entryway

these were the pros and cons of the house we purchased back in october:

pro:
- great location
- close to the city; shorter commute for steve and i
- decent floor plan
- good lot size

cons:
- EVERYTHING is original
- everything needs to be remodeled...the bathrooms, kitchen, windows, lighting, front and backyard...you name it; it needs to go.

before we purchased this house, we lived in our old house for 5 years and spent those 5 years doing exactly that:
- remodeled 2 bathrooms
- remodeled the kitchen
- replaced all windows
- relandscaped the front and back yard
all of the above was also done by the husband (and some great friends and family); with the exception of the landscaping.

1st thing to tackle: the entryway

 before:

after:

steve put in the rails when we first moved in. there was urgency in that for safety reasons obviously. i hated the old, dirty and cold tiles. once steve started scraping off the tile, the wood underneath was actually in good condition. so, after several weekends / rounds of sanding and staining, we have ourselves a new entryway! my brother helped put up the new light fixture and this antique persian rug was from esalerugs.com. kudos to steve and shoutout to my brother for his help!