Adding some color to the entry

What a strange time to be alive!  With the corona virus shut down eliminating my photography business, I've been going a little crazy like most people.  We are a very extroverted and social family, so we've been trying to get outside to say hi to neighbors, but still be safe.  In all this uncertainty, I have found myself very uninterested in editing photos I've taken of my kids, being on the computer for any length of time, and being creative in general.  I just have lacked the drive, and the kids (and cleaning up after them) take up so much of my time!  Luckily, I finally have a project that got me excited to share.  For the last five years, I've been walking in my front door and staring at an empty wall at the bottom of the stairs.  Like this....

I bought a few items for this wall a few years ago (haha classic Sara move) and they have sat in a basket since then.  My problem was that I wanted to add color to this little wall, but I didn't want to continue the color ALL the way down to the family room since it's all connected.  I dreamed up trim/ moldings, sharpie designs, all kinds of ways to stop the color here...but nothing really resonated with me.  Then I saw some wall inspiration in one of my photography groups, and this idea was born.  I love it so much!

I love making our ugly raised ranch cute ONE SPACE AT A TIME!  The idea of this technique is to blur the line between the two colors (usually white, but SW Popular Gray in my case) with paper towels and brushes, and make a watercolor type design.  When I first decided I wanted to do this, I took stock of the paint samples I had in my house to minimize my time at Home Depot.  I had these three colors and a quart of my popular gray paint to try it out on cardboard:  from top to bottom, BM Hale Navy, BM Newburg Green, and SW Gale Force that we used in our master bath in Minnesota.

Hale Navy was too purple-y/navy, Newburg was too green (but I still liked it a lot) and Gale Force was the best of both worlds!  I didn't quite have enough to do the project, so I made a quick trip to Home Depot and vowed to never go back until things were back to normal.  We also needed a new wax ring for our main bathroom because our toilet was leaking, so I justified my 'essential' trip that way.  I bought this quart and a whole gallon of SW Creamy for our main bathroom, which is a very boring post for another day.  We did end up replacing our very first was ring, and we were successful!  Here is my starting point for this project:

I recommend lightly drawing in pencil where you want the 'line' to go ahead of time, I didn't do that at first and the second wall turned out much better with a guideline!  I put the gray right next to my wet line, and then used a paper towel to smear the colors around.

I also used a flat brush that I got with my fusion mineral paints, it worked nice for the more 'sponge painted' areas.

In hindsight, I should've applied the gray to the entire wall on the right side before doing this part.  It's also tricky because the dark colors require two coats, and it's almost impossible to do that after it dries without seeing the shiny brush strokes where you touched it up!  I look at it as extra texture and not a big deal.

I tried to add areas where the white went farther into the blue to add interest, some work better than others, but I love the randomness of it all.

Stupidly, I forgot to take photos of the wall without the other elements up, so I apologize.  I was so eager to add my decor!  The star is a Smallwoods wooden sign, which is a photo I took during our trip to Rocky Mountain National park last year.  I love this, because I didn't want anything with glass to show a strong glare as this area is hit with sunlight all day.  I chose a portrait crop to fit into the blue part of the wall better and leave more room for my shelf and hooks. 

As you can see, Smallwoods added saturation, exposure, and changed the coloring of the mountains to be quite aqua, which is sort of disappointing.  However, it still looks beautiful so I won't complain too much.

The shelf is another one of the cool acrylic shelves from CB2 that I used in my office nook.  I love these shelves, and they are so great for tight areas where you can't have a shelf stick out too far.  They are also great for containing things with the tall raised edge.  I love leaning photo frames against them, and I'm on the hunt for the perfect frame(s) since this one is just a placeholder.

The hooks were a Target find, and they are amazing quality and price! 

I made a simple template out of posterboard to make sure they were lined up correctly.  I spaced them out to perfectly fit under the 24" shelf, then poked holes through the paper and attached this to the wall in order to drill.

I love how solid these are!  I used a very small drill bit to make the holes, so I didn't even need to use anchors.  The thought of putting 8 anchors into the wall was not appealing.  Side note, the center screw of the shelf did catch a stud, so I didn't use anchors for those, either!

It turned out exactly as I had pictured in my mind.  Love the texture of the white paint behind the decor.  I did choose to keep decor elements simple as the wall painting is a busy feature in itself!

And after this wall was done, I realized I needed to continue this over the door to the other wall.  It just didn't make sense all alone, but once I did the stair wall, it was perfect!

I did a slight 'wave' shape with the blue, and it's beautiful!  I love how this technique allows me to keep my house mostly light with just a small amount of drama painted on.

Here are some glamour shots!

It looks pretty with the light on, too.  I love this light, even though it barely clears the door. 

Here are some before and afters of this fun little redo!

Just for fun, here is a throw back 'before' and after!  Oh em gee, those were dark times.  Literally.

