Styling the Entry

Last week I shared the new entry rug from Rug and Home that is inspiring this entrance into our home.

I love the colors in this one-of-a-kind rug (you can find others that are similar here).  You can also read more about the process of choosing the rug here.

Once I had the rug, I started making plans to finish out the rest of the room.  I quickly picked out some lamps and art, but had a hard time nailing down the table.  While my husband can build furniture, he is so swamped right now with finishing up our house…oh yeah, and his day job.  We needed a table that was nearly six feet long to span this space.

I searched thrift stores and everywhere I could think of to try and find one!  Our budget is stretched tight elsewhere and we really had no money to put towards this table.  As I said in the rug post, we’d decided to make one because it seemed the only way we’d find one large enough.

I really felt so bad asking him to build this right now with everything else he’s juggling, so I was really considering just having the rug in here for now, though we were both excited to have some sort of a table/surface here to be pretty, yes, but most importantly, do functional things like hold our keys and such.  We’re bad about losing keys in this house and a drop zone for things like that is much-needed.

I was standing in the entry thinking about our little entry dilemma when I looked out into the house and it hit me.  We have a 6-foot long buffet sitting in the dining room.  I actually had already decided that while I love this berry-colored buffet in this room, it really isn’t functional.  We need our old hutch back that has shelves for glasses and dishes.

My first thought was, “Too bad that 6-foot long buffet doesn’t match the new rug.”  This “buffet” is actually an old IKEA dresser that my husband bought before we were married for his first apartment.  I painted it Rustoleum’s Dark Cherry when we moved into this house for a little pop and just to change it up.

Then it hit me.  I love unexpected color pairings.  Who says it doesn’t match?  I pulled the rug into the dining room by the buffet and sat my art on top of it and guess what? I LOVED IT.

I hadn’t even realized that the “red” I was seeing in the rug had way more berry in it, tying in the buffet perfectly!  As a reminder, the  room (above the board and batten) is painted Benjamin Moore Silver Lake.

I love matching lamps on either end of an entry table.  Something about that symmetry just makes me happy. 

I immediately fell for these lamps at Rug and Home.  After I picked out the rug, I looked at several lamp options, but these were by my far my favorite because of how they mixed.  I love that they’re a little glam with the gold base and elegant black lampshades.  They’re very different from the style of the rug, but that’s what I love.  The rug feels more “rustic” to me and I love mixing in a little shine and metallic with my rustic.  (These lamps aren’t in their online shop, but they have a lot of similar options here).

I chose this artwork before I made the decision to use the buffet. 

Mod Floral Art | Abstract Art

I wanted an abstract in here and I love how it pulls out the reds and golds from the rug.  And the tiny piece is a fun mod floral that just caught my eye!  Both art pieces are from Artfully Walls.  I’m a huge fan of leaning artwork anywhere because it makes it easy to change up whenever you want and let’s be honest…I change things all the time.  But in this room, it really made sense with the board and batten.  While I love it, it does make hanging things a bit harder.

Once I decided to use the buffet, I was initially concerned this art wouldn’t work.  I was worried it would be too much color.  But I actually really like how it completes the picture and pops against the neutral room.  While all of these details and pieces are really colorful, the very “plain” backdrop is what makes it work for me, I think.

My tendency is always to over-style.  I love layering tons of pieces and usually fill every surface I can with art and nick-nacks.  But I used restraint in here and decided to keep it super simple.  Obviously, I’ll change that out often, but we want this to be a functional space, not just pretty.  So the “musts” on our functional list were a place for keys and a spot for sunglasses/wallets. 

This colorful woven basket is an old favorite, thrift store find of mine.  Iit’s perfect to toss our wallets and glasses in when we come in and then they’re ready and waiting when we head out. 

The little key dish is something that we fondly call, “The Key Pot.”  I bought this piece for us for $2 at Old Time Pottery when we were engaged.  We were renting and I knew we needed a little catch-all for our keys.  We have used it ever since.  It’s chipped around the edges from tossing our keys in, but that makes me love it even more.

The mudroom side of the room is still in need of a few finishing touches like hooks and some more art, but I’m just taking it day by day over here.  I’ve changed my design tune recently and I’m trying to enjoy the ride more.  I’m bad about stressing and rushing to the finish line because I just want it done and in doing that, I don’t even take time to enjoy rooms as they’re starting to come together.

I’ve tossed some comfy pillows I had on the bench for now.

I love the blue plaid mixed with the rug and I’m choosing to enjoy that and forget about what still needs to be done!  I’m seeing progress instead of making a list in my head and it feels good.

While this space turned out really differently than I expected and I know it’ll change over time, I love it every time I come in our front door.  There are a lot of different and vibrant colors going on, which can be risky for me.  I usually gravitate towards neutrals more times than not.  But I love how they create one complete picture instead of one thing really standing out.

The eclectic mix of styles here is just right to me and I’m so excited that this space is put together just in time to decorate it for the Christmas!