Before and After: Board and Batten Transformation

Wow guys. How deep do I get into this? We have so massively overhauled the front downstairs portion of our house plus the staircase and upstairs hallway that I don't know where to begin. I guess a quick review of all that it entailed, in order:

1. Changing out old interior doors for new ones
Our back hallway was a sea of old doors with old hardware and most of them didn't close, had large gaps in the jambs, etc.

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Semi after

You can't tell but it brought us into the 21st century. The door guy was awesome but he does not do finish work, so Jason had a ton of painting and touching up to do (which he did some time after this picture was taken). I'll also note, all the doors had dated gold hinges and the knobs to the bedroom doors upstairs were gold too. We i.e. Jason changed every single one to a nice new silver. Because consistency.

Ok off to a strong start here.

2. Waiting patiently for the right piano and grandfather clock to come along (key decorating pieces)

Our foyer is kind of useless. I think I've talked about this in the past. What was once the original living room is now just a pass through to get upstairs which makes it hard to furnish. 'Tis a minor detail that no one plays the piano (yet) - when the right baby grand came along (holler at Robyn for that one!) I hired movers and it came home with us.

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Then I found the perfect floor clock on Craigslist. Nevermind I had to drive to Connecticut to get it (the things we do for love!). Then I had it painted.

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3. A new chandelier

The one that came with our house was not my favorite. What WAS my favorite was this huge wooden orb chandelier hanging at Jordan's furniture for $1,500. So what did I do? I bought a knock off from Home Depot for $400 that was kind of a gross brown and then had that painted too (by the same guy in the same color as the clock)!

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After

4. Crown molding upstairs

We have a double height entryway that has always been begging for some fancying up. Right after New Year's we had a very large snowstorm coming and a snow day had been officially declared. Around 9 am, the first heavy flakes were starting to fall. In a panic, foreseeing we would all be stuck in the house for HOURS, and with nothing to do, I said: 

"Omg today would be the perfect day for you to finally do the upstairs crown molding!" and Jason was like "But I don't have any of the materials." 

"Pshhh. So? The snow is only just starting. Go to Home Depot right now! Go babe! It's a race against time but you can make it!"

And while the roads were worsening by the second and everyone in Home Depot was frantically buying shovels, salt, and sand, Jason was marching out of the lumber aisle with strips of crown molding over his shoulder. That's just how we do. 

5. Painting

There's not much to this one. We hired painters :D In one day the walls went from the pre-existing beige to Sherwin Williams Mindful Gray @ 75%. Who loses sleep over paint colors? 

Since Jason was planning to do the custom board and batten shortly (a hybrid of roughly 56 inspiration pictures from Pinterest I had collected) we only had them roll 2/3 of the way down.

6. Refacing the fireplace

In the middle of the woodwork project, on a random day at a random time, Jason said "Well, I might as well re-do the fireplace now too."
"Wow! Awesome honey! Should we go look at some tile like right this instant? Yes, yes we should!" :D

Safety first

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After

7. Board and Batten installation
This, my friends, is everything. This was so involved and so extensive that I'm going to make a separate post about it. I have to, it deserves it. But this lucky post will see only the befores and gorgeous afters. Ready? Per usual they are a little off. I'm not a professional or anything.

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And some general lovely ones:

There is just beautiful woodwork everywhere! I love, love, love everything about it. It brings our living space up so much, to have this board and batten winding through the first floor, up the stairs and framing all the hallways. As I said, this project will soon have a post of its own because Jason did so much work on it, but for now I should think this is the most solid before and after post I've ever done. All the above steps were way more involved than I let on (i.e we had to re-do the frame wall after the new paint, cut our tiles to custom sizes for the fireplace, etc.) but of course Jason makes it look easy. So annoying. 

Next up: laundry room and guest room.

(What? You don't think we're finished, do you??) Happy weekend all!