Cost breakdown:
Quart of Gale Force: $16
Smallwoods Sign: $45
Four Target hooks:  $36
CB2 shelf:  $25
Total:  $122

Let me know what you think of my little project!  Hope you all are safe and healthy!

Making the best of an awkward entry

You guys, I really feel I've polished this turd pretty nicely.  The entry of a raised ranch is just so lame.  It's too small, you have to choose whether to go up or down, and there's always crap laying everywhere.  Here is our entry (pretty much) when we moved in, complete with 70s paneling, freshly removed carpet on the stairs, very ugly-fancy closet doors, country oak railing, underwhelming peachy ceramic tile floor. 

And here is the view today!

In this photo, you can see the hideous fan I couldn't wait to remove.  Unfortunately, after the granny curtains were removed from the living room window, and we actually moved into the house, I realized how much that fan must've been used.  It gets so hot since our living room faces southwest.  Another reason to live in a house for awhile before making decisions!

And here is the best before I have from the upstairs.  We had already taken the paneling and all the trim off, painted over the peach walls, and the hardwoods and treads had been refinished. 

Here it is today.

Here is another before.  Our new white trim and light had just been installed. 

Here is this view today - the 'money shot!'  What I love about this before and after, is that only the paint and accessories are different.  All the main elements were already there in the before.  You don't have to spend a lot of money to make a space look much better! 

I can't tell you how much more I smile when I walk past the front door now.  Here is a closer look at the rag rug I got on Overstock.  It feels so good to cover up that floor tile!  I chose this rug for many reasons.  I knew a lighter rug would get filthy, I also wanted a reversible one, and it needed to be low enough to fit under the door.  The price ($35) was the deciding factor.  There are many colors on the website, but our new blue sectional in the living room made me go for this color palette. 

Based on the colors in the rug, I decided to paint the front door and closet doors with another shade of Fusion Mineral paint called Midnight Blue.  I picked up a sample jar to make sure, and loved it.

I think this is such a fun way to handle the dated doors. 

I really wanted to replace the bifold doors with plain white ones.  Unsurprisingly, the opening for the closet is 47 inches, instead of the standard 48.  Rather than special order smaller doors, I decided to just reuse the ones we had while I figure out what I want to do.  I couldn't think of a way to update the dated glass inserts, but thought with the right treatment, they could look ok.  After the dark paint and incredible Anthropologie knobs, they look almost cute and antique. 

The opposite of the closet had a sliver of space for a small stool and table.  I found them at Target, and dressed them up with some accessories to make it look more homey.  I knew I was on the right track when Shaun came home from work after my styling and said 'It looks like a hotel in here!'  I sit right on that stool while waiting for Ashford to get off the school bus every day. 

The planter is an old one from Ikea, the indigo candle is from Target, as well as the gold tray.  The marble clock is from World Market, but I may move that to the guest room nightstand. 

I found the pillow at Home Goods, and the faux fur is one of my newborn session props!

The black coat rack from Pottern Barn has been a lifesaver.  It's usually stuffed full, and is sturdy enough for bags and backpacks.  I love getting that stuff off the floor.  

All of this is wonderful, but my very favorite part of the new look is my gallery wall.  I have never done one, I thought I lacked the creativity to put the different frames together, and also just didn't know where to start.  Then, Art.com sent me a mailer with the most adorable print advertised. 

Fowl with Pearls (mounted on wood) became mine!  Look at her, so disapproving and regal. 

I had originally thought a mix of black and white frames would be ideal, but then I went to Target and saw the gold frames.  They were inexpensive, but didn't look it.  I decided a mix of gold, black and wood frames would be beautiful and tie in everything I had going on here.  Since the existing front door and sidelites have a ton of gold detail running through them, and the door handle is polished brass, I chose to embrace it.  If you're looking for gold frames, these look so much better in person than online!  Not sure why they call them 'mat bronze,' though. 

I started the hanging process with paper templates of the artwork, the gold frames, and some simple black frames I got at Michaels. 

I then filled in the remaining spaces with the framed watercolor dots from Target, and other wood frames.  I also splurged on another smaller wood-mount art print from Art.com, the dashing Gavroche.

I just love it all together!  I wish I could continue the gallery all the way to the ceiling and around to the right, but it's so hard to hang things that high.  I already had to resort to unsafe measures just to get that watercolor print hung.  (Think a board laying in between a step and a ladder.  Yikes!)

It feels so much better to have something to look at as you trudge up the stairs carrying 8 bags of groceries.

So, this space isn't really done, I have another coat to do on the railing, and some more work on the stairs going down.  For now, I'm calling it done and taking a break!  Here are some before and after comparisons to see how far it's come in here. 

Thanks for reading, I hope to clean up the living room enough to show you that soon!