The front hall is not finished, as we still need to install the baseboards and paint everything (white on front door, baseboards and spindles; lighter colour on walls), and some day down the road we plan to replace the front door. However, I thought this would be a good chance to show the progress thus far. We didn't take the greatest before photos of the house, but here are a few pics of the front hall from the day we took possession. As you can see the front hall was an enclosed space separate from the living room and stairwell.
Here is a dusty pic of the front hall with the plaster removed. It was at this point that we knew the walls were not load-bearing and could be removed; once Meredith heard this, there was no stopping her from taking it down.
Here are a few pics of Meredith's parents, niece and nephew helping us take out the wall.
It's funny looking back at these photos because I remember giving Meredith a hard time that she was going to need to find a carpenter to finish the stairs because that was "beyond my skill level". After another year of renovating the house, I decided that I had developed the required skills to finish the stairs myself. Of course, along the way we also installed electrical, insulated the walls, installed drywall, primed/painted the walls, installed hardwood floors, and installed slate tile. Here are two pics of the front hall today, including the new mirror. Please ignore the ugly sheet covering the front door ... ugh ... we need to get some cheap blinds until the door is replaced.
