Picture This

Shortly after we sanded the stairs, we got right to work on the walls. They'd recently been skim coated and were as smooth as a baby's bottom. Time to make them extra special.

Because we don't really have a big foyer, our front entrance needs a big wow factor. Chris and I figured that picture molding would be a good way to make a big impact in a small space. 

I started by painting the ceiling and the walls the same color as the trim we're using throughout the house. (Custom color matched to our windows, cut with 25% pure white). The ceiling got flat and the walls got an eggshell finish. 

 Meanwhile Chris made the frames using astragal molding per his measurements. He affixed double sided tape to the back side of the frames to help him position them on the wall before nailing them in place.

 One down, a trillion more to go...

I left him alone for the afternoon to go look at carpet samples.
I came home to THIS!

Chris said he really struggled with the triangles along the staircase. I'm kinda glad I wasn't around for that... 

 It was looking good, but not as good as it looked once we painted out the frames. Again, we used the wall color in the eggshell finish. (Btw, the paint finish on the walls and molding was a great source of debate over Christmas dinner. Some people thought it should be semi-gloss to mimic painted wood paneling. Some thought it should be flat to mimic plaster molding. In the end, eggshell seemed like a good compromise. I'm happy with that decision).

 Phew. Almost done.
All that is left of this project is to paint out the trim and spindles as well as stain the stairs.
Can't. Wait.