Entryway Before & After

We repainted several rooms in our house WAY back in October, but things got kinda crazy in November and December around here, so the "redecorating" had to take a back seat.  We're still lacking several things, but since it doesn't look like things will be "FINISHED" for a while...so I thought I'd post a few photo updates of the other rooms we painted.

I've already shared the Kitchen and Dining Room and my office before and afters.  Now, let's look at the entryway.

Here it was BEFORE:

What you can't see in this picture is how dirty those walls are, and how many giant holes there are up there on the wall (next to the B & A).

We painted the walls and ceiling the same color as my office (Sherwin Williams Worldly Gray 7043), repaired all the walls, and cleaned all the baseboards.  Amazing what a little elbow grease can fix!

When we started putting everything back, I decided to take down the plate holders with frames in them and retire 'em.  They've been around a long long time. :)  Instead, we put back our monogram, family tree canvas, and brought in the secretary desk that I'd had refinished not too long ago.

AFTER:

Here's a view from the stairway, looking toward the front door. 

BEFORE:

and AFTER:

The framed print by the door is the original building permit for our house.  We found it in the garage after we moved here, and thought it was pretty neat looking.  The entryway just seems like the right place for it to stay!

I'm still shopping for the right rug for this space, but haven't come across the right thing quite yet...

The two buckets next to the desk aren't exactly a "decorating" choice, but they have been VERY functional - so they're staying! These are the kids' junk buckets.  Anytime we find something of theirs laying in the living room, kitchen, stairway, or my office, it goes in the bucket.  At the end of the day, they carry their buckets upstairs and put everything away before bedtime. 

We've been doing this a few weeks now and it's worked PERFECTLY.  The kids are glad they don't have to put their stuff away immediately.  We're happy there's not junk all over the "adult" areas of the house (especially the kitchen island), and they've been happy to put it all away when it's time to do it. 

Speaking of functional spaces...the entryway is also our school bag and homework central area.  We kept the little board with coat hooks just like it was before.  Four hooks - two for coats and two for backpacks - for two little kids. :)

When the kids get home from school everyday, they unload their lunch bags and backpacks and hang them and their coats up here. 

Then, I sort all the papers that come home at this desk, and Ayla does her homework at it - we just open the desk up and scoot the chair over for her).  This has helped keep papers and books and "stuff" from cluttering up the kitchen island or my desk and then Ayla has a dedicated space to do her homework.

The top dresser drawer of the desk holds folders for each kid, with all the schoolwork we are saving throughout the year.  We also keep the little photo albums that hold all our postcards from Noni, as well as any coupons or flyers that we need to hold onto in the top drawers of the desk.

So that's it. Entry way is mostly done. :)   And it's turned into a functional space, instead of just being a walkway.  Yay.