Warming an Entry

In a rental, where walls are generally white, it’s important to warm things up with soft touches such as curtains, pillows, soft chairs, and clusters of art.

My entry is no exception. I live in a rental and our landlord doesn’t allow painting, (I may have broken those rules in my bedroom, but white is easy to repaint, and my bedroom is in the back of the house, so it’s not as obvious as the front room) so I had to come up with ways to make the area inviting, without overwhelming the small space. We’re lucky that we have four big windows in the entry, which keeps the room nice and bright, but to soften things up I needed to add a few things. I chose patterned curtains to incorporate a little color. These were made from fabric from IKEA that was on sale for $3 per yard. Across from the window I added a small table topped with a longer piece of wood to create a place to drop keys, store magazines and books and display art. I want a bold yellow chevron rug for the front door, but that will have to wait a little bit.

Underneath the windows sit two Goodwill chairs I bought years ago for around $10 each. I added a couple throw pillows (an old pillow with a $5 cover from IKEA and a round pillow I bought at a yard sale for $1) and the look was complete.

The shelving unit on the opposite wall is a story in itself; it was one of the original upper cabinets in my parent’s house when they bought it back in the late 70’s. They completely gutted the place (my dad’s a designer and architect and built the home I grew up in). In the process, they saved this lone cabinet and it now lives in my home as a bookshelf. If you can’t tell by now, I love pieces that tell a story and I hardly ever buy anything new. There’s no fun in new. (The arrangement needs work, try to look past that).

Above the bookshelf, I arranged art on the walls in a gallery style. You’ll recognize the two bulletin boards I painted last week. This wall also holds a frame made by my grandfather -- I'll be sharing that with you later in the week. I made the mirror, with the help of my Stepdad, a woodworking novice. We had so much fun making this mirror, which is just a $14 simple mirror from IKEA framed out in trim from the hardware store and backed with a sturdy piece of wood. A few years ago I stained it a warm chestnut, but painted over it in yellow as this entry needed a pop of color.

Of course, if you come to my house next week, things will probably look completely different. But changing things up is my idea of a good time, so I do it a lot. Just ask my roommate.

If you have any questions, or think I should do something differently, please let me know in the comments section.

Happy Monday, everyone; hope you all have a great week!