One of the things I love most about living in Vancouver is how close we are to the mountains, to the ocean and to nature. Although it is a busy city, full of cars and people, it is in the perfect location: tucked between the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. The coastal mountain range has some incredibly beautiful peaks, there are a myriad of trails for both hiking and biking, and endless inlets to explore by kayak. Since living here, I have taken up scrambling, kayaking, backpacking and lately biking. The big problem though is where to store the gear. As I mentioned before, space is limited in our home. So while looking for ideas for our small entryway I ran across some nice ideas for bike storage. So that small project of fixing the wall in the entryway? It really was a big project in disguise! In addition to fixing the wall, we decided to go ahead with painting the full stairwell, removing the popcorn ceiling, changing the lighting and so on…. Once you start, it never stops!
We found a place to put our bikes! I was always wondering what I could do with this large empty space. This is perfect! 
Wow! the wall looks smooth!
So, after many weeks, in between entertaining a four year old and working, we have done the stairwell. Painting, ceilings, new lighting and electric baseboards installed…. But of course, we are not yet finished! Trim, baseboards and a few other small details. Oh, and these white caps on the half walls – they certainly cannot stay like that. Then there is the carpeted stairs…. I read the other day that it is more organic to be constantly renovating, to always have something on the go rather than to complete a whole project at once. So the lack of trim around the door? – we are just being more organic š
So here is our small entryway. We adapted some ideas we found online. We used an Ikea shoe cabinet and replaced the top with a poplar board stained to match our cabinets. The mirror is an Ikea mirror with the veneer frame sanded and stained to match the board we put on the cabinet. I love to see my bike hanging there every morning when I walk downstairs. It has inspired me to get out and ride more. Okay, not that much more… but once or twice more is better than none!