Entryway Makeover?

I've been contemplating a makeover of the entryway in my apartment as a birthday present to myself. Something along the lines of these goodies from Ikea, I'm thinking...

...and possibly some black tile on the floor to replace the blackish indoor/outdoor carpet currently residing there. My hallway has turned into the "gallery" of black and white photography that I love while allowing the rest of the apartment to contain lots of color. I'd like to sharpen up the look a little bit and make it a little more functional (including getting rid of the "Leaning Tower of Pisa" coat tree).

Now, I think my hand has been forced...

Yesterday, I started noticing a water stain on the ceiling right next to the front door. Throughout the day, it crept lower and lower on the wall. Meanwhile, the neighbors upstairs won't answer their door (we had this same problem the LAST time there was a water leak...grrr!), and my landlord is in Hungary. The wet smell started getting a little annoying, too.





Today, the annoyance turned into a major problem. You see, right above the front door is the fuse box to my apartment. And right next to the door is, well, a tangle of wires going to who knows what. This morning the water and the wires met, and the result was a bright orange flash and a big bang coming from the wall. The electrical box hidden in this wall is normally covered with a plastic faceplate (like the one you see behind the light switch in the first picture). The "minor explosion" in the wall knocked it halfway off (two of the four screws came straight out of the concrete), and I finished the job to see what was left back there and make sure nothing was smoldering. I also pulled up the carpet, hoping to salvage it before it got too wet.

(If you look closely, you can see a rusty drop of water forming at the top of the box.)

As you can see, the wiring was a little scary to begin with. And the water just finished off the job. I now have no power in the back half of my apartment (that is, every room except the living room!). Sound familiar? I lived with only power in the living room for almost 4 months last year. That time, I ran extension cords & plugged the refrigerator and washing machine into living room outlets. I'm not ready to do that, especially given the fact that the fuse box to the entire apartment is still in the "path of destruction" and I could easily lose power in the living room too at any time. I'll be emptying out the freezer in a couple of hours and bringing stuff to my teammates to either store in their freezers or eat (I'm a sharing person, but I'm keeping those 2 pints of blueberries that I paid a half a fortune for last week and then spent several hours removing stems, leaves, bad berries, etc.!).

Since it's 100 degrees outside today (and has been the last two days, as well), I really won't miss having my stove or oven. I'm not likely to use the dryer soon, either. But, 100 degrees without a refrigerator or freezer? Oy...at least I can plot my entryway makeover which, from the looks of things, might be happening sooner than I planned.