First impressions...the entry.

The weekend after New Year's Day, the painter left....he was the last of the workers to finish up with the renovation. It felt wonderful to be able to wake up in the morning and not have anyone coming into the house...finally!

I thought I would share some glimpses of our front entrance...foyer..it is very small, and my grand vision of what I would do here, from a decorating standpoint, quickly vanished...

It is actually no bigger than a landing, and you are immediately forced to go either up into the open kitchen/sitting area, or downstairs to the family room...below.

I decided to reuse a vintage mirror which I had saved from my shop...it is a bit like a trumeau, but not really.

It is from Belgium and we painted and antiqued it, like I did all of the pieces I sold...I like the lines and scale and thought it would make a statement in my small foyer..

The bench was fashioned from a coffee table....my upholsterer resized it to fit, and added the small back from the piece that was cut out of the middle. I only had approximately 14 inches of width to play with and it was the perfect length to sit under the mirror...40 inches...

The pretty Louis XV legs on the bench add a bit of softness to the angular lines of the mirror...

The cream coloured damask fabric came from a local thrift shop...I had been saving it for just the right project..and it works well with the tone on tone colours of the stone floor tiles...

The cushion is attached to the upholstered base so it won't slip and slide when you sit on it...

This mirror probably sat on a console table and went straight up to the ceiling in a former life...

It fits the small space, yet gives it a sense of grandeur as well, and because of the 12 foot ceiling it reflects the light from the hall fixture...

I can't really do much more with this space...I plan to add a few more framed prints on this wall, a rug and a some homey touches....I love the English country look...

Perhaps a vintage suitcase under the bench to hold gloves and scarves....

....or a basket and top hat on top of the bench....just for fun....

A la W.C. Fields....

Here you can see how very small the space really is....

I have so much yet to do...thinking ahead, but thinking back, the best decision I made was painting the entire house in one colour, both upstairs and down...Cake Batter by BM....it looks like the colour of an old alabaster lamp here in my home, with our diffused light...this decision has enabled me to reuse most, if not all, of my old furniture and collections...with a little bit of tweeking...making for a very happy husband!

Till next time, N.xo