COME INSIDE... My Entryway

Hello all!

I want to say hi and welcome and thanks to my new followers!  I hope you enjoy browsing around my blog (small as it is yet, I hope for LOTS more to come!)

I have a couple of projects completed to show you, but I also wanted to start a little "mini-series" I'm calling Come Inside.  

~ photo from last spring - I know, Get a New One ~

A bit of background on our current home:   We purchased this house approx. 8 years ago.  When we first bought it, it was a tiny tiny little bungalow.   I'm not sure if you are familiar with bungalow style, but basically they are small.   ;)   Very adorable and LOADS of potential, but it was literally about 900 square feet.  There were no closets in any of the bedrooms, the bedrooms themselves were about 10 x 12 and the entire place was filled with dark, DARK colors.    There are also no hallways, so the bedrooms and bath (one at the time) is literally RIGHT off of the main living area.  Still it is situated far back from the road which is nice and the house itself sits on the far corner of the property, so it gives the impression of a big yard.   TONS of hard work and lots of dollars brings us where we are today.  

We did hire an architect at one point to help us with the addition design.  But I am also lucky enough to have a hubby with great visions of what our home could become.  He is a bit of a know-it-all  had a very clear idea of what the house could become and I have to say that we are pretty darn close! 

I have alot of before and after shots to show you all.  Unfortunately, the BEFORE shots are mostly from another camera, not digital and will have to be scanned.   :(   I'll be working on alot of this over the weekend!

I am also planning to "update" alot of the rooms again (you don't realize how much wear and tear 7 years, 3 people, 1 child, and a dog can bring!).    I'll be showing you photos of each room, exactly how it stands now and what my plans are.   In an effort to "keep it real", these photos are literally EXACTLY how the room is on any particular day.  I did not clean (sorry), I did not "fluff" in any way in the before shots.   Please forgive! 

So, we now move onto..... The Entryway

Now this room didn't even exist when we purchased it.  We basically went sideways and up when we put the addition on.   The paint color will remain the same - I just LOVE it.    I will get the manufacturer and color information if anybody is interested.   We are aiming to keep the "feel" of the house casual, warm and not in ANY way formal.   So, this room as it stands will not change TOO much - probably just some updates to the accessories.

I love that it's a nice big area.  People arriving have plenty of room to mill about and the stair case is not IMMEDIATELY in front of you the way it is in some houses.    It's also got a neat feature.    These windows on the side of the room...

... are actually the exterior of the "old" house.   They look into the dining room and it was the architects suggestion to leave them there.  I'm so glad we did!   The downstairs has a VERY open floor plan and having a great big WALL there (instead of windows) would have been too closed in.

Right now I have temporary "window mistreatments" in the making.     I love the way this black and white check looks against the paint color and also the lace valances.    I should probably hang them up someday.

I try to tackle as much as I can by myself without involving the Hubster.   I purchased these finials (from Lowe's) to use as a decorative "hanger" for the scarf treament, assuming that I could simply measure and screw them into the woodwork easily.

I cannot screw them into the woodwork easily.    So they've been hanging as is for about a week, in the hopes that hubby will remember to simply bring in a drill or something and help me get them up there.   It feels good to have a plan for the window at least, so we are off to a fine start!   I simply folded the fabric so that any raw edges do not show, and I plan to add a small piece of trim along the bottoms (just the part on the side that will hang down).

Another vey cool aspect of this room is the high, HIGH ceilings.    It stretches all the way up to the roof of the second floor and we have the option of closing that "above" space off and creating another bedroom someday if we ever want to.   We don't want to, but it's nice to have options.

My problem now (clearly) is accessorizing the space in a better way.   The wreath and dodads you see were placed when the railing was finished about 5 years ago and never really thought about again.   I may leave the large brown wreath alone and I have a pretty sign that will go on the shelf...

Another option for this sign would be here...

Above the door (this is the front door once you are inside).  More shelving all around to accessorize as well.   We added side windows to each side of the door to let light in and also a large window above.

Another favorite thing about this space is my hutch.   It is a "hand me down" that came from my great grandmother.    The wood however seems way too dark for this space and I am hoping to paint it something similar to the trim color, an off white.   

At this point, I want to ask that you PLEASE tell me now if you have any opinion either way about this!!   Seriously, I have struggled with this decision for over a year.   I think it would look lovely in a much lighter tone, it would "fit" in better with the rest of the space, and my pretty dishes would show up nicely with a lighter background.  I don't, however, want to ruin a family heirloom.  Once it's painted, I can obviously never go back to it's "wood" origins.  Just sayin'.

A quick word about these dishes.  They are from my husband's side of the family and were originally his great GREAT grandmothers.   My MIL tells me that the pattern is the same as Martha Stewart has in one of her homes.   Don't know if this is true or not, but they have some special meaning to us and I really like the colors.

Another area that I struggle with is this...

There is ALWAYS a pile of shoes right when you walk in the front door.   So I thought a basket would help "control" this a little better.   I think I need a bigger basket.

I apologize for the bad lighting.   This shot just shows another view of the front door (from the inside) and the staircase to the second floor beside it.  If I had my way, I would probably paint the banister and railing white too.   But it's too recent a memory of when we didn't have a banister at all and all the time it took to stain the wood a "WOOD" color LOL!   So I do not dare mention this yet.

The above is another shot of my half done window and the shelving above it. 

So there you have it!  That is our entry way (we are trying not to refer to it as a foyer) and I will show more photos as it becomes complete.

I'll start on the kitchen, dining room, and family room over the weekend!   I hope to get the old photos scanned so that I can show you the real BEFORE before shots.   Whenever I get impatient, it helps TREMENDOUSLY to look at those old pics to remember how far we've really come with this place!

Bye for now and hope everybody has a great Friday!

 

Thanks for stopping by!  

Smiles and Hugs,
Joyce