Our Home Entryway Refresh

Here we are at another weekend, just like that. Last week I used up a week’s worth of much needed PTO, and I can’t stress just how grateful and necessary that time off was for me.

Days leading up to my time off, Jon and I created and arranged a bunch of sticky notes under major areas of our family life; one of which was to paint the interior side of our front door in the entryway (under our house projects/purge list). Of all the rooms in our house, the entryway has evolved the most as I tried out different things periodically. This time, however, the plan was to give it a refresh that would make a more lasting impact. Enter in, paint.

I probably stood in front of paint cards at Lowe’s for a good 45 minutes trying to contrive a natural scheme that wasn’t bland and would still make a bold statement. Painting the door was the only task for that room initially, until I realized that even within a small budget there was more potential that we could tap into – in addition with what we already had, of course.

Enter, rug.

After putting together a little mood board, I realized that with our dark floors, the rug I selected, and the color scheme in place, painting the vintage telephone bench came to mind as well. When I first purchased it off of Facebook Marketplace two years ago, I wanted to keep it as is. But then when I put all the pieces together and looked at the wood frame of the mirror, the different wood felt too conflicting for me. When I closely focused on the space as a whole, I knew painting it would provide cohesiveness. (FYI: I used the little sample paint from the color that we didn’t select for the door.)

VINTAGE TELEPHONE BENCH
before + after

The rug was shipped on my birthday, so in a sense it was my birthday gift to myself – ha! As soon as we unrolled it and positioned it on the floor per my initial measurements, my response was literally: “YUP – THAT’S IT, THAT’S THE ONE!” I’m pretty sure that’s how you know you’ve selected a winning piece.

If you feel like selecting a rug can be a daunting task, here was my thought process as considerations were made:

• Color:
  • When considering color, I kept in mind the colors in adjacent rooms to ensure unity between them, especially because our first floor layout is open concept.
  • Another key was selecting a rug that would provide good contrast since we have dark wood floors. I didn’t want a dark rug, nor did I want a light one that would easily showcase dirt and stains.
• Size:
  • We originally had a typical runner size since moving in. When determining size this time around I decided not to skimp out on the rest of the entryway space’s area rug coverage.
  • Before making a final decision, I moved an existing 5×8 rug from another room into the space to give me the most accurate proportion. This was after I had simply used a measuring tape, as it didn’t give me the full picture I was hoping for. Immediately I noticed that the 5×8 rug in our 6×13 entryway made the space feel much bigger.
• Practicals:
  • I made sure to purchase a low pile rug as this will be an area with heavy foot traffic. Low pile rugs are easier to clean and prevent things from getting stuck within the fibers of the rug (shout out to my friends with kids). Most websites have filters where you can select it based on that criteria.
  • I left the little doormat right as is to capture most of the dirt upon entering so that this low pile rug wouldn’t get the brunt of it, though we always ask our guests to remove their shoes anyway. This size is also great because it extends to the mud room entrance (door to the right of the tree) as well, so there’s a size + practical win right there.

ENTRYWAY
before + after 1

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ENTRYWAY
before + after 2

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