Update On Our Entry Hall Design

   

In my last post I wrote about our plans on making some changes to our very small entry hall. It needed some personality and we wanted to add our own personal touches.

We have contractors coming to give us some estimates on the cost. That was exciting!! Of course we don't have the bids yet. Once we get that it might not be quite as exciting to my sweet husband.

Since the work will be starting as soon as we decide on the contractor I knew I needed to have the lighting ordered and on its way since that will be one of the first parts of the installation.

I had a line up of contenders.....

 I did mock ups of each of these fixtures and I had my favorite chosen.

Once the contractor did some measuring I realized that my favorite which was the second one pictured would not fit the overall design.

Of course that led me to more looking and looking at every little detail and measurement. I decided on the size I needed and went from there.

I always kept in mind the overhead lighting fixture.....

I knew I could go two directions. One would be an antique brass because of the canopy and the bottom cap on the fixture. The other could be a dark bronze more of a blackish metal because of the trim.

 Remember it is important to look beyond just the one element your are choosing. You must always look at it from the point of view of the whole context. You will want a nice seamless flow.

Next I had to think beyond the entry hall into the great room which can be seen from the entry hall.

This is a picture taken of our home before we moved in, you can see the front door from the Great room. It is almost like a shotgun house.

With that in mind I needed to take into consideration the sconces, and lighting that are in my kitchen dinette and Great room since you will see them all as you enter our home.

We actually brought this from our previous home. This chandelier was purchased on clearance for $39.99. We reconfigured it a bit, but what we purchased as a temporary lighting fixture for our previous home has turned out to be pretty permanent. I do want to change it down the road, but it is not a priority right now.

Next was the great room lighting.....

These sconces are an aged bronze designed by Thomas O'Brien, the Bryant sconce is carried by Visual comfort. HERE!

I also have an aged bronze tri-pod floor lamp in our great room......

I found this tripod floor lamp HERE!

By now I imagine you can see the direction I am going!

I truly thought I wanted to use an aged brass in the entry hall but I had a little uneasy feeling about using the brass even though the overhead light had brass in it's design. I have a little saying that has been tried and true for me.

"When in doubt, DON'T!"

So I waited, did a great deal of thinking, and debating in my brain. I finally pulled the trigger and the order has been placed for two of these sconces.........

Hudson Valley Logan aged bronze sconce!

I ordered mine through Bellacor since they were offering free shipping and a 15% discount.

The reasons that I chose this particular sconce are the obvious one, it goes with the other lighting finishes in my home. 

I don't think they have to necessarily match, however with the way my home is set up, it feels the best solution to me. However, I hope you realize you can mix metals beautifully with careful thought and execution.

I liked the warmth of the aging of the bronze. I like it's clean yet curved silhouette. 

It also lends itself to a traditional feel, which my home evokes. Notice the little key on the side, I love that feature and with this particular fixture it is actually functional. 

The stem of the light can go up or down according the the height your room requires. Last but not least I love the little shade and the little ball finial on top.

I did a mock up using another entry hall just to see the elements together. This is very similar to the look I am going for. You will have to envision a slab mirror in the center panel that will be behind the mirror we are using.

I am very comfortable with the over all look and so is my sweet hubby. So my dear readers the lighting is ordered and we are waiting on the bids!! To say I am excited is an understatement!!

 

 

 

New Home's Entry Hall Update!!

   

PLANS ARE ALREADY BEING CHANGED!!

The past few days I have been sourcing and figuring out what I want to do in my entry hall. To be honest I had the base planned even before we moved in over a year ago. 

 Our entry is very small and has no personality. That is not how I want my guest to enter into our home. I want it to greet them with what they are about to see. The actual entry is 53"W X 93"L.

The two elements I knew I wanted for sure was the over head lighting fixture.....

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I have had my eye on this for a very long time and  I am feeling very fortunate to be able to use this in our new home. You all know how I love black and white and also a simple understated elegant look. This fixture fits the bill. There will be two of these installed, one in the actual entry hall and one down the hallway entering into our home.

The other element was to have paneled walls from floor to ceiling.  I am still working on the scale and configuration. I would like a larger center panel with two smaller panels on each side, very similar to the image below. The smaller rectangles that they have on the bottom will be on the top in our entry hall.

As I wrote in my last post I thought I was going to use grasscloth on the ceiling, but after living with the idea and doing several mock-ups I felt it was one step to far for this girl.

I had chosen several entry tables that would work, but I had one problem. Our door opens into the wall so have a entry table center point was not going to work.

You can see how I marked things off with tape, This is how it looks now.

My somewhat brilliant husband was talking with me about the over all design and he said, "The table is the problem,  so why don't you eliminate it!" Omgosh, I have been so use to having an entry table I could not see the space without it, and then the light bulb went off. YES he was right, so there will be no table in this small space.

With that in mind the wall needs to be a nice focal point. I started looking at different possibilites for mirrors.

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There were round mirrors!

 

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Sunburst!

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Octagons!

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 Black frames!

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Greek key, Deco mirrors!

Then I saw this beauty......

