Finishing the Unfinished

After demoing the built-ins, round two of opening up the foyer involves finishing out the un-finished 16 sq/ft they previously occupied. This is the space I'm talking about:

Things to do include painting the walls, adding baseboards, and figuring out what to do with that bare concrete floor. First up is painting. And this was an easy space to paint because I didn't have to worry about a drop cloth or cutting in. I just slapped some paint on the wall and called it done. Here is what the space looks like with a few coats of paint:

Now to address the one minor issue with removing the built-ins, the concrete floor. This doesn't appear to have an "easy" fix and you can't leave a bare concrete floor in your living room when there is hardwood and carpet all around it. The options to fixing this spot are replacing the carpet, staining the concrete, or laying hardwood. Let me explain. Our house came equipped with a large, inset carpet piece in the living room - I don't know why. Stepping in the front door, there's hardwood, then the carpeted living room, and then the kitchen  has the same hardwood as the foyer.  I hope the builder used carpet for a reason - like adding comfort in the living room - and didn't just put carpet there because they ran out of hardwood. Either way, I think the carpet square looks out of place and weird so that quickly crosses out replacing the carpet.

Staining the concrete, after removing the carpet, is not a good option for three reasons. One, there would still be a space in the living room with a different floor finish (like the carpet square now). Two, we would have 4 types of floor finishes in our house - carpet, tile, hardwood, and stained concrete. And three, the stained concrete would be a step-down from the already in place hardwood. Not good. Stained concrete is quickly crossed off the list as an option.

That only leaves replacing the carpet with hardwood - which I am excited about. Hardwood floors was one of my must-haves on the house shopping list, and now we will have hardwood throughout the open living space! Let's rip that carpet out!

Of course we will install and refinish the hardwood by ourselves, no professional help. I will be sure to post the how-to's for the install and the refinishing. It will be another DIY first.