~the hallway~

When we moved into our house, it was actually divided into two apartments. One upstairs, one downstairs w/ a side entrance for the downstairs.

The upstairs used the front entrance. In order for that to work, the previous owners had to cover, board over 3 doorways in the front hall, so that it wasn't accesible from the downstairs. First thing we did when we moved in was open two of the doorways....the one leading from our bedroom to the front hall and the one connecting the front hall to the downstairs living room....But, the doorway connecting the front hall to the dining room needed a bit more work, as they had paneled over the doorway on the dining room side.

So this project was put on the "little bit later" list......Ever since we moved in, I always felt like the front hall seemed cut off from the rest of the house...it just seemed like closed in space....

Well, one day a month or so ago, Jake was nice enough to tackle the project for me...While I do miss the extra space in the dining room for the buffet, I like having the doorway open, it makes the house feel more connected....it gives a certain flow to the rooms, ties them all together....

Here are the before and after pics:

Before:

(standing just inside the front door, looking into the front hall)

See the door behind the bookcase?  That's the one that is

boarded up on the other side.

After:

Before:

(From the dining room side of the wall)

The door was behind the buffet, right next to the other door in the pic.

After:

(Excuse the messy dining room.....we still have to trim the doorway up, since I'm sure they removed the trim in order to make it flush w/the wall when they covered it up.)