Our entryway used be a tight, awkward little hallway,
…with useless pony walls on each side. They just visually tightened an already small space.
The pony walls went to the curb within a month of moving in – a small task that made Jamie a little nervous. Especially when I bought a crowbar and a sledge hammer in front of him at Home Depot. If I recall, his exact words were,
“Why did we buy this house if we have to change it?”
I know, that was 10 years ago. He’s singing a much different tune these days.
In fact, I came home from work one day to find that he had already removed the pony walls… by himself.
But it took us another 9+ years to remove the odd header that hovered over those little walls. At one time, there were decorative “cage-like” railings that sat upon said walls and stretched up to the header. If you’ve ever watched HGTV’s House Hunters you know what I’m talking about. It was an attempt to make a small house look like she had an actual formal entryway. You know, without closing it off too much.
1972 solution = bars. In case you’re wondering, a cage is never the solution…
Anyhoo, there that header has sat – or hung – over our heads for 10 years. With standard 8 foot ceilings, we need all the visual clearance we can get. After making sure it wasn’t load bearing (I learned that phrase from HGTV too) I set about ripping it down.
Remember, I still had that crowbar and sledge hammer….
And I used them to do this…
Stripped off all the drywall to see what we’re working with.
Sure, we like “industrial”, but this is just a little too rustic.
Over the course of a few days, Jamie will tell you it took several weeks, I gently removed the massive boards and patched the four inch wide hole with smaller boards, a run of drywall, and then a layer of drywall mud.
Then I sanded,
Followed by more mud, and more sanding,
And eventually even more mud, and, you guessed it, even more sanding……
When I was fully satisfied with the texture, I wrapped grocery bags around the can lights and gave the whole ceiling several coats of ceiling paint white.
Have I mentioned that you should routinely paint your ceilings? Because you should.
First thing.
It makes a tremendous difference reflecting light in an old house. (Especially an old house that was built when smoking was popular.)
Eventually we could hardly tell that there had ever been a header there at all.
If you didn’t know to look for it… you’d never know what used to be there.
I know, I’m impressed too.
Did a fairly decent job of matching the texture on the walls too.
Notice that I took this time to add crown molding in this room too. Used the same technique as in the master bedroom. I can’t stress enough how much it cleans the edges of the room. Do it!
On to our next project.
Lord knows we have time…..
THE CAVENDER DIARY 
It turned out super. I have the same issue only a much longer span. What is your wall color? I’m so done with gray.
It’s Martha Stewart “Fawn”. They don’t make it anymore, but Home Depot can still mix the color for you. just ask. Depending on the time of day, and the light, I think it looks like khaki chinos or a paper bag from the grocery store.
Thank you. Its really pretty and rich.
Looks just awesome! What a difference! Your place looks just awesome. A Big LOL about how James has come around to your way of thinking. And it only took a crowbar! Ha!
Always enjoy your posts, your home renovations, and musings.
Best,
Really does open up the space! We have a similar feature in our entryway, I’m going to look into taking the header out, too. No pony walls to contend with, tho, thank goodness! 🙂
Where did y’all get that front door? We have one of those standard, builder grade metal front doors with the wood core, you know? And on top of that, it’s solid, no windows. Ugly! I told the hubs I want to replace it with something mcm, which is the look I’m going for on our exterior…. Plus the entry could do with a little more light coming in, too. I do want either patterned or frosted glass for privacy. Anyway, long story short, LOVE what you did! 🙂
Thanks, It was a freaking mess, but every day I’m glad I did it. We found our door at a Builder Surplus place a few years ago. There’s a post about it somewhere on here (search “Mahogany”) We ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!!! The one before was just a fiberglass builder’s grade number from Lowe’s…. with fake stained glass. UGGHHH! The only good thing about it was that we painted it red every Christmas… and Crayola Orange the rest of the year.
Great job! Looks amazing!
looks great!
Funny title! Funny article! Inspiring project! Going to show it to G.O.!
I finally have the time to catch y’all up with our updates. Glad you enjoy.
Being such a large piece of wood, was it not structural?
I know it looks like it should be. A structural beam (load bearing) will have other beams resting on top. This one didn’t have anything. It was thick so it wouldn’t bow from the distance it was spanning.
Looks great. Did you cover up the closet that was In the space?
No, just took the doors off and removed the header. It’s got a curtain with grommets thru a big pipe for a door now. Same thing I did in the master bedroom. It’s in one of those ceiling pics, just looks like a window.
Wow, you really transformed that house, did a great job on those designs, drywall, and lighting. Is the entire house finished now?
Thanks Roy. We’ve remodeled both bathrooms, updated the kitchen and just put in a pool. It’s close to finished….. certainly FAR from where she was 12 years ago.