Sprucing Up the Entry

I must say, I don't think our neighborhood has ever looked better than it does this spring! In our neighborhood walks the past few weeks, we've seen teenagers up on ladders, power washing their houses. We've seen whole families crowded in flower beds, ripping out old, dead plants and bringing fresh life (and mulch!) into the space. Lawns are starting to resemble baseball fields, with perfectly straight lines.

One driveway has a bright green dumpster taking up a parking space. When we walked by one evening, Ryan said, "I wonder what they're doing!" I told him when I'd walked by the day before, the garage door was open, and I saw a man sitting on a pile of plank flooring boxes, reading instructions. I had a feeling we'd soon be seeing old carpet peeking out of that dumpster. And bless the man and his instructions. What a project!

With all our evening activities canceled by the virus, we've been spending our off-work time...well, working. Working on the house! We finally gave our guest room a cohesive look, as I showed you last week. My beloved Anne of Green Gables room still makes me smile every time I enter. 

The next project on the list was one of my dreams that may have been inspired by Pinterest. I wonder how long it will take before the very mention of Pinterest will cause Ryan to fall over and cry. Pinterest for me = projects for him, it seems. 

But because of his hard work, today I can introduce you to our spruced-up entry!

When we bought this house, I was so excited to have an official entry area. In our old house, you walked in the front door and found yourself immediately in the living room. We had to place a little shoe tray and coat hook beside the door, because we didn't have a closet. But the new house had both an entry area and a closet! 

We loved it then, and we love it now. It was plain, though. I'm pretty sure the only update we made after we moved in was a new light fixture. So when I found this post detailing how to add a board and batten feature, I casually mentioned it to Ryan as a suggestion for our little entry. He read the post and declared it would be a fairly easy and inexpensive upgrade, and it would make a big impact in the entrance. 

So we did it! Okay, he did it. (I did help a little bit!)

Ryan actually purchased, cut, and installed the whole board and batten feature in one day. (He's so gifted with things like this. I'd still be standing in Lowe's, picking out wood.)

I think it took him longer to caulk the seams and fill the nail holes than it did to cut and install the wood! But he had unending patience and persevered. It looks so seamless!

We painted the bottom portion of this project the same bistro white that we used in the guest bathroom earlier this year when we upgraded it. It's a really bright white that we love. (The word "bistro" in the title doesn't hurt!) 

Then it came time to pick the color for the top.

Remember when I told you last week that picking the gray paint for the guest room became the bane of our existence? Remember when I told you that it was supposed to be gray, but it turned green...then blue!...on walls? Ryan called it "ambidextrous" paint. Totally the wrong word, but oh so funny. 

Well, our maddening ambidextrous paint adventures continued with the upper wall color. We just wanted gray that leaned more toward a blue undertone than green or yellow or purple or anything else.

We won't count how many paint sample jars we purchased, but we will say paint samples saved us from sitting in the middle of a mint entry AND a periwinkle entry, for starters. 

We finally decided on a color called Gray Screen. It was the perfect subtle gray. How could it be anything but the perfect gray with that name?

Well, I'll tell you. It was called Gray Screen and rolled on our walls an unmistakable blue. The same blue, ironically, as our kitchen walls, which are a completely different color (by name, anyway). 

Come back another day and I'll tell you how this one ambidextrous gray paint choice has led to so much painting.

But until that day comes, I will unveil the new entry area!

Here it was before:

And here it is now!

The sign that had been hanging over the front door (which was a wedding gift that is one of my favorite things) is now in our bedroom, and I love it there! 

Let me show you another angle!

Before:

After:

The little sign above the large canvas in the before picture will be going back up in this space, but I need to repaint it to match the new color scheme. We have two canvases in our house that are the same size, and sometimes I rotate them, just for new scenery. So I switched those. Everything stayed the same with the mirror and table. 

We did add hooks on the board and batten. Like I said, we have a coat closet, but when we have several people over at a time (like our small group), there isn't enough room in our closet for all their puffy coats. We wanted to offer something a little nicer than asking them to throw their coats on our bed, so we added these hooks. We love them!

And the other side before...

And after!

I changed the art between the doors. I just swapped it out with a piece I had in another room, because I loved how this one fits with the colors. The rest stayed the same!

We feel so fancy now with our new entry area.

And if we ever stop painting colors that promise to be gray - but are not - we will let you know!