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Kristi Linauer’s finished bedroom-suite foyer is a former hallway that now does three jobs at once: it separates the music room from the bedroom, preserves a controlled glimpse into the suite, and adds a small dressing area with a full-length mirror and a bench for putting on shoes.
The result came through several remodeling stages rather than one makeover. Linauer and Matt bought their 1948 fixer-upper in 2013, then changed the opening, storage, walls, doorways and neighboring rooms as the house’s needs evolved. Her January 2026 account presents the foyer as finished, while making clear that other work in the house was still planned.
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What the foyer was before the bedroom suite
Before the suite existed, this area was part of a hallway reached through a narrow cased opening from the music room. The hallway served three bedrooms, a guest bathroom and several closets. One closet contained the furnace intake duct, so the passage was not simply decorative circulation; it also carried the practical infrastructure of the house.
That original arrangement explains why the finished foyer cannot be understood as an isolated entryway project. Its proportions and door locations were shaped by rooms that changed purpose around it. Linauer describes the finished space as the transition at the entrance from the music room, not as a newly constructed room with an independent footprint.
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How the remodeling unfolded
Linauer’s before-and-after story is a sequence of decisions made over multiple remodels. Each stage altered how people moved through the house or how an adjoining room was used.
| Stage | Change Linauer describes | Effect on the eventual foyer |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 purchase | The house was a 1948 fixer-upper; the area was a hallway off a narrow cased opening from the music room. | The future foyer began as shared circulation serving bedrooms, a bathroom and closets. |
| Opening widened | Linauer widened the opening so Matt could maneuver more easily. | The connection to the music room became more usable and less constricted. |
| Earlier closet remodel | A large coat closet was removed and built-in cabinets were installed. | Storage and wall space were rebalanced before the final suite work. |
| Accessible-bathroom conversion | The couple moved a wall forward while converting an adjoining bedroom into a wheelchair-accessible master bathroom. | The boundary between the former hallway and neighboring rooms changed. |
| Final suite conversion | A flooring and subfloor problem in the former home gym prompted broader work. Built-in cabinetry and interior doorways were removed or opened, and French doors were added at the music-room entrance. | The surrounding area became the bedroom suite, with the foyer as its entrance and buffer. |
The first intervention: making the opening workable
The earliest change Linauer highlights was widening the opening from the music room. Her stated reason was maneuverability for Matt, so the alteration addressed everyday movement before it addressed appearance. That distinction matters: the opening was not widened merely to create a more dramatic sightline. It was changed to make passage easier.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchBecause the account provides no dimensions, it is not possible to calculate the opening’s width, turning radius or compliance with any accessibility standard. The reliable point is the design intention: a constricted connection became more accommodating.
Storage changed before the suite was finalized
In an earlier remodel, Linauer removed a large coat closet and replaced it with built-in cabinets. This was a significant change to the hallway’s storage strategy. The cabinets occupied the former closet zone, while the hallway still had to serve several rooms and retain access to the furnace-intake closet.
Later, when the suite work began, the built-in cabinet and interior doorways were removed or opened. The sequence shows that the cabinets were not treated as untouchable permanent features. They solved an earlier storage problem, then gave way when the larger bedroom-suite layout became the priority.
The wall moved as an adjoining bedroom became a bathroom
Another turning point came when the couple converted an adjoining bedroom into a wheelchair-accessible master bathroom. Linauer says they moved a wall forward during that work. The wall shift changed the relationship between the passage and the rooms beside it, making the eventual suite boundary a product of several connected projects.
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Linauer provides the accessibility context but not a plan, measurements or code documentation. Readers should therefore view this as a description of the home’s design process, not proof that the finished bathroom or foyer meets a particular jurisdiction’s accessibility requirements.
The flooring problem triggered the final transformation
The final round began with a problem in the former home gym: a flooring and subfloor issue. Instead of treating that repair as a small, isolated fix, Linauer and Matt used the opportunity to rethink the surrounding area as their bedroom suite. They removed or opened the built-in cabinet and interior doorways and added French doors where the music room now meets the suite entrance.
This is why the project reads as a before-and-after transformation even though it happened in stages. The finished image is the result of accumulated changes to circulation, storage, room assignments and thresholds.
What the finished foyer does now
It creates a visual buffer
Linauer’s central reason for liking the foyer is separation. She writes, “Since our bedroom suite is off of the music room, I really like having this foyer as a bit of a buffer zone that adds some separation between the music room and our bedroom.”
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsThe French doors establish the entrance, while the foyer interrupts a direct view from the music room into the bedroom. Visitors can glimpse the bedroom from the music room, but they do not see the entire room at once. That is a measured form of privacy: the suite remains visually connected to the public part of the house without being fully exposed.
It extends the walk-in closet
The foyer also functions as a small dressing-area extension. Linauer placed a full-length mirror outside the walk-in closet because a mirror would not fit inside the closet. A bench gives her a place to sit while putting on shoes.
