Farmhouse Style Makeover Plans For My Suburban Foyer
Wouldn’t you think that if you were remodeling and redecorating every single room in your house, that you’d start with the room that every single person sees when they first enter your home? Yeah, I would – but, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m a bit of a rebel. 😀 My foyer has actually taken a seventh row seat behind the total makeovers of my kitchen, breakfast area, laundry room, family room, dining room and office. Click HERE if you’d like to take a look at the final reveals of the other rooms that we’ve completed.
There’s a reason that I made the decision not to do the foyer first though. Until I actually had the other rooms decorated, I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of look I wanted to wind up with in the foyer. Now that those other rooms are pretty much complete, I’m ready to get started in here!
The best way to show you what our foyer currently looks like is with an overhead shot, because my foyer is oddly shaped and hard to photograph. Obviously, this is looking straight down from the top of our stairs.
What you can’t see in that shot, is what’s under the landing at the top of the steps. Our foyer is actually L shaped. When you enter through our front door, the stairs are to the right, but straight ahead, the foyer narrows into a little alcove before opening into the family room. Yes – those are my two “helpers’ that follow me everywhere.
We are fortunate to have a coat closet in the foyer, but the problem is – it’s filled with our own coats! Not much room is left for adding more when we have company. One of the first projects that we’ll tackle is to add some sort of a board and batten treatment on the wall that’s to the left of the front door – the one with the opening into the office. I also want to add trim above the opening (and the rest of the doors in here) to make it feel taller. As you can see, I have a bit of an issue to figure out where the ceiling below the stairs drops down to it’s normal 9′ height.
Adding a few hooks on this wall will give our guests and easy place to hang coats and pocketbooks. I’m planning to do this on both sides of the office opening.
Well…surprise! The board and batten was installed yesterday! The entire wall will be caulked and painted white before too long and then I’ll add the hooks. I’ll go into more detail above the sizes and types of trim that we used in a later post.
Another area that we took care of yesterday, is the two story wall where the front door and a window at the bottom of our steps is located. We added trim to the top of those as well.
And the doors in that little alcove that I mentioned? They received the trim treatment too. 😀
Here’s what’s left to do:
- Caulk and paint the board and batten wall white, to match the trim.
- Replace the chandelier, replace the can light in front of the coat closet with a flush mount fixture and add a matching flush mount in the hallway at the top of the stairs.
- Replace the area rug. The current one just isn’t working well with two dogs.
- Add hooks to the board and batten wall to the left of the office opening.
- What am I going to do on the board and batten wall to the right of the office opening???
- Build (maybe) two benches – one for each side of the office opening.
- Do something on the big honkin’ wall going up the steps. Gallery wall???
- Made a decision about whether or not to add sconces to either side of the mirror above the gray chest.
- Add an outlet inside of the coat closet. That’s where our modem and router are located. See that extension cord running around the wall beside the gray chest?
- Add some sort of drapery or shade to the window at the bottom of the steps.
- Add accessories!
I look forward to you following along with our foyer makeover journey! Have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments!
I can’t wait to see how you make over your foyer!
‘Love the board & batton. Keep up the good work!
Love the trim added to the doors!!!! I am going to give serious thoughts about doing something similar!!!! Thanks!!!! As usual, can’t wait to see what you come up with!!!!
You made the right choice to Board & Batton in the front foyer leading into your office. Making the final decision is a big step if you’re like me, so many ideas swirling around in your head. I really like the simpleness of the chest tucked under the stairs especially the way you decorated it for Christmas. When people enter your home this setting provides of the rest of your decor. Exciting to see what you will do next!
I like what you have all ready done. Waiting to see the project completed!
Looking great – can’t wait to see the finished project. Love the door trim.
Love the Board and Batten wall and the trim above doors. Great ideas. Can’t wait to see completed project.
Love board and batten.
Love what you’ve done so far. Can’t wait to see the finished space. Absolutely love that dresser too. Funny I have two helpers at my house just like that. 🙂
I’m not real exited about my foyer. Looking forward to following along with you to get more good ideas.
Great decision to add the trim!
. Looking forward to the finished product.
Foyer looks great already…Looking forward to the finished product
Love your projects! I’m anxious to see it all completed and what you decide your finishing touches will be. You’ve given me the motivation and numerous ideas to “change up” my foyer. Keep the ideas flowing!!
Who knew that one of the smallest spaces in a home could take on such a big personality! Just love the board and batten detail! Can’t wait to see the finished space!
love the trim around door and window (I wouldn’t have thought to add it to the window). Totally makes sense! Pinned it!
It is a bright and welcoming space to enter into. I do like the way this project is going. Good Job.
It looks amazing! Love the board and batten, and the addition of the trim. Our foyer is similar to yours. I just repainted a dresser in ours as well as the mirror. It too is one of the later “rooms” to be redone in our home for the same reasons.
Great transformation! Love all the wood details .
