We’re leaving the kitchen alone today (seems like everything is kitchen-related these days) and talking about our entryway. Our funny, tiny little entryway.
Nothing to exactly sing about, right? It’s such a small space it’s hard to get a decent photo, about 20 square feet. Over to the left of the door (in the photo below) is a very shallow closet with a mirrored door that won’t close all the way, holding our jackets and coats that we forget we own. We don’t use the front door much – just to get the mail and to let guests in – so this space was neglected for a long time!
I still haven’t done anything about the closet. I’ve got plans for it, but nothing has happened yet…
Goals for this quick refresh were to change that terrible fleshy paint color, ditch that sad light fixture, and add some functional/decorative storage so that guests don’t walk in and look desperately for somewhere to put their wet shoes/coats. Because we have weather here in Ohio!
The first thing I did was paint. I went with Tin Foil by Behr – a nice soft gray. Then we put up the new light fixture – finding one that fit was way more trouble than it should have been! The ceiling is so low and the room so small that the door swings directly through where most flush mount fixtures would be. Through persistence sifting through the millions of options on Wayfair, I found this gem! Sadly, it’s no longer available or I’d link to it.
The door comes within a couple inches of the bulb, but that’s fine by me! You gotta do what you gotta do.
Next came the fun part – designing a shelf and bench. I kept it pretty simple, creating a bench out of a 2×12 and some hairpin legs, and a shelf out of a 1×8, some ceiling-mount curtain brackets, shelf brackets, and a dowel. I debated painting the wood but opted to coat them with a few layers of poly instead.
Lastly, for decoration (and I suppose added function) I put up a mirror and added a little basket for gloves and hats and such. I also put up hooks on the dowel for coats and jackets, but several months after adding them no one has hung anything there! Some fake succulents rounded out the look.
Things still to do – obviously the floor needs some love, the front door could also use some love, and that closet… sigh. The closet. But now that it’s warmer, it’s way lower on the priority list! Too bad that means it’s probably never going to happen… #babycominginseptember
Oh! And next time I post I’ll have an update on the kitchen cabinets. It was a solid week of several hours of work per day, but I got everything painted. I’m waiting on my new drawer pulls, which get here tomorrow, and then I’ll be able to put everything back together and take some photos for you! Woohoo!
Great job!!! I was wondering what you were going to do with that charming but undersized entry – looks like you’ve made it cute and functional. LOVE the wall color! If only there were some way to cover that floor…. is the door too low to put a rug that covers the area?
Unfortunately, the door swings way too low. We’d have to rip it out and re-tile… which shouldn’t actually be too awful, given it’s only 20 square feet! As we’re considering ripping out the tile floor in the kitchen, that project might actually be a nice sanity check on whether or not to take the plunge. Too bad there are about a thousand other things happening here with more urgency!
Looking forward to entering through your refreshed entryway.
We are definitely looking forward to your first Cleveland visit!!
Carly, It’s incredible what you are doing with your house. It is becoming so charminbg and livable. You’re only?? about 8 hours away by car. I hope that after the baby is born I can visit you guys and the baby and admire your newly remodeled home.
Love, Aunt Tass
Thank you so much!! We would absolutely LOVE that!! September’s going to get here pretty quickly, we think…
So sweet! Love it all!