a welcome hug

good morning everyone. it's serendipitous that it's snowing here in new york this morning, because it provides a nice foundation for what's on my mind. though i do love the paint color we chose for our living/dining room (benjamin moore wrought iron), the whole downstairs is feeling very cold. i think it's partly because it's the first place we've lived without a fireplace and it's so cold these days, but it's also the cooler colors. i'm used to warm-feeling rooms, and i've been missing it.

so i'm seeing the entryway, which is a nice, proper entryway and very much its own space, as a canvas for warming it all up. after all, entryways are the first thing you see when you come home or come to visit and should be like a comforting hug. here it is now below (there's more of it to the right) - as you can see, it's in need of color and soul. i've been saving some entryway pictures for a while as inspiration, and the project starts this weekend! hopefully i'll have a nice update for you next week.

i love love love the top photo, designed by heather clawson of habitually chic, and she has also written a terrific post about entryways that i definitely encourage you to read. i'm seriously loving the paint color in her design, which is benjamin moore middlebury brown. to me, it's the perfect taupe, which can be a hard color to get right. i also love the way it looks with the robin's egg blue mat on the framed picture hanging.

the above is from windsor smith's self-designed home (love her) and is so regal and dressy, but not too intentional-looking. i love how the placement of the table and the picture hanging above establishes a defined space out of what could have been just a wall passed by without any notice. could totally be a perfect entryway, right? i thought so. until i learned this was just in her master bath and saw her real entryway.



YEAH. i don't really know what to say about that. it probably says it all that there's an aerial view of her foyer.

back here on earth, i definitely love the idea of having a nice receptable for umbrellas, as martha shows above, and i love the idea of using one of these wellie vases designed by maxim velcovsky and available through koo de kir for that function. it would be a fun play on a rainboot and umbrella, perfectly at home in an entryway that often houses boots not in use.


in the two photos immediately below from lucyina moodie and jonathan adler, respectively, i enjoy how substantial staircases function as a wall in the entry, adding architecture and a certain sense of order to the space. again, examples of making what could have been neglected walkways into places with some pomp and circumstance.

i very much want our entryway to be a warm, cozy sleeve that envelops you as you enter the home. i don't want it to be cluttered, per se, but not sparse either. it's that pitch perfect balance i'm looking for - a sense of arrival, some visual interest, and function to boot. maybe even a porcelain wellie boot...

all non-original photos from linked sites