And our house was blowing it. Big time. 

Since this is the first week for our blog, we wanted to look back at a project that we tackled during our first week of home ownership that we feel made a significant impact on our home and how people were introduced to it. No better post for our first "Project From the Past" than to fill you all in on the work we started on the first day we owned the house. We were young and innocent (and our budget was essentially $0), so we had to make the biggest impact for the least amount of money.

Since our house is only 15 feet wide, when a guest walks in through the front door they are immediately greeted by an entry hall and a view straight back through the house and up the staircase. You may recall a photo of our entryway from a post earlier this week containing photos of our home inspection. Here is a slightly better perspective of the unsightly view our guests were greeted with as soon as the front door opened.  

Ick. Make that a double ick. From the "too tight of a squeeze" opening into the house, to the nasty pull chain light, all the way down to the filthy carpet on the stairs, our home was a creepy old man sporting a pocket protector and a bad toupee. And something needed to be done about it, pronto.

No sooner had we finalized the paperwork making it officially ours, we arrived at our new home, ready to make a dent in the ugliness that enveloped the property. We actually settled about two blocks from our house and had parked our car just outside our new front door, full of tools and ready to go. 

The toupee, a.k.a. bad rug, was first up on our list. Armed with a hammer and prybar (details on these tools can be found in this blog post), we quickly got to work ripping, pulling, and tearing up the rug and tack strips below. Despite the rough state, we knew we had a diamond in the rough, just waiting to be polished up. 

After applying the paste, the next step is to cover the paste with laminated paper (included), that is left on until the paint beneath it dissolves. If you run out of the paper, you can also use a standard roll of wax paper. The laminated paper is then removed with the bulk of the paste and paint adhering to it, and the stripped surface is washed clean.

We'll summarize it all in subsequent posts, as well as additional details on how you can accomplish similar projects in your own home. Do you think our first few hours and days of homeownership were spent wisely? Perhaps there's something you've done to improve the entryway of your home? Please share your tips and projects. We'd love to hear them.