Well as you know, Christmas is rolling closer and I’m slowly chipping away at the Christmas wish list…
- Paint feature wall in entry way… check!
- Create entryway hall table space… check!
So we’re making progress. But with Christmas only 3 weeks away I’m starting to doubt if I’ve been nice enough to receive everything on my Christmas list.
Creating an entry way space was a lot easy than I had anticipated. I think the hardest thing was working within a small space and even smaller budget. I couldn’t afford my dream mirrored hall table, giant ornate mirror and huge amethyst crystal, but realistically this would have looked like ‘over-kill’ in such a small old house and rather awkward layout.
My husband and I are polar opposites when it comes to style. Of course when I say black, he says white and vice verse. To paint a picture, Chris’ dream home is modern, minimalist and sleek whilst mine is well, Downton Abbey!
So I try to follow this simple principle when pulling a space together.
If you choose a modern piece of furniture, bring in subtle hints of old world charm through ornamental decor, fabrics, and colours. If you choose an antique or vintage piece of furniture, modernise it with great lighting, metals or a bold pop of colour. It’s all about finding balance.
Most of our furniture is modern but not always by choice, mainly because they we’re the best and cheapest first home buyers packages we could find at the time. We’re slowly up-grading and this is mainly through saving and selling older pieces that help contribute to our ‘dream home’ furniture fund.
We chose this small, two drawer acacia iron bark hall table with clean lines and a rich finish to compliment our current furniture, but we could also see the potential that with the right decor it could easily compliment a wide range of styles too. It also fit the size of the room and our budget perfectly!
To add a touch of glamour, I found a sleek but beautiful bevelled edge mirror to hang above it. My husband is very tall and we had to hang the mirror higher than I’d prefer, so I would have liked to purchase something a little larger, but I don’t think our walls would have held up!
To balance the modern look but enhance the luxuriousness of the turquoise wall I brought in some antique style mirrored frames, a few gold and white accent ornaments, a few candlestick holders and a 3 tier glass ball table lamp with a neutral patterned shade. I’m a bit of a sucker for trinkets so I found a mirrored gold star to hang above the entrance which reflects the light and colours from the wall (It was just too pretty to resist). And I love the end result!
I think the thing to remember is, if you get the bones of the design right i.e. furniture and layout, then you can tweak and change the details later. Your home isn’t a museum; you can always change it for the seasons and as your style grows.
If you stay true to your style and only keep things in your home which you truly believe to be beautiful, your home will develop it’s own style over time and truly reflect you.
Here’s a quick list of product details and budget:
Hall table – Paddington Hall Stand, Instyle Furniture Collections $149.
Mirror – Bevelled Edge Mirror, Target $29.
Mirrored Frames – Morgan and Finch, Bed Bath n Table, small $15, large $25.
Lamp base and shade – Target, glass and chrome base $20, lamp shade $10.
LOVE ornament – Kmart $4.00
Mirrored Star Ornament – Early Settler $25
Candlesticks and Hurricane Vase – Dusk (Purchased at Dusk a few years ago)
Sea shell – Free from the ocean
Gold trinket – Brought during a trip to Thailand.
Total expenditure: $277.00
Jess Amy Flo 