Our home is an extension of our self, so why not make sure you are representing yourself in your own home? Just like our bodies need maintenance to stay healthy, so do our homes to be happy and a source of good energy. I felt that our home had “lost that lovin’ feelin” after 5 years and so I spent the summer updating it…
The very first impression of a house is at the front door and entryway. I want to make it as easy as possible for friends and neighbors to feel welcome to stop by and visit.
We had a door latch that was broken so that once the deadbolt was unlocked, you could just push the door open. Well, you had to push reeeeaaaaallly hard but it opened. Some of you can probably write an entire essay on the meaning behind a broken door latch.
All fixed. I bought a new latch and we installed weatherproofing around the door frame. Finally, we installed a sweep at the bottom of the door to seal the opening there. Now it is easy breezy to open and close the door.
For the entryway itself, we were dealing with a lot of clutter and ineffective storage. I had redone it a couple years ago to look more colorful, but it ended up looking like too much going on. Here’s the before:
On the other side is an curved wall with a cut-out to show the hallway wall that was also a little unorganized. Here I was playing with putting the host chairs from the dining room there, as well as the little table from our screened in porch and the paintings from the living room. We ended up doing just that.
After painting the house and after moving the existing furniture piece elsewhere, I began shopping for a statement entry piece of furniture that had drawers. At first, I had my heart set on this piece below, which I must have visited in the High Fashion Home showroom 3 times. It’s a Cynthia Rowley credenza.
At one point, when I was about to purchase it, I thought to search for it online just to see if there was a better price elsewhere… and yes there was! It was $800 cheaper at a North Carolina furniture store. High Fashion Home would not budge on their price, so I bought it in June from the N.C. store for delivery in October, which is when Hooker Furniture was creating more pieces. Turned out that HFH wasn’t going to have it any sooner and they wouldn’t part with their floor sample.
I loved this bubble mirror, also from HFH, and bought it at 1/2 price.
All was good until I saw this Asian console at Reeves Furniture, a funky store in Houston where they refinish old pieces (although this one was in great condition and needed no work). I absolutely loved how different it is and the finish, the color, and the quality were excellent. I visited that one twice.
I was trying to match it to my new couch pillows and those 2 host chairs. It’s not the same, but close enough, I decided. And it was a good price. I cancelled the first piece and purchased this one. I am very happy with my decision.
I was supposed to pick up the mirror from the warehouse the following day, which was a story in itself (rain, wrong pickup address, crack in mirror, etc. Long story short, here I am bringing the new mirror home 6 weeks later.
I didn’t love the drawer pulls that came with the console piece. After a rather exhaustive search online, I thought about painting them with a faux finish silver that I’d bought to use on the master bath mirrors.
I tried that and didn’t like where that was going, so I went with the rounded silver handles instead that you see below.
Here’s the finished entryway. The mirror is large enough that the wall doesn’t need anything else. The drawers are home to bug spray, chalk to decorate the driveway, a few scrapbooks, 2 umbrellas, and lots of empty space.
In part 2, I’ll show you the accent decor on top of the console and the new feature wall of photos behind the curved wall.
