I’m still working through the comments from yesterday’s post about the headboard and bedding for our bedroom, but as I’ve said many times, sometimes one comment changes everything. And that’s exactly what happened yesterday. I had originally planned to continue working on the bedroom suite foyer, but I sat down to read a few comments first and one comment caught my attention. I apologize because I can’t remember who wrote the comment, but it completely changed everything and made the Spiegel poll obsolete almost from the start.
I’ve mentioned several times that I’m stuck in a rut. Once I imagine what an area or a room will look like or be arranged, it’s really hard for me to imagine anything else. I believe we can all achieve this to some extent. That’s why I think it’s so important that if you ever hire an interior architect or designer to help you with your home, you hire one who works with a team of people, or at least one who relies on the input of at least one other person. I rely heavily on my mother’s input, as well as the input I get from those of you who leave comments on my blog posts (especially those of you who have been around a long time and know my style and taste).
Anyway, I knew long ago, when I was in the process of building my closet and working out the details, that the foyer would act as an extension of my closet. I didn’t want to sacrifice closet storage space for a bench, chair, or full-length mirror. That’s why, almost from the beginning, when planning my closet in its current configuration, I planned for the foyer to function as an “overflow area” – an extension of my closet where I could place a bench to sit on and put on my shoes if necessary, and a full-length mirror in which I could check my outfit before heading out the door.
But for some reason, every time I pictured the finished foyer, I pictured the bench sitting on that wall to the left of the closet door…
And then I imagined the mirror on this foyer wall, which is the main wall (i.e. the most visible wall) of the foyer. This is the wall that is front and center when looking into our bedroom from the music room.
And since I had only imagined the foyer like that for months, I couldn’t “see” it any other way. It’s strange that I couldn’t see it any other way, because mirrors aren’t really something I’m drawn to when decorating. It’s not that I don’t like mirrors, but more often than not I see them as a missed opportunity to add color and interest to a room. That’s why I will almost never choose them as a decorative item over a framed, colorful piece of art.
But in this context, a full length mirror is necessary because I don’t have one in my closet and everyone needs a full length mirror in or near their closet. But why I chose to place the mirror front and center and make it the focal point of the foyer, I don’t know. And why I pushed my favorite picture from our wedding day along with all the colorful objects into the corner of the foyer, where they are almost hidden when the bedroom doors are open, I don’t know. That’s just the rut my mind was stuck in and I couldn’t imagine the foyer in any other configuration.
And all it took was one comment to get me out of this rut and realize that a simple exchange would make the whole thing so much better. So I put the bench, the colorful pillows and my favorite picture from the wedding day on the main wall of the foyer. And now all those beautiful colors and patterns take center stage in the foyer.
And then I put the mirror on the wall to the left of the closet door. It is completely accessible and serves its purpose. And in my opinion it fits this space much better. But it is no longer the focus. It is no longer the focal point of the entire foyer, from the view of the music room to our bedroom suite.
I love this whole arrangement much better! I mean, any time I can make color and pattern the focal point of a room, I’ll be much happier with the end result.
And with the bench there, there’s still plenty of room for Matt to maneuver around that area (especially when I move our router, which is still a pain in the ass at this point).
I’m not quite finished decorating yet. I love the chapel picture on this wall, but I don’t think it’s big enough to support the wall on its own. Now I’ve returned to the wall lamps. I don’t want to make hard-wired wall sconces (at least not yet), so I’m going to try either wall sconces with rechargeable bulbs or candle sconces for now. If I really like the way they look and think I might actually want them for lighting and not just decorative purposes, I’ll have them hardwired at some point. But for now I just want sconces to add visual interest and expand the decorative elements on the wall.
Here’s a wide angle view of everything I currently have on the walls in this area. Please excuse my confusion. I’m in creative mode right now, so it’s going to be a little messy, but I’ll try my best to have the foyer completely finished by the end of the weekend. This also includes moving the router and the unsightly cable coming out of the ceiling.
I wasn’t sure what to do on the walls next to the door to the bathroom (e.g. the future storage room). I pulled out the remaining 12 pictures that I cut out from the Bible study book I showed you all a few days ago and taped them to the wall to see if they would work here.
I actually love them there, but my mother didn’t like them. She liked the walls better when they were empty.
And I understand. Not everyone likes as much color and busyness as I do. I’m still undecided. I’ll probably finish everything else in the foyer and then make my final decision on these walls. While I like a lot of colors and patterns, I don’t feel the need to put something on every single wall. That’s why I’ll decide on it last. But I think I’m on track to have a finished foyer by the end of this weekend. I am very happy about this opportunity!
