Our Staircase: Reno Series Vol. 3

Greetings and happy Friday!

Today I'm continuing our Renovation Series, i.e.  the never-ending project that is our house. Luckily we have made a lot of progress, even just over the past few months.

Other than the kitchen, the renovation of our staircase probably makes the second biggest difference in the overall appearance of the home. The stairs are the first thing you see when you walk in, and they were bad. The spindles were thick and far apart, Cooper could fit right between them and there were gaps between each stair. Super safe. The carpet was brown shag. Need I say more?

As I began research on how to remedy our situation, I was surprised to find that I could literally, replace our staircase; my husband was thrilled! And that's what we did. Take a look at the before and after pictures:

Right when you walked in the front door BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE view from office:

AFTER view:

Who's sad I didn't keep the lovely yellow paint? 

I love the end-result, regardless of the huge headache it was doing this project while living in the house with a toddler and a newborn. Chew on that for a bit.

Paint colors used:

Benjamin Moore Clay Beige (Walls) - Note: we darkened the paint 50% because we have a ton of natural light come in the front of the house.  

Benjamin Moore Alabaster (Trim/stair spindles and risers).  

Here are 5 sources of some of what you saw in the pictures:

Chandelier / Sconces / Paintings / Gold Decor / Rug

Thanks for stopping by! We have a few more projects to do around the house, but in the meantime, I am just trying to finish one room at at a time in - I'll share pictures as I complete them.

You can check out other posts in my Renovation Series here (the kitchen reno) and here (the simple front door reno).

Have a great weekend!

Keep in touch! Follow along on Happy Haven Blog's Facebook page.

Our Kitchen: Reno Series Vol. 2

I'm excited to finally get this post up!

We bought our house last July, literally negotiating the contract while in the hospital after we had Ben. How's that for multi-tasking? We bought it knowing we wanted to renovate, and our first step was the kitchen.

Looking back at the before pictures, I wonder if our friends walked in the house and then nervously wondered what the hell we were thinking. Because it was bad y'all. Truth be told we fell in love with the back wall of windows and the beautiful view, and just figured the rest of it could slowly be updated to the house we love. And, it has!

Here are before pictures from the family room, with a view of that gorgeous yellow wall and the kitchen is just on the other side of it:

This wall blocked tons of natural light and broke up the space. We decided to knock it down to create the open floor plan we wanted. This is a load bearing wall however, so we did have to incorporate column structures in the design.

After:

In addition to the kitchen (and fireplace) demo and reno, you can see all trim was painted white, floors were stained and window coverings installed. It doesn't even look like the same space! (Thankfully).

There was another wall running vertical to the one we knocked down and it separated a small dining room. On the other side of the old dining room was a sitting room; which would equal 4 total sitting rooms in the house, way too many. I decided right away I wanted to extend the kitchen into the "old" dining room, and make that sitting room our "new" dining room. So, we knocked down that wall as well. Why not, right?

After:

Our awesome designer came up with the idea to create a little desk space and a comfy reading nook, I LOVE this space. Behind this wall is a walk in pantry.

Oh my gosh the kitchen looks so bad in this picture. You can see how unnecessary that wall to the right was! We didn't change much logistic-wise on the window side of the kitchen, just everything on it. 

This window is such a special place in the kitchen. And a lifetime dream came true with that farmhouse sink. Best decision I made. 

I hope you liked the tour! 

We are so happy with the room now, the kitchen is the central, most used space in a house - and seeing it come together has been wonderful. Though I'd rather forget the days we used the laundry room to wash dishes and a hot plate to cook meals. Short term pain, long term gain was my motto!

Oh, and if you are in Denver and looking to renovate and need help designing the space, I highly, highly recommend Elizabeth Lord. She rocked, was easy, and did amazing! 

You can check out my Kitchen Inspiration Board here. I'll be linking the kitchen specifics very soon! 

My Front Door Make-Over: Reno-Series Vol 1

We bought a house last summer that we adore and have been slowly renovating ever since. Let me tell you, this whole "home-renovation-thing" is for the birds. It's a good thing I love this home, this location, and this 'hood because we may have been splitzville by now!  

I'm going to be sharing some of our renovation here on Happy Haven and I thought it only appropriate to start with how all our guests come into the home, the front door. 

You. Guys. There was a pair of screen doors in front of the wood ones, that screeched and slammed every time someone walked through. I was always praying that darn door didn't wake up my babies! Why I didn't think of just taking them off sooner, I have no idea. But I finally did and we actually thought the wood doors behind them were nice, decided to leave them on, and throw some paint on them.

We recently painted the exterior of the house a neutral gray, so I decided I wanted a color that would just POP (buuuuttt just in case I also sampled some tried and true black paint colors that would obviously look classic). 

Here's our before pictures:

And our afters:

Yes I did!
I chose a bright cherry red color, which I think looks so charming from the street. Who forgets the house with a red door? 

(Bonus points for anyone who spies the white dog creeping in the pic. All, meet Bella. Bella, meet my cyber-friends. And in other news, our aspen tree's have finally started blooming!)

A door color can add so much character to the home, and I think it's definitely the place to go bold.  I kinda compare it to an all black outfit with bright turquoise earrings. And, as my mama always says, the cheapest thing to change is paint. Thanks mama!

Paint colors in case you are interested:

Front door - Caliente (how appropriate), Benjamin Moore

Home - Pewter Tankard (darkened 50%), Sherwin Williams

(Runner up was Brick Red, Benjamin Moore)

Isn't it fun? How long until I change it to a matte black? And I'm so curious if anyone else has made a bold color choice: where? and what color? 

Happy Wednesday friends!