I love all that beautiful trim work you’ve added. I can’t wait to see the wall after it is painted white. That’s a great idea and very do-able! You are such an inspiration to me!! Reading your blog has made me excited again about my own little house!
Love your space. Love your stairs also. I have closed wall stars on both sides. After watching several Fixer uppers and seeing yours it make me want to open them up. I think it would make the place look bigger and brighter. Love your little dog also. Happy Friday.
LOVE the board and batten!! I did that in my guest bathroom last year and love it. Your home is beautiful. Cant wait to see what’s next.
How lucky you are to have a nice big foyer! It’s looking really nice, after you paint it will look even more amazing.
I, too, am in the process of installing board and batten in my family room. I had always been led to believe that when you are installing additional horizontal boards, you play off the lines already there…for instance, the horizontal wood in the divided window lites. I used that rule to determine how high the top board should be on my wall, using the middle line in my windows, which conveniently hit just above the light switches! Everyone thinking of this treatment might want to consider this when planning.
I think after you start to add your final decor, something will jump out at you for that wall to the right of the office door. Look at the “Fixer Upper” gallery of photos-you’ll most likely find some inspiration there in all the gorgeous things she uses in her fabulous farmhouse makeovers.
I’ll be anxious to see it all finished. It’s a lovely home.
I have a big wall I’m trying to figure out. I’m not lazy at all, but always dusting a ton of frames on a gallery wall doesn’t sound fun. I’m thinking of a few large pics. Can’t wait to see what you accomplish!!!
Those all great ideas that you are planning to implement. I’m sure it will be lovely after you finish. I love the board and batten treatment that you have already done!
I’m curious about your black banister- I’m tempted to paint mine black. Do you like yours? If so, what prep is necessary and what kind of paint & sheen did you use?
Hi Marilyn. I can’t tell you how much I love it! It originally was stained wood. Prior to painting it black, we painted it with Kilz primer. We didn’t sand it or anything. For the final color, we used two coats of black paint in gloss finish. So far, it’s holding up just fine. It’s been close to 2 1/2 years since we painted it and there are no chips in the paint in all.
Your foyer changed dramatically with the addition of the trim! Amazing. Can’t wait to see the painted walls.
Fun stuff! LOTS of decisions to make. 🙂 You’ll do great, I’m sure!
Can’t wait to see the results!
Love your ideas. Thanks for sharing.
Looking really good! Would you please consider doing a feature on how you beefed up the trim around the doors? Would love to try a similar move since I have a spot with high ceilings. My doors look wimpy against the height, and could use the extra trim to give them more presence. Thanks.
Hi Jae. I plan on doing another post at some point identifying what types and sizes of trim that we used. 😀
Exciting! Love your walls on either side of your office! Can’t wait to “follow along”.
Your foyer is looking great. I can’t wait to see the progress and the final project.
I love your board and batten! It looks great! I can’t wait to see the finished foyer!
Love your style! Can’t wait to see the final reveal!
Wow! What an amazing change just by adding the board and batten! Applause, applause.
Thank you so much for sharing and giving the rest of us ideas and the confidence to apply them. 🙂
Looks exciting!
Love the board and batten. Excellent taste.
Love the added trim! Love the idea of adding hooks on both sides for coats, etc. I especially LOVE that bookcase/barn door that I see through the opening with the board and batten!
I love your wall paint color! What is it?
Hi Kate. The wall color is Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige.
Hi Suzy. I keep coming back to your foyer. I love it! I’ve been eye balling your dresser right below the landing. I’ve been wanting to start up again on my finishes, but could not find the right color. Do you happen to know the grey-blue color and type of finish used on your dresser? I would love to know. You are such an inspiration to me.
HI Denice. You’re so sweet! The chest is painted with Sherwin Williams color Software #7074.
I love your foyer ideas. I have been having a hard time trying to figure out what to do about my foyer, as it is dark, nothing seems right. No way to add a window. I adore your “helpers”!!
Out of all the entryway board and batten examples I have found I love yours the most! Anyway you could share the dimensions?
Thanks so much, Hollie! Can you tell me specifically what dimensions you’re looking for?
Thank you for replying! The total height and of the board and batten wall, then the height of each of the 3 grids and width of a grid as well as width of the trim. I am trying to DIY my entryway and hoping it looks like yours!
Hi Hollie. I apologize for not replying sooner – crazy times around here lately! Before I give you all of the dimensions, please know that many of the measurements were dictated by the fact that we have a two story foyer, but also have a portion of the ceiling that drops down to 9′. The total height of the board and batten, from the floor to the very top of the trim is 91.5″. The total wall width from corner to corner is 136.5″. The width of the wall on each side of the doorway, from the corner to the edge of the doorway trim is 41.5″. The interior height of each box is 22.5″ The width of the boxes varies due to the width of the wall on each side of the doorway. The width of the three boxes is 9″, 15″ and 9″. We used 1′ x 4″ mdf boards to create the boxes. The same size board was added above the doorway and is topped with a piece of brick molding. Hope this helps!