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Ta Da!!! We are ALMOST finished with our back foyer and I cannot believe it! We still have to put the final coat on the hardwood floors. It’s so hard to get to our own floors when we’re doing everyone else’s every day, but we’re hoping Tom can find a little time to squeeze our own house in soon.

I wish I would have snapped a good before photo when we looked at the house for the first time but all I have is this zoomed in photo from the real estate listing. The flooring was shiny prefinished orange stained maple hardwood and we removed it as soon as we took possession.

We lived like this for longer than I care to remember. Subfloor, boxes of stuff for the remodel everywhere, textured ceilings….you get the idea.

We really didn’t know what to use this room for at first. It is small and is a pass through to another small room. We think it must have been the original dining room but when another was added at some point it appeard to not get much use. I’m not a fan of not using a space in a home so we put our thinking caps on and decided to turn it into a back foyer with LOTS of storage.

Tom wanted the built in cabinets to be wall to wall so he framed and drywalled a new wall making the opening to the room smaller.

This allowed us to bring the cabinets all the way, wall to wall, so the side of the cabinets couldn’t be seen from the front door.

This is the other view standing in our new back foyer and looking into the hallway and front foyer.

The next challenge we faced is that sitting room I referenced earlier, the one that you get to by passing through the back foyer. Tom had the idea to make it a secret room by making the cabinets appear to go all the way across the wall.

This view again….all framed up and drywalled.

Hardwood in!! But not sanded and finished. This is the view from the secret sitting room into the back foyer.

See how the wall is built out now? So the cabinetry can be wall to wall and the side of the cabinet wouldn’t be seen from this front door view.

Textured ceilings have been smoothed (if you’ve ever lived through removing the texture on ceilings you understand me when I say it’s like it’s literally snowing inside your house). Still lots to do even in this small room. Baseboards, paint, cabinetry, lighting, replace French doors, new door hardware, sand and finish the hardwood and new cabinet hardware still to go.

Here come those cabinets! And I love them! I took a long time deciding on the color which is very typical when making decisions for my own home. I’m so glad I went with Benjamin Moore Natural Cream. It’s the perfect creamy greigy, light putty color.

I’m so glad I went with Benjamin Moore Natural Cream. It’s the perfect creamy greigy, light putty color.

Here’s a peek into the secret sitting room. The cabinet maker took a LONG time to come back and put the secret doors in.

He had never done anything like this before and even though Tom researched the right hinges and coached him through how he should make them, I think he was a bit nervous to try it and kept putting it off.

He finally came back and finished though and the doors turned out great.

See them there behind that ladder?

Cabinets in, hardware on, light installed, hardwood sanded and finished (but waiting on final coat until all construction is finished) and now time to replace those fiberglass doors with the little blinds in between the glass.

We had the new door panels custom made and Tom and my dad installed them.

I love the paint color in the day.

And in the evening.

You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to hide in this secret room. For some reason everyone passes right by and never thinks to check in here. They’ll just walk up and down the hall yelling “mom” “mom” “MOM!!!”

I really wanted the cabinet maker to add baseboards to the doors as well to make it look like it went all the way across but…….he didn’t.

He did however add my request of “mouse holes” as my family calls them to the baseboards instead of having a vent cover in the baseboard. I love this detail so much!!!

Awww, there’s my cutie Cline with her cutie friend.

And here’s a peek back to the back foyer from the front foyer.