Monday, February 15, 2010

Here goes!




Come on in!

You're invited.

This house is the house of friends.
It's a lived-in house.
Two, I mean, three boys, two dogs, one girl.
That's me.

I'm not a model.  So forgive me for the lack of high cheek bones, catwalk worthy clothing, slim waist (I'm still mourning the loss of my waist), shiny silky hair, clear complexion, pearl white choppers, perfectly manicured nails, thighs that don't rub together. I do, however, have the height.  I'm close to 6 feet tall.  I look shorter on certain days.  But, trust me.  I am tall.  My wrists are very trim and sleek, though. Too bad the shirt covers them.  I'll plan differently next time.

Here's the front stoop.

I so want to call it a porch.

But it's a stoop.

I used to live in Brooklyn and this would be considered a porch.  In upstate New York.  It's definitely a stoop.
We house our firewood here.  Which I think looks ever-so cool!

Our house is BLUE.  If you saw the other houses on the street, we stand out like a sore BLUE thumb.  It started out being Colonial Blue  - which is close to a BLACK.  EC painted the garage first.  We YIKESed at the color and went back to the paint store to lighten it up a bit.  This is what we ended up with.  That was 8 years ago.  NOW! I'd really like a shade of BLACK.  I think that would be really awesome. White trim. I digress.

We're supposed to go inside now.  


Consider the door.

It's so suburban that I turn my head away when I walk up to it.  I don't really like suburban.  So sorry. And it hangs there with memories of the drunk man who installed it because I was too impatient to wait for EC to come home and do it himself.  Drunk.  Swearing up a storm the entire time.  He looked familiar to my husband.  Yep, 15 years before that he had horribly installed a kitchen for EC in another home.  Nice.

What can I do to it?  Paint it?  But what color?
Consider the brick and the blue and the white trim.  That ain't going anywhere.



Entry Way.

Very tight.  Very small.  Picture four people going in at the same time while two dogs are jumping about.  This is where more of our family stress happens than anywhere else.





The paint on the walls is old.  A light and airy faded blue, which is nice, BUT.

Bench was a recent find on CL.

We LOVE the coat thingy and the mirror.

The wooden thing on the floor is actually a hanging shelf that we use for shoes, hats, gloves, etc.


This photo is from the entry to the kitchen.  Who thought of this?

"Hi, welcome to my home.  Please ignore the dirty dishes in the sink and the food on the floor and the smell of fish frying on the stove.  Come in, sit down!"




What about this spot here to the right of the door, or the left, if you're entering.

What? Should anything go there?




This is the front closet.  I DO NOT LIKE THESE DOORS!
Paint them?  Remove them?

Any ideas gals?

Keep in mind it's tight here.

And that I LOVE YOU ALL!

7 comments:

  1. Kolein,

    Thanks for showing this -- so real!

    You're right about alot stress going on here. If you hadn't of said that in your post, I'd have guessed that a LOT of action takes place here ...including the entry door, I think I counted 4 more doors in that small space. Total of 5- YIKES!

    I personally like the paint color. You said it is old, but it is 'in' right now-- the pale blue color. It is a neutral cool color. I can understand you wanting to change it having had it so long. I couldn't really see the outside blue/black color you spoke of in your photos... it just didn't show up. But paint is always an easy fix- I guess inside easier than outside.

    I've been in houses built in the late 80's that had the kitchen RIGHT NEXT TO THE FRONT ENTRY! and yeah, EXACTLY WHO DID THINK OF THAT? (probably a man, who got tired of listening to his nagging wife complain about trekking the groceries so far-- so really who do you blame, the poor woman, or the poor man? LOL)

    So two things I noticed right off, and you're asking for solutions too. The doors on the closet are louvered (so that is why you don't like?) or natural stain? One door would be too big for that area.(it looks like) your only solution is these doors painted. If you wanted to change them up but not spend too much money... you could put panels on them, check out Donna's FNS from this past weekend...somebody posted a cute solution to doors like this.
    The other thing is the bench, shoe dispensary maybe you could incorporate them and make one piece of furniture... like a bench WITH A PLACE for shoes, hats, gloves, etc. to free up floor space.
    It looks like you have enough room to walk with the bench there, but NOT if the closet is open, so.. I see why the doors are a problem.

    OOH! I just thought of something...
    how about putting the bench built into the closet space and taking the doors off... oh, now who is it that has made one of those? ...this would be perfect in your entry.
    I am off to find the link.
    c/ya... love your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  2. KOLEIN! ... here they are two of the cutest solutions to your problem.
    you have a tight space...
    so did they.
    You have a closet...
    so did they.
    you have a bench...
    so do they!
    check it... this is great.
    you're probably sick of me... but, well.

    http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/08/reader-redesign-one-mod-mudroom/

    http://blissfullydomestic.com/2008/no-mud-room%E2%80%A6no-problem-turn-a-closet-into-a-mini-mud-room

    ReplyDelete
  3. credit for the original post...

    http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/2008/07/wicked-awesome-mud-room.html

    ok, i'm leaving now to work on my own homemaking disasters... come see me!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think your front door would be beautiful painted a soft gray!

    I would paint those shutter doors white!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would paint the shutter doors white, too! And, if you don't like the way they turn out, you can always replace em! =]

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey, you made me feel very welcome on your tour, like a dear friend, thanks for the tour... Some where I saw some doors like yours covered over with bead board where the slats are and trimmed out, very nice looking. I will see if I can find it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. All I can say is that your cheekbones look high enough for me. And I could tell that your wrists were tiny. Now you had me on the nearly six feet tall one. Let me go back and look again. Nope, can't tell that from the photo.

    And just so you know, I did not smell the fish at all. I have a keen nose, too.

    Now that that's out of the way, let's chat about decorating. I agree about the bead board on the closet door if for no other reason than the dusting issues. I hated dusting those doors when I had them.

    I might be tempted to not have anything in the entry way because of its coziness. I realize that may not be practical, but it might be less stressful. :) I'm all about less stressful.

    I am one to shop the house or get creative with what I have, so it's hard to advise on the blank wall. I'd have to root through your basement or your neighbor's garage or something.

    :) You make me laugh!

    ReplyDelete

What you say means so much

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