New Front Door & Foyer - Inside

One of the first things I was going to do when I moved into the new house was to replace the front door. As it was, it took almost a year to finally get around to it, but the good part about that was the house design had evolved by then, and so the delay turned out to be a good thing.  In the intervening time, I decided to make the old kitchen and dining area into a pottery studio, and so added a door to what had been an open passageway from the small foyer (important to be able to close that space off, especially when the kiln is running).  And as I mentioned before, I decided to bump the entry door 2.5 feet out to make a more spacious foyer (less claustrophobic).  Note the ugly foyer light—had to go!

The initial work was outside.  I didn't start work on the inside until the new door was in place.  I could then remove the old double doors and dismantle the old door wall.

I then added drywall to the extended foyer walls, but decided to leave the old rough plywood ceiling (that had been outdoors) because it was flush with the inner ceiling.  I just gave it a skim coat of joint compound to smooth it out.  I could not yet put drywall on the part of the door wall over the small dog window because I needed to have access for installing the new doorbell button, and I could not do that until the stucco was finished and a hole drilled.

There was now 2.5 feet of the old porch inside the foyer, and it was a couple of inches lower than the inside floor, and covered with the same tile.  So I had to pour some concrete to level it up, but first I had to remove the tile to get a good bond.  Time for my 20-pound demolition hammer!

With the floor level (my concrete job was not perfect, so I had to grind off a couple of high spots), and the stucco up on the outside, I ran the doorbell wire, insulated the wall, and finished putting up the drywall.

After that, the next major step was to prepare the floor for tile.  I removed the old ceramic tile (again, with the demolition hammer) and discovered a layer of vinyl tile adhesive and backing.  Removing that was an unpleasant job that I did a little at a time with a beefy carbide scraper and a chipping hammer (the adhesive was brittle).

I then snapped centerlines on the floor and laid out the tile, determining spacing and how much I needed to cut off the border tiles.  Cutting tiles is no fun if you don't have the right tools; for years I used the old score and snap method, with nippers as a secondary implement.  When I tiled my parents' laundry room, I bought a diamond-blade sliding table wet saw, anticipating the tile jobs I would have to do here.  It's so nice!  And cheaper than hiring a professional for just one tile job (how I rationalized the purchase).

Tile going down.  I did this in about four sessions, over several days, so I could take my time getting the tiles spaced out, leveled, and cleaned up before continuing.  No rush—I'm not trying to make my living doing this.

At the near end of the foyer is the long hallway and living room, now floored with tile and carpet respectively.  Both areas will be getting bamboo flooring.  To make a neat transition from the foyer tile to the bamboo, I used an aluminum edge that gets set in the thin-set mortar under the tile.

And here is the finished foyer.  It's the first finished space in the whole house remodel (after a year of work), and while it's also the most modest space, I still stop and look at it frequently.  (hopefully that novelty will wear off as I complete other areas :-)