My wife and I recently remodeled our back entryway, partly because it needed it and partly as preparation for remodeling our kitchen. We replaced 25 year-old linoleum with laminate flooring, stripped off the textured wallpaper, painted the walls and doors (after repairing some pretty big holes and cracks hidden by the wallpaper), and put up some wainscoting. I also added a built-in bench with storage under the seats, which I think is pretty sharp.

And since I know that I would be curious, here are the details of the products we used:

• The flooring is Tarkett’s “Heritage Maple” laminate flooring.
• The wainscoting (also called beadboard or just plain paneling) and chair rail are both from The Home Depot.
• The paint is Glidden’s Drum Beat Red with their grey “Gripper” primer underneath.
• The red rug came from Wal-Mart, but I can’t find it in their online store.
• The curtains are from Brylane Home.
• The bench was just made out of surplus lumber from one of my father-in-law’s many wood storage sheds, but the hinges are from Ace Hardware.

This post isn’t sponsored by any of the companies above, but I’d recommend any of the products I just listed. We managed to make good choices with just about everything that went into this project, with the possible exception of choosing to have me do the work.