Before & After

before

& after BEFORE

AFTER: The owners painted the stair risers creamy white to match their wall trim and repainted the stair rail for an oil-rubbed bronze look. Because of the two-story height, the wallpaper was removed and walls painted by a professional crew. An inherited grandfather clock fits nicely by the front door niche, replacing the glass wall cabinet.

BEFORE: The lovely woodwork was practically invisible, and the flocked wallpaper really monopolized the view.

Welcome Change Step by step, a couple erased that ’70s look from their entry hall with grand results

BY JOETTA MOULDEN • PHOTOGRAPHY BY JANET LENZEN

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Your entry hall is what visitors see when they first enter your home and it is worthy of your attention. Melissa Taylor and her husband know this truth and did something about it. They first heard about me from their Realtor, who had given them a copy of Houston House & Home. After we discovered that there was wood under the carpeted stairs and that she could paint the railing, Melissa got right to work.

“The flocked wallpaper was original from 1970,” Melissa explained. “It had a very formal feeling that did not suit our style. Since the wallpaper was neutral and it would be difficult

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BEFORE to remove without professional help, we worked around it for several years. The white wrought iron railing and carpeted stair were a very dated look that I just hated,” she said. She wanted a beautiful wooden stair railing and banister, but she was shocked at the high cost. Melissa quickly warmed to the idea of buying a small jar of paint for under $20 to give the railing a whole new look.

The couple had the carpet on the staircase removed, and shortly after they had the wooden treads refinished. The first thing Melissa painted was the metal railing with a jar of Modern Masters Collection Metallic Paint in “English Brown.” She then painted the stair risers to match her home’s trim, Sherwin Williams “Off White” semi-gloss latex enamel (be sure and tell the person behind the counter the color is in the old fan deck.)

TIP: You can paint anything if you use

AFTER: A landscape print replaced the family photo on the den wall and new paint on the walls and railing add simple elegance to the space. Even the chandelier seems more current and less formal now.

BEFORE: The painted white railing, wallpaper, carpeted stairs and dated flocked wallpaper were spoiling this dramatic two-story entry hall, giving it a very formal, retro vibe.

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the right paint and primer.

The couple did their entry hall in stages. Later, the walls were stripped of the wallpaper by professionals, who then textured, primed and painted the walls with a Sherwin-Williams flat latex wall paint, computer-matched to Benjamin Moore’s “Saybrook Sage” (HC -114) paint.

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before

& after

“I loved your written homework assignments,” Melissa explained. “As an avid do-it-yourselfer, the homework takes awhile and having your written guidance complete with sketches is great to refer back to when your memory dims,” she said.

TIP: You can do projects in stages. In this case, first the stairs and rail-

ings were completed, then the wallpaper was removed and the walls were painted.

The couple did not have a budget for their project because it was done in stages. “Having the treads refinished was much more expensive that I thought and much messier than I wanted it to be. The great surprise was there were great wood treads and finished risers under the carpet and no carpentry was required,” Melissa explained.

She said that having professional help with the plan and color choices was invaluable. “I think your color recommendations were much more subtle and longer lasting than what Alex and I would have selected on our own,” she said.

“I think doing the foyer in stages taught me that changing even one small thing—like the color of the wrought iron, can change the feel of the entire room. You helped me come up with ways to “calm down” the busy pattern of the wallpaper by choosing complimentary paint colors for the adjacent rooms and the rail color.” She was able to paint those on her own even when she did not have the budget to hire the two-story foyer work.

“Our friends and family were quite shocked at how different the entry hall feels and looks. I am always thankful that you see each room as an extension of the whole house and thus force me to see colors for how they look from one or two nearby rooms,” Melissa smiled.

TRADE SECRETS • PAINT—it consistently gives the most bang for the buck. If you use the correct primer, you can paint just about anything.

• THINK GREEN—painting your existing stair railings and risers keeps them out of the landfill and saves money, too.

AFTER: Paint can go on anything if you use the correct primers. The couple was delighted there was attractive wood instead of basic sub-flooring on their stairs, which saved them thousands of dollars. Refinishing wood floors costs pennies on the dollar compared to installing new flooring.

• SOMETIMES THE MOST EFFECTIVE STRATEGY is not to gut your room but to first rethink the pieces that are already paid for.

Joetta Moulden offers home makeovers using your own home furnishings to create the home you’ve always dreamed of. Joetta believes your pieces collected through the years reflect your personality and can be artfully arranged. Her ability to focus on your personal style and not let her own preferences influence the design of your home makes her unique.

See more makeovers on her Web site at www.shelterstyle.com, e-mail her at joetta@shelterstyle.com or call 713.461.2063. If an initial appointment or referral is booked by May 31, a 15 percent first meeting discount will be given. Shelterstyle.com holds a "Pages of Happiness" rating and, for the fifth consecutive year, a “Super Service Award” presented to 5 percent of companies that achieve and maintain a superior rating on www.angieslist.com.

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