Hey friend, I'm Tessie! Along with my family, I'm in the process of renovating a 100 year old historic home. I'd love to share the process with you!
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The minute someone walks into my home, the stairs and piano room are the first things they see. It started as a bit of an eyesore but now I’m in LOVE!!!
Here’s what it looked like when we first moved in. Weird pink color on the walls, a cheesy saying with gold lettering and an old tired light fixture. It definitely needed a stair makeover.
I knew the carpet on the stairs needed to go, but I also knew it would be a BEAST to remove so I waited for quite a while before tackling it.
Ripping out the carpet was slow and messy work! I could only do one or two steps per night, but as soon as I saw the original wood under there, I knew it would be worth the effort.
This is one of the darkest areas of our home. The original stain glass window is GORGEOUS but it doesn’t let in much light. Once I learned the banister wasn’t original, I had no problem slapping on a new coat of paint to brighten up the space.
And here is the after!!! So much better right?
I added a gallery wall of vintage frames on the stairs and filled them with black and white photos from our family’s history.
I also replaced the light fixture with my favorite chandelier of all time, the VENICE CHANDELIER. If you haven’t heard the story of it, you should definitely go read this post.
The space next to the stairs is quite small, but it’s the perfect spot for our piano. I also splurged on an giant picture of Christ. The artwork is Sweet is the Work by Yongsung Kim and I love how the white tree blossoms reflect the blossoms in the chandelier.
I wanted to keep things simple over the piano and ended up arranging vintage glass in rainbow order. Some pieces are meaningful from my Grandma Ethel or from family trips, but most of the pieces are antique store finds that I’ve gathered over the years.
I just can’t get enough of colored glass. It makes my heart do a little leap every time 🙂
The piano needed something to ground the colored glass and I was thrilled to find a lace table runner at an antique store that was the perfect size!
To jazz it up a bit, I made my own pom poms for an added bit of whimsy and fun. Does anyone else love pom poms as much as I do?
The only tragedy about this room is that no one currently living in the house plays the piano 🙁
I had high hopes of making all my children learn piano and they all took lessons for various amounts of time, but Isaac broke me. Once he quit, I couldn’t keep anyone else going besides my oldest daughter, Cora.
But when Cora comes home to visit, I melt every time she plays and sings. It’s just soooo beautiful!
So…. in the meantime, we’ll have to be satisfied with Bonesy playing it 🙂
If you’re just catching up, here are the previous posts in the “before and after parade!”
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing about my nail painting station and the nail polish brand that has changed my life. Seriously… I love it so much.
See you tomorrow!
xo, Tessie
Whether you're sprucing up a closet or tackling an entire room, I designed this workbook with you in mind. I know fixing up a room can be overwhelming, but this workbook will give you a head start in organizing your thoughts and gaining confidence to dive head first into decorating your space.
These are the ways I feel called to LOVE DEEPLY. My mission is to help you create beauty and peace in your own home—because I believe everyone is worthy of love and joy.
Once again, amazing transformation.