A Warm Welcome

The entryway: it meets us at the end of a hard day, completely willing to let us check our baggage, literally, at the door. At my house, we drop heavy backpacks, kick off muddy rainboots, pile up library books and mail, and toss our keys down before we bolt up the stairs or down. The entryway is the first impression when guests walk through the door; it's the last impression when we bid them farewell. It's a room that's easy to forget about, but it's a room nonetheless.

Our entryway was another one of those rooms that we treated with haste; we hung some pictures, moved in what we thought we wanted, and called it "good enough." Sure, it's been painted two or three times {what room hasn't been painted at least that many times in my house?}, but as far as real thought and attention to detail, it was seriously lacking. When we did the whole Project Paint the House, I wanted to give real thought to the entryway and turn it into a space that I loved to see when I walked through the door.

Before I tell you what we did, let me show you what the space used to look like.

Upon walking though the front door, a coat closet was the focal point. We painted the closet doors white along with the rest of the doors and trim long ago, making the room a bit brighter. Jackets, boots, hats, gloves, mittens and scarves were stored in the closet; with a full four seasons in Wisconsin, we need all kinds of outerwear! Our artwork consisted of two random prints and a favorite framed photograph of Dave and me. None of it "went" together; we simply put it on the walls and called it done. Once upon a time we had a small desk as a catch all place for keys, phones, mail, etc. and a lovely antique mirror that has been in my family for many years. And finally, we had inherited a small wooden hook rail behind the door for coats and bags. Long story short, it wasn't pretty.

In planning a makeover for the entryway, I knew that I wanted a pretty focal point to lay our eyes upon  when we walked through the front door. In order to accomplish that, Dave and I decided to take away our coat closet and make a little nook at the back of the entryway. We removed the closet doors, the large rod, and one of the large shelves that ran across the length of the closet. A bold move when dealing with all of that necessary Wisconsin outerwear? Not really. We simply installed the coat rod and shelf right outside the door leading into our garage. When we're getting ready to blow this joint, we simply open the door to the garage and grab whatever coats we need - easy peasy. The entryway instantly appeared more spacious, and we were eager to tackle more. We removed the small hook rail and the three mismatched pieces of artwork. The small desk moved into our master closet. We took down the mirror and set it aside for later. With the room cleared out, our next step was adding life to the space through new colors.

In keeping with the new color scheme for the rest of the house, we painted the entryway walls Berkshire Beige, and the inside of the closet got some depth with Berkshire Beige's darker companion, Texas Leather. The railings got a do-over through new black and white paint, adding a bit of pizazz to the space. We purchased two new hook rails and mounted them to the right side of the door leading to the garage, giving us plenty of hooks for backpacks, coats, and bags. The antique mirror was placed on the left side of the garage door, a just-right spot to check yourself out before hitting the road. We decided to paint the doors black {Dave would call it dark brown} to tie them in with the railings. Remember that free dresser courtesy of my friend Emeigh? I painted it black and tucked it into the closet space. It's the perfect home for hats and gloves and mittens and scarves. That favorite photo of Dave and me hangs above the dresser, as well as a collage of our other favorite prints. Ready to see the final product?



Alice enjoys the new space as much as we do.
And I couldn't get her to move while I was taking pictures.



A possible layout

The chief picture hanger hard at work



Less clutter; more function

No more random pictures on the wall. Space to breathe!


We like our entryway a whole lot more now. It was thoughtfully decorated with a plan and style that worked for us. We don't just kick off our shoes and run up the stairs anymore. We take a few extra seconds to say, "We're home."

Paint Reveal

Last time I told you all about the process of choosing new paint colors for our upstairs. We decided to incorporate three colors by Benjamin Moore into our entryway, living room, kitchen, hallway, and bathroom - basically the whole upstairs with the exception of the kids' rooms. After lots of thought, we took the plunge with Grant Beige, Berkshire Beige, and Texas Leather.


Grant Beige by Benjamin Moore



Berkshire Beige by Benjamin Moore

Texas Leather by Benjamin Moore

 
So how did we decide to lay the colors out? Our entryway got a total makeover {more on that later}, starting with the medium brown shade of Berkshire Beige. One special spot in our entryway was reserved for the rich brown Texas Leather, and the outcome was so awesome that I love coming in the front door! The largest space, the living room and hallway, was treated to the light and neutral Grant Beige. It's a perfect pairing for our sage green couches and white trim. We painted the partition wall between the living room and kitchen with Berkshire Beige to make it a bit more of a focal point to the eye as you walk up the stairs. The kitchen received an update with Texas Leather, and we painted the bathroom Berkshire Beige to set it slightly apart from the Grant Beige in the hallway. Here are the results:

Living Room Before:

 Living Room After:

The partition in Berkshire Beige.
I'm still accessorizing the bookcase; ignore this look!

Berkshire Beige on the partition wall reads
slightly darker than the Grant Beige on the rest of the walls.

Kitchen Before:

 

 

Kitchen After:

Grant Beige is on the walls above the cupboards, and Texas Leather rests on the
walls below. The dark gray-brown of Texas Leather is a perfect companion to the counters.

Louisa will turn one on St. Patrick's Day,
so we're in full party mode around here!


The new colors are so much more soothing and fit the bill for the more sophisticated and neutral look we want for our home.

Dave and I have made lots of changes to every room during Project Paint the Upstairs, including major changes to the bathroom. More of those changes coming your way soon! Have you found the perfect colors for your own home yet?