /outdoor) tile would be the best choice! Durable, fuss free, and beautiful it was a win all around.
As a heads up this specific tile is discontinued, however the folks at Wacky’s would be happy to assist you in finding something similar. You can find them both at their showroom as well as their warehouse. The staff are super helpful, and they also offer install as well so if you’re like us, and like to leave the finish work to the pros: you can totally do that! Conversely if you love a good DIY you can do that too be sure to visit their warehouse. No matter what your flooring goals are definitely give them a shout 🙂
DOOR HANDLES, HINGES, AND SMART LOCK c/o SCHLAGE
I know it’s a weird thing to call a door handle sexy, but like these matte black door handles are SEXY! We love them so so so much and they were exactly what we were looking for, for this space. Super easy to install, amazing quality items (there’s a nice weight to them), we honestly can’t say enough about the hinges, door handles, and how about this smart lock tho???
The Schlage Encode™ Smart WiFi Deadbolt is honestly one of the coolest things we own in our entire condo (and I guess technically it’s outside the condo), but it’s seriously SO FREAKING COOL. Wifi enabled you can lock your door with one touch of a button or use their app (from anywhere). IT’S SO COOL.
This Smart Wifi Deadbolt honestly soothes my OCD soul SO much, honestly the amount of worry this lock minimizes makes this priceless in my opinion. There are so many times where I’m leaving for the weekend and I can spend hours thinking “Did I lock the door” and now I can just use the app to check!! And if I’m in bed at night and I don’t want to get up to check to see if the door is locked I can also just use the app. No more fiddling with keys when your hands are full of stuff when you get home just simply enter your code and touch the unlock button it’s honesty AMAZING. I love it so so so much.
Of course you can lock it by hand!! LOVE LOVE LOVE everything we’ve sourced from Schlage like I mentioned above it’s such high quality peices that function so efficiently, but also look great too!!
Below is a complete list of the items we sourced from Schlahe for our entryway:
- Door Hinges – 3.5” Square – MATTE BLACK
- Custom Latitude Lever with Collins Trim Hall-Closet and Bed-Bath Lock MATTE BLACK
- Custom Latitude Non-Turning Lever with Collins Trim – MATTE BLACK
- Schlage Encode™ Smart WiFi Deadbolt with Century Trim – SATIN NICKEL
For more information be sure to check out the Schlage website or click here.
PRINTS C/O OPPOSITE WALL
Every space needs some artwork right? It’s how we inject some personality into the space. I love these prints from Opposite Wall, and ordering them couldn’t have been easier! All you do is go to their website select the prints you want and coordinating frames and they send you both in the mail. The frames come with a film backing on each side so they don’t get damaged on their way to you, and you just assemble upon arrival. They are SO many prints and frames to choose from so you’ll definitely find something that suits your taste and aesthetics. I love how easy they make it at Opposite Wall to style your space. To check out their prints be sure to visit the Opposite Wall website or click here!
LAUNDRY ROOM STORAGE
Oof did you see what we were working with before??? The horror!! I couldn’t even get my laundry out of the dryer without the risk of throwing my shoulder out, and I’ve been dancing for 15+ years so I’m actually pretty bendy.
For our laundry room/ coat closet we decided to use the space in a more lengthwise way. Previously our coat closet was seperated from our laundry, and there were two doors that would crash into one another, and also a huge chuck of unuseable space, so we combined it all together so we could tuck eveyrthing neatly away inside a closet where everything is accessible at all times. Previously our coat (more of a triangle shape) closet closed off a huge section in the back, so it was just unused space, and when you live in a condo you need all the space you can get!! When you only have 1200 square feet every bit of it counts!!
Storage unit was purchased from Ikea. It is in fact two separate pieces (from the same line) that we fixed together. We loved the idea of having drawers for hats, mittens, and scarves etc, but also have shelving as well.
ACCESSORIES / STYLING
We really wanted a bench with storage, but because of the space we really needed something long, but narrow because the door would hit into anything wider. Hard to find during a supply chain shortage as luck would have it, but we finally found one randomly at Homesense while nosing around for other things!! It was meant to be!
We love the idea of combining shapes so we of course used the every popular circle mirror from Ikea. Keeping the soft tones we like we opted for the oak finish and then paired it with some gold hooks for wet clothing so we can keep it separate from the rest of the items in the closet (winter is coming after all).
These super cute throw pillows were purchased online at H&M Home and 20X20 inserts are from Ikea. It’s so funny because I purchased these throw pillows EONS ago way way way before we ever started renovating or styling this space. I must have had a subconscious vision for what I wanted this space to become 🙂 Given the shortages of things everywhere I was pretty happy to have already had these ready to go I love the cozy vibes they bring to the space, and you can always swap them out seasonally etc! LOVE.
C’est toute my friends!
I think that pretty much sums it all up! If you have ANY questions at all please let me know in the comments below or reach out to me on social @SHORTPRESENTS I’m obsessed with home decor/renovations.
We are also currently up to our eyeballs in trying to get the bedrooms finished at this point so pardon my many typos in this post I am always of the mindset done is better than perfect. To be honest, I’ve never been great at spelling despite having graduated with a major in English Lit, and a Bachelor of Education. Sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches right?? We can’t be great at everything.
Hope you enjoyed today’s renovation reveal, and stay tuned while we work on renovating our bedrooms, and living room/dining room, so yeah basically the rest of the entire condo. No big deal right???
Special thanks to our partners it’s been an absolute pleasure working with you, and thanks so much to all of you for all your support. I absolutely love sharing this journey with each and every one of you!! <3
xx
Kayla
Some items in this post have been gifted, they will be marked c/o. Thank you so supporting my sponsors so I can continue to bring you amazing content! <3
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