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I kind of fell in love with her. You all know how much I love to go to the ocean and our home is giving a nice nod to  a Hamptons/Nantucket vibe. This could work.

So I did a mock up....

This was before I decided No entry table. Looks pretty good, but still not quite right. But I was still wanting this mirror and the feel it would give my space.

THEN!!!

I remembered I had two of these mirrors. I was going to use them in our master bathroom, but I am not sure that will ever happen.

This mirror although different from the sea shell mirror would give me the same feel. I also like the way it has a scalloped edging that mimics the over head lighting scallops.

Then I made another decision. The center panel would have a slab mirror from the floor to top of the horizontal stile at the top of the wall and then I would hang this mirror on top of the slab mirror. 

More light, more reflection , more WOW factor!!!

This all felt very good to me and I felt I could move onto the next decisions, the ceiling treatment and lighting.

Since I was feeling that the grass cloth was too much I decided I need a bit of texture and some kind of treatment so I think it is going to be paneled with a small black edging next to the crown molding.

Very similar to the above image, but the black molding might be a bit more narrow in my home. Scale is so important and often forgotten by homeowners.

Next is the lighting, Oh my did I have fun sourcing. Luckily I have plenty of sconces pinned on my pinboards. I have found if I like it I pin it, because you never know when you might need it!!

Are you still with me?

Here are some of the sconces that I think will work in my entry. Keep in mind that the overhead light will have a touch of antique brass in the canopy and the bottom cap, so I can handle black or an antique brass sconce.

Again I have to keep in mind the scale and I will know better once I draw it up with it's correct proportions, but until then here are some of my choices....

I am liking all of these so now I need to live with the idea of each of these and see which one wins out after a few days.  As you all know I am a planner and I do not jump into anything that is going to be a permanent fixture in my home without a lot of processing.

Luckily I do......

ENJOY THE PROCESS!!!

 

 

New Year, New Plans for Our New Home!

Living in a brand new home is great, and I love living in our new community, but I also have to put our  personal stamp on our new home.

With the new year we have a couple of projects lined up. One is our kitchen back splash for our kitchen. We knew when we bought the house that we would be changing this sooner than later. 

Our kitchen is all white and I do mean ALL white, and I love it. It is a perfect backdrop for any color or pattern additions I need to make along the way.

Our home is a very open floor plan, and each room reads as one so everything has to be chosen carefully to have a nice visual flow.

I know my kitchen is more white than most people could live with, but for us it is perfect. I went back and forth on what I would choose to go with our counter tops.

 At one point I thought a nice carrara marble subway tile would be nice. So I lived with that idea in my head for awhile....

As beautiful as it is and it definitely goes with the look and feel of our home, it started getting too busy in my minds eye. Each tile would be a different pattern and over time I would tire of this. Remember I am a less is more kind of gal.

So after a lot of thinking and visualizing I made the final decision, and we are going to use the same handmade tile from Sonoma tile that we used in our previous home...

I know it is simple and plain, but because it is custom handmade and hand glazed tile the tile itself has a depth and almost iridescence to it when you see it in person. Because it is custom made it will take 6-8 weeks so I have to be patient, but I know it is worth the wait since I did it once before.

We are both very excited for this next step in our sweet little cottage. I will keep you posted on the progress once we get the tile here.

The other project we are getting estimates for is our entry hall. It is a very small area that needs to say more than it is saying right now.

 It just does not have any personality. I have two plans in my head and it will depend on cost factor and the logistics of the design. I will know more once I talk to a molding guy.

Right now the plan is to do a panel treatment from floor to ceiling. Similar to the pictures below....

 We have 10 ft ceilings so I am going to break up the vertical lines with a stile going horizontally about a couple of feet below the crown molding.

This does not have the inset molding along the stiles like the other picture. I like the bead molding, it makes it a bit more formal without being completely formal. Our home has touches of elegance, but it is also casual in my minds eye.

I have ordered samples of cobalt blue grasscloth for the ceiling that will make a nice  introduction to the color scheme that is about to unfold as you continue entering into our home.

I have 4 different samples coming so I can see which blue will work the best for the ceiling.

The light fixture I have chosen will be a nice sharp contrast against the cobalt blue texture of the wallpaper....

 (Robert Abbey Axis fixture)

There will be two of these, one in the actual entry and then a little further down the hall there will be another one. You can see in the picture below how the Moravian stars looked at Christmas and with only one star the picture would not have been complete.

There will be a crown molding framing the cobalt blue grasscloth and one more addition. I am going to add a small trim piece painted black next to the crown. Similar to the pictures below....

Picture this with a cobalt ceiling!

This black trim piece is closer in scale to what I have in mind. I love a sharp black framed look. In fact my ship blue print art piece is framed in white with a black mat around the inside edge framing the cobalt blue print....

I am really excited about this one little feature, I think it will give me the look I am going for and tie in nicely with the rest of our home.

Once all the molding, wallpaper and lighting are done, then I will decide if I need a new entry hall table. I have a few in mind already. More on that later.

As always, Enjoying the Process!!