AAAH! You guys! Fresh off of my experience at Blog Podium and my bloggy brain is going ten million miles per minute. I’m working on a bit of a redux post to share with you all, but it’s taking time to sort through it all. Let’s just say, I’m so glad I took that plunge. It has opened my eyes to so many possibilities for our future – not to mention allowed me to meet a bunch of inspiring people.
Anyway, I digress. I thought I’d share this with you today. After a hectic weekend of travel, I realized how nice it was to come home to an organized and cute foyer.
It all started when we took part in the Big Day Downtown in Halifax. We decided to use our downtown funds to spruce up our foyer.
It’s challenging space, to say the least. Our front door opens up to a half set of stairs which lead to a landing that is no more than 3-feet wide. It doesn’t leave a lot of leeway or space for any typical entryway furnishings.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane…
We’d already wallpapered over the mural to the right, painted the walls a light grey and enclosed the wood shelves to the left of the stairs as part of our living room nook planking project.
We started our entryway design with a Hemnes shoe cabinet from Ikea. At just 11 3/4″ wide, it was the PERFECT thing to sit atop our teeny and awkward landing. These were the best shots I could get… not a lot of natural light in this corner at all. 
We bought frames at De Serres downtown and used them to showcase our Nova Scotia map art and a screen print of Fisherman’s Cove by our pal PosterBoy.
Then we dressed up the cabinet with a vintage marmalade jar and license plate from Urban Cottage and a deep emerald green dish we got months ago at a flea market just outside of Annapolis Royal.
The remaining challenge with the space was that we had to position the cabinet off-centre in order to be able to access the outlet on the wall and to keep the door bell unit plugged in.
To disguise that, we used a giant, ceramic container we bought at Urban Cottage as well (Is there a more appropriate word I should be using to describe it??) It’s seriously filled with twigs and branches from our yard clean-up. Let me explain that.
I collected them with the express purpose of drying them out for a project I plan to do – I swear… Here’s how the conversation went – Erin: “Dan! I need a place for my sticks to dry out.” Dan: “Ummm…what?” Erin: “My sticks. My perfectly sized sticks for this thing that I’m going to do in the winter maybe…where should I put them?” Dan: “Ummm… how about that container?” Erin: *smiles and puts sticks in the container smugly, whispers* “I’ll use you sticks… you just wait and see.”
Clearly the jury is out on if I’ll USE the sticks or not… nevertheless, I started to wrap some of them in yarn and washi tape….but then I realized, I’ll probably want fall colours soon. So I’m going to go get some fall coloured yarn and do them up for October. I’m am stick-indecisive. That’s officially now a thing.
The cabinet drawer conceals the dog leash and other ‘front door’ essentials.
Some of you may realize there appears to be something missing from this equation… Sully the GORGEOUS Monstera plant (another acquisition from our Big Day Downtown). Fear not! Sully is thriving, but he clearly wouldn’t do well in this teeny space…so he is in the living room and will be in the spotlight as soon as I get around to taking some summer living room tour photos 😛 … tick tick tick tick…
So, it’s very small – but entirely Nova Scotia!! Do you have any spots in your house that celebrate where you live?
With our entry more or less finished, it IS drawing attention to one of the remaining eye sores on the main floor. The teeny hallway leading from the entry/living room into the kitchen now stands out like a sore thumb.
The door to the powder room is the same finish as the rest of the interior doors in the house… faux wood, hollow core with 80s style brass fixtures. *GULP* Perhaps it’s time to tackle that!!
Although, initially that ENTIRE hallway was covered in faux painted and textured red bricks. It took us three hours to paint over – a marathon considering it’s less than 4 -feet of wall.
Certainly a project for another day and another post!
Hope you’re all having a good one 🙂
