Entry Way Mood Board

I present for you, my Entry Way. 

From the stairs going up to the main level of the house. (That's the front door.)

That other door is the door to the garage.

We are a no shoes house. Which is a problem.

This is the hallway to the back of the house - the first door is to a bedroom/office and the second is a bathroom. Featured: Jack Artwork.

So. Yeah. I should probably note that I already DID this entry way. I painted and switched out the sconces last December. The paint was originally a yellowish green (kind of what the stairwell paint looks like in the picture, but is actually Pleasantly Pale Yellow aka The Color Of The Upstairs in real life.) The sconces were these white plastic half moon things. The new ones were the least offensive (and also cheapest) ones I found at Lowe's. Anyway. Slight improvement, but I AM UNHAPPY. 

The paint... I don't know. I couldn't do a gray, because the tile floor is straight up Blah Gray. The whole lower level of the house is pretty dark (on account of a dumb layout and the house facing north and lack of downstairs windows and also being totally surrounded by TREES) and I didn't think I could do a dark color. I didn't want to do anything that would look bad with the yellow stairwell. Except the cream I eventually chose TOTALLY looks yuck with the yellow stairwell. It's boring. I AM BORED. 

So I am thinking...

TA-DA

This is fabric left over from my fabric covered canvas "art" upstairs. I love it so. Bright, busy, multi-colored, YES. So it's kind of hard to tell in this picture I think, but the swirly parts are a dark blue. Not dark enough to be navy, but definitely dark and blue and I kind of want that to be my new entry way wall color. OH YES. 

It's dark. But... I HATE the light color! It doesn't look right. For a while it looked nice with the rug I had in the entry way, but I had to get rid of the rug because it 1) never stayed and 2) was just a giant pine needle trap. (Remember: TREES.) So I'm going to TRY a dark color. It's only paint. I am no longer afraid of paint. 

Besides, I'm going to lighten it up with a lot of white. Please to see:

 

Source: jennasuedesign.blogspot.com via Maggie on Pinterest

 

I love love love that white strip of molding (trim?) (am DIY novice!) along the wall, with the hooks. I think that would look awesome in my entry way. I can't do the board and batten thing, on account of having a house that is not a board and batten type of house. The bench/overhead coat hanger thingy is not working for me. But I LOVE this idea and I love how I could line that whole back wall that goes towards the playroom with hooks. Storage! That looks cute! I envision lining each major wall with a thick piece of white trim with nicely spaced hooks. 

(I love that dark gray, don't you? I think it would look putrid with my gray tile. SIGH.)

I would also add a lot of other white stuff.

This mirror is from Crate & Barrel, but I'm thinking of the much cheaper Target version (that I can't find online.)

Bench. I bought this bench from World Market when I redid the entry way in December. I like it okay. I would rather have a white bench, though, with a cushion covered in some sort of happy print. I might paint this (BLARGH), I might sell it on Craigslist and find something else. I thought it would be great for shoe storage, but it's not. Phillip's shoes are too big, the kids' shoes are too small, plus we have TOO MANY SHOES. I've been throwing some in a basket (you can arrange the shelves any way you like) but other people have a very difficult time putting their shoes back in the basket. Right now we have a hideous shoe shelf hidden in the bedroom hallway. I feel that this is a problem that cannot be solved. 

I've pinned a tutorial on how to make a corner bench out of stock cabinets, but HA HA HA.

Anyway. I am worried the paint is too dark. I am worried my attempts at putting up trim/hooks will look amateur and stupid. But I feel like this is a relatively cheap way to totally redo this space and I want to see how it goes. Eventually, if it looked right, I'd paint all the doors white (I want to do this through the whole house) and maybe find another rug, (although the pine needle issue is as insurmountable as the shoe issue.)

All right, time to ogle swimmers.

 

 

Comments

[HereWeGoAJen]

There is a little wall IKEA shoe cabinet. Have you seen that yet? I'm trying to get my friend Leslie to put it in her entryway because she has the same problem with the bench not working.

http://m.kaboodle.com/reviews/ikea-clothes-storage-shoe-cabinets-hemnes-shoe-cabinet-with-4-comparment

[Christy]

I *think* that a blue would work, not dark like navy, but more like a royal blue, etc. I think the key to this is just what you're thinking: plenty of white trim/accessories/doors. You would probably have to change the lights out again (mayeb to something with more than one light), but that's not that big a deal - you could still use those sconces somewhere else in the house.

