Welcome, Come On In
Hello. In the last post I showed the full renovation plans for each floor of our house to wrap up all of the room by room discussions we have had. Now, we are back to looking room by room as I show you what my plans are to decorate each space. Today's post will be quick and simple. We are going to start with the entryway. If you missed it or need a reminder, here is the post about the renovation plans for the space and here is the post showing what the entry currently looks like.
My plan going forward with the decorating posts is to show you a mood board with the overall feeling I'm going for, a board of what we already own/have to work with and then some inspiration pictures and commentary. I will also plot out the furniture layouts on the renovation floor plans as best I can.
I am going to attempt to use the furniture we own and purchase as little new furniture as possible. I've mentioned in the past that I tend to develop a sentimental relationship with furniture. I can point to every piece in my house and give you the origin story. I don't love all of the origin stories, I love most though. We actually sold and donated a bunch of furniture when we moved in to this house which was painful for me. I tried really hard to keep only what I thought we would use though and after it was all gone I was more proud of myself than sad the stuff was gone. It is only stuff after all. As we go through decorating plans for the house I will undoubtedly share an origin story or two and a desire to purchase something new a time or two.
I think the entryway is one of the most important spaces in the home. It sets the tone for your visitors and should give a real indication of what it will be like to spend time there. The thing I want to convey the most when people come in is that they are welcome. We are happy to have them. We want them to feel at home and comfortable, to sit where ever they want and stay as long as they want. All of that being said, here is the mood board for the entry:
And here is what we have to work with for the furniture:
We have these two small tables, the top left one came from The Farm. We brought some furniture from my parent's house in Florida up to West Virginia after my dad died and there was no longer room for this table at The Farm. The table on the right came from my parent's house in Florida where it had been in their entry for several years. The mirror was purchased when we lived in The Second House and has not been used since we moved out of The Fourth House. I really want to use this mirror and am hoping it will not look too big over one of the tables.
We have some rugs that are being stored in the basement right now and it was not going to be easy for me to access them to take a picture, so here is a picture from our entry in The Fifth House. This rug would fit perfectly in the entrance here. If it doesn't look right, we have a few vintage rugs that are options too.
We have a lot of blue and white lamps and blue and white jars and pots in our arsenal. When everything is finished, I will figure out which placements for each of them make the most sense for the hall and also the rest of the house.
We are planning on opening up the stairs to the basement and I want to replace all of the Newell Posts and Balusters so the stairs will match on all three floors. This is an inspiration photo of what I want it to feel/look like. I want the treads to be wood and the other stair parts painted and to feel casual.
I also want to find a unique light fixture for the space. The fixture will have to be centered with the second story arched window. I love the idea of the lantern type fixture on the mood board and I also love the idea of something completely unusual - love the unusual idea much more so actually. I should probably mention here too that we want to have wood floors throughout the first floor, with the exception of the powder room and mudroom areas. Ideally, I would love the entryway portion only to have herringbone wood floors.
If the two tables we have do not work out/look right, I have had my eye on this table from Crate & Barrel for a long time:
Here it is in action on their website:
We plan to paint the entry an off-white tone, like Swiss Coffee from Benjamin Moore. The same color has to be used for the upstairs hall and downstairs entryway and given the fluidity between the entry and the family room and kitchen, the paint color may end up being used throughout all of these areas so it needs to be neutral.
Here is the furniture plan drawn onto the floor plans:
One room down! This concludes the decor plans for what I am aiming to be our casual, welcoming entryway. Next we will move into the library. I hope to see you there.
Thank you so much for coming by today,
Kerry
