Little things like the entry way seem to trip me up the worst. We had this ugly flooring...
BEFORE:
Ok. This picture doesn't show its true ugliness. The truth is, the floor was fine, however, with our new kitchen floor, it became an instant eyesore. Clearly the two didn't match. (This is our kitchen floor on the bottom...)
For those of you who've emailed me about that floor, it's by Shaw and it's called "Mountain Lodge Durango." Email me if you have more questions!
Anyway, we had just what we wanted in the kitchen...but the entry presented a problem. This is why I love our flooring lady. It would've upped our price considerably to tear up, pull out and replace the entryway floor. Such a small space, but seriously expensive.
By the time we were picking flooring, we were more money conscious than ever, so we were on the hunt for an alternative to transform this guy...
BEFORE:
(I wish I had a better shot of just the entry. I wasn't composing this blog post in my mind when I was taking before shots.)
Carpet/Tile Lady suggested we have the guys sand it down and stain it a color that would match the kitchen. "Because they're not right next to each other, no one will ever know."
Genius. I mean, if money is no object, get the matching floor...but if you want to spend your thousand bucks somewhere else (I had a couch in mind...it ended up being a dishwasher and garbage disposal!) this is a great alternative.
At first, I HATED the way it looked. I was so worried we'd made a mistake, but I think the stain just needed a couple days to settle. And now? I love it.
AFTER:
(Sorry about my pile up of picture frames waiting for homes there in the lower left!)
We also painted the trim, the walls and changed out this light fixture. I think it made a huge difference, but it was super easy to do!
I wanted to create a good balance of light and dark so I left some of my dark elements in the space and tried to make it all flow right into our living room. Because when you're standing in the front entry, this is the view:
For now, I've decided to use my little chest (which houses important papers, mailing supplies and office type "junk" (paper clips, stapler, etc.) right here because it fits well and it's functional. However, I may replace it with a little antique bench down the road if I can find one.
AFTER:
I put a "mail catcher" basket right on the top just for bills. No other mail is allowed in there. But then, when I go to pay bills, I just take the basket with me and I'm good to go.
For us, our home is about our family, so we want to fill it with pictures of the people who live here. Next month, we're having professional photos taken so a lot of these older shots will be replaced. I can't explain how excited I am about that!
But in the meantime, this is, I think, a nice way to say "Welcome Home."
