The Challenges of a Two Story Foyer

So sorry for the “radio” silence, but in all seriousness I was feeling very overwhelmed and quite honestly a little sad after our move from Louisville to Virginia Beach. When friends in Louisville asked us where we were moving to they felt not one iota of sorrow for us because of our proximity to the beach, I guess being land-locked will do that to a person after a while… Well anyway, I have my head firmly above the water now and I feel like I’m making progress after being here for three months. We’ve done a lot of little projects (like replacing lighting and painting), but have some big ones on the list that I’m just starting the planning process for (like flooring and kitchen updates).

This is our story about changing out our light fixture and painting the walls in our two story foyer. While this is our second two-story foyer home where we have changed out the foyer light, this was my Hubby’s first attempt at doing it himself. Having said that though he and I have changed out many (many, many) light fixtures over the years and most of the time it is a very straightforward process… turn off power, remove old fixture, install new fixture following original wiring plan (i.e. white wire to white wire, black wire to black wire, ground wire to ground wire) however being up two stories makes this a tad bit more complicated.

Here is a shot of the foyer light after I had already started the painting process, basically I finished all I could do up to this point.

My hubby considered quite a few options (some of which I would say would have been not very safe), scaffolding was the front-runner until he spoke to one of the guys at or local United Rentals and explained to him what we were trying to accomplish… needless to say this was the tool of choice (Oscar didn’t care for it not.one.bit.).

It’s a personal lift (JLG FT140), I truly think he just wanted to try this bad boy out, it is pretty darn cool, it breaks down into 3 manageable pieces, it’s battery operated and comes with 2 batteries and a charger. He also used this rig to finish up the painting, as I had painted as high as I felt comfortable with an extension pole… overall the cost savings was pretty significant to DIY the lighting install and paint the foyer ourselves, saving money always makes me happy!

The lift worked perfectly though, it was a tad wobbly when it was fully extended, but it was very safe and worked like a charm!

The foyer, downstairs & upstairs halls we painted a very neutral color, Benjamin Moore Classic Gray (#OC-23 in Eggshell).

The front door I painted in Behr Blackout #N510-7 (Satin finish) which adds some contrast and overall interest to that wall.

The walls and ceilings have a swirled (shell) plaster finish to them, which was both a pain and sort of a blessing when we painted these walls. We had to use a thicker nap roller which made the roller much heavier and I had to be sure to get into all of the nooks and crannies which used a lot of paint and took extra time, but I was able to start and stop without worrying about lap lines which helped when painting the 2 story area.

We purchased  the chandelier from Shades of Light (we have one here locally in Virginia Beach), it looks like driftwood but is really metal painted to look like driftwood, we love the coastal vibe of this light!

So this project was most challenging so far, but I’m excited it’s complete and we can move on to the next room!

As always thanks so much for stopping by…

Until next time!