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Those two items make the space practical rather than purely transitional. The mirror supports a final outfit check, and the bench supports the act of getting dressed. Their placement also shows how a passage can take on useful functions when the adjoining closet cannot hold every dressing activity.
It marks the entrance to a reconfigured suite
The foyer is the threshold for a group of rooms that no longer match their original purposes. The former guest bedroom became the walk-in closet and laundry area. Another former bedroom became the master bedroom. The former bedroom on the right became the accessible master bathroom.
| Original room or area | Role in the finished arrangement |
|---|---|
| Hallway off the music room | Foyer and transition space into the bedroom suite |
| Former guest bedroom | Walk-in closet and laundry area |
| Former bedroom | Master bedroom |
| Former bedroom on the right | Accessible master bathroom |
| Former home gym area | Area affected by the flooring and subfloor problem that prompted the final suite work |
Seen this way, the foyer is the organizing hinge between the music room and a collection of reassigned rooms. Its importance comes from the flow it creates, not from its size; no measurements are supplied in Linauer’s account.
Why the before-and-after can be hard to follow
One reader asked for help following the structural changes and said floor-plan drawings would make the flow easier to understand. That reaction is understandable because the project has two overlapping timelines: the physical hallway changed several times, and the rooms around it changed names and functions.
A useful way to read the layout is to start at the music room and move inward. The original narrow cased opening became wider. The finished entrance now uses French doors. Immediately beyond that threshold is the foyer, where the mirror and bench sit. From there, the suite leads toward the master bedroom, walk-in closet and laundry area, and accessible master bathroom.
This sequence is a conceptual walkthrough, not a measured floor plan. The feature does not publish dimensions, a scale drawing, exact door swings or a complete diagram of the furnace-intake closet. Those details would be necessary for construction planning or for checking whether a similar arrangement could fit another house.
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The design trade-offs visible in the finished space
Privacy versus visual openness
The foyer intentionally avoids both extremes. A solid wall would provide more visual privacy but would disconnect the bedroom from the music room. An entirely open passage would make the bedroom more visible. Linauer’s solution allows a glimpse while keeping the full room out of direct view.
Maneuvering room versus storage
Widening the opening improved movement for Matt, while removing the large coat closet and later the built-in cabinets reduced or relocated storage in the area. The project therefore treats circulation as a priority, even though storage had been important enough to justify built-ins during an earlier phase.
Decorative threshold versus everyday utility
French doors give the entrance a distinct architectural moment, but the foyer’s daily value comes from less dramatic elements: a mirror and a bench. The space works because the visual transition and the dressing functions reinforce each other rather than compete.
Adaptability versus a fixed final plan
The remodeling history shows that a successful solution can remain open to revision. Cabinets that made sense in one phase were removed when the suite plan changed. A flooring repair became a broader opportunity. The finished foyer is described as complete, but the overall house was still evolving.
What “finished” means in the January 2026 account
Linauer called the foyer finished in an article dated January 21, 2026; January 25, 2026 was also displayed on the page. In that dated snapshot, she noted that smaller bedroom projects and other work remained.
She reported plans for the studio bathroom to become an interim guest bathroom. She also planned to turn the original hallway bathroom into storage for Matt’s equipment and the hot water heater, and to do additional floor refinishing. These are plans described in that article, not confirmed information about the home’s status after publication.
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That distinction keeps the before-and-after focused. The foyer itself is presented as complete, while the wider renovation story remains unfinished.
What is—and is not—documented about the materials
The feature identifies French doors, a full-length mirror, a bench and earlier built-in cabinetry, but it does not provide brands, models, prices or retailers for those items. A reader looking for a similar setup can use an entryway bench or foyer bench as an inspiration category, especially one sized for sitting while putting on shoes, but the original bench should not be treated as a named product.
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The same caution applies to the mirror and French doors. The account explains why the mirror is outside the closet and where the French doors were added, but it does not establish a manufacturer, hardware set, finish specification or purchase source. No renovation cost, dimensions, schedule or resale-value result is supplied.
A practical reading of the completed tour
The most useful lesson in Linauer’s tour is not a particular door style. It is the way a circulation problem, an accessibility need, storage decisions and a flooring repair were allowed to inform one another. The former hallway gained a clearer threshold, a more comfortable route from the music room and a small amount of dressing space without becoming a sealed-off corridor.
For readers studying the before and after, the finished foyer can be understood as a layered solution:
- Movement: the opening was widened so Matt could maneuver more easily.
- Transition: French doors and the foyer create a distinct step between the music room and bedroom.
- Privacy: the arrangement permits a glimpse of the bedroom without exposing the entire room.
- Dressing: the mirror and bench extend the walk-in closet’s usefulness.
- Adaptation: former bedrooms and a hallway were reassigned as the household’s needs changed.
Because the project belongs to one 1948 fixer-upper and lacks published measurements, it should be read as a documented personal renovation story rather than a universal layout prescription. Linauer’s finished foyer works because it responds to this home’s sequence of rooms, the couple’s mobility-related needs and the way they use the music room and bedroom suite.
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