[Emily]

The picture with the hooks - that white piece is just a 1 x 4 (or possibly 1x6) that's been painted.

I agree that the tile is the biggest problem - if they had put in WHITE tile or a very neutral beige it wouldn't have been such a big deal.

I think you could probably get away with a darker grey, or a medium grey blue / grey green if you punched it up with white accents.

The sconces just look lonely on the walls - either they need to be larger and more modern/contemporary or you need more wall art around them. If you turn them upside down (you can do that) it would make the addition of wall art easier.

The bench is OK - but yeah, it's dark (so's the shelf).

Changing your front door to something with more glass in it (and having it be white) would help as would changing the doors off your entry to white doors - maybe 6 panel doors (just anything more modern than flat panel hollow core orange tone wood - I have them too and I want them gone). That's a LOT of $$$ though since you have 2 interior doors, one exterior door and one that should be fire rated (garage). You could just paint the doors you have, but with 3 kids I'd be worried about it scratching off and looking awful.

[A'Dell]

We have been storing shoes in beverage tubs for months. Specifically, the red beverage tubs from The Blathering. They are brightly colored, easy to get into, and they corral several pairs of shoes at a time. I liked the bev tub thing so much I bought two turquoise ones - one for toys and one for books.

I like that they're durable (metal!) and seem to stay shiny and bright. Plus, they're big enough that I can repurpose them for a million different things when I get bored. I dig them.

So, if you ditch your bench, three or four of those in different colors below the row of hooks might help out?

[Wendy]

I really like the dark blue walls with white trim idea. Very sharp looking-kind of nautical? If you add more lighting, it should not be too overwhelming.
I'm busy trying to figure out if I can do the hooks on molding type idea in my house now...Our foyer is not tiny, but square and only has one wall, so I'm not sure I'd want to cover the whole wall in hooks. Hmm.. We have a large coat closet, but the kids (and me sometimes ;-p) rarely put their coats and shoes back into the closet. Dump on the floor and away we go!
I love that fabric you chose-could you use it to re-cover the cushion on the bench? For us, it's handy to have a chair or bench by the door for grandparents and great-grandparents who choose not to sit on the tiled floor to put on their shoes!
Have you thought about wallpaper? Or is it not something you like? Harder to undo for sure. Or some sort of stencilly thing that looks like wallpaper but is actually paint? To jazz up the walls a bit?
I enjoy your house decorating posts, so I can get ideas for my house, and snoop into how other people live. (Not a stalker, I promise! ;) )

[Kelley]

Love the ideas! Our basement is not navy, but a medium to slightly darker shade of blue with white trim and we constantly get compliments on it! Also, pretty much every door in my house is white and we have white trim and white crown molding throughout. Our brick fireplace is even trimmed in white floor to ceiling. We didn't build the house (had to move out of state for my husband's job and no time) but it was 4 years old when we bought it and luckily they had awesome taste in paint, woodwork etc!

I think if you add a lot of white accents it will look great. Paint is the easiest, cheapest way to change things as you said....have fun, can't wait to see it!

[Meghan]

Maggie, I didn't read the comments above to see if someone already said this...that's how I roll.
Do you read Thrifty Decor Chick? She is always fancy-ing her house up with trim piece and has lots of ideas and tutorials. I love the trim/hook idea and I think it would look great! Love, Meghan

[Christiana]

I recently got one of those 9-bin contraptions from Target (couldn't quite afford the larger/better iKea version) in which we put our shoes. Each child (2) has a bin, I have a bin and my husband has 3. Because he has clodhoppers. Men!
Is this the room you were going to do a soft, icy blue in? Or was that somewhere else? My head hurts too much right now to go back and look through your archives.

[Carlyn]

I think the doors must be changed to white to make any changes you do look good.

[Colleen]

I love the look of the molding with hooks. I also adore the dark blue with white trim. I think it would look great to spray paint the bench white and cover the cushion with the fabric that you are picking the blue out of. I would get a cute indoor/outdoor rug that looks like sisal to help cover up some of the tile. Can't wait to see how it turns out.
one more thing... if you don't want to make your own board with hooks, we had one at our old house from Pottery Barn. It was really sturdy and looked great. A lot more expensive but less risky and I wanted instant gratification. Good luck!

[Colleen]

Since I'm living vicariously through your re-do, I had one more suggestion. Use the bench for your shoes and the kids'. Get a deep basket to sit next to it and all your husband's shoes go in there. My friend does this with her teenage son's shoes. The basket looks like one of those pretty ones used to store firewood next to a fireplace.