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Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

by | Sep 29, 2016 | Decorating Inspiration, My Entry, My Seattle House

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Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

Remember when I revealed that we almost bought an Alpaca Farm? I still think it would have been a dream to wake up everyday and hug an Alpaca. But, it would have also probably been the death of us trying to run a farm. As much as I loved that idea, it was a more sensible choice for us to move to the city instead.

While it’s kind of sad to realize that no Alpacas will be grazing our Seattle backyard, we do have furry Alpaca-like pups romping through our grass every day. :) To bring a more manageable farm experience to our little urban cottage, next year I’ll be adding vegetable and herb gardens so we can live off the land if we want to.

In the meantime, I’m relying on subtle and simple farmhouse-inspired influences in our decor and architecture as a practical way to live the white farmhouse dream.

Way back when we first bought our house, I gathered some specific inspiration for what I wanted our small hallway entry to feel like. I pictured it should feel feel like a charming mudroom in a cottage or farmhouse, since it’s a well-trafficked hallway between both our front and kitchen doors. We aren’t fancy people so we don’t need a formal entry. Give us some hooks for our dog leashes and baskets for our stuff and we are happy campers (errr, farmers?).

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

While the implementation of our ideas has been slower than I wanted it to be (truly the story of my life), this space has come a long way. We don’t have the Dutch doors installed yet and they will make a huge contribution to the style of our space so I can’t wait to be able to do before and afters at that stage, but we’ve definitely made progress in other ways.

Do you ever stop to celebrate progress? I find it can be so tempting to always be looking ahead to the next thing or the finished space instead of pausing to rejoice over the little improvements. So today, I want to remember and share the progress that has been made!

You got to see a glimpse of the entry hall in my fall house tour, but as promised here’s a look at what we’ve done so far in the hallway and what’s next!

The hallway is basically in the shape of a T, so you come in the door and walk down a hallway towards the dining room or can go left to the master or right toward the kitchen. So here’s the progress!

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

This is the part of the hall that is right outside of our kitchen. I wasn’t sure at first what we would do with the built-in, but I’m glad we left it as it was, because it’s now a feature we really love! We never liked the sliding doors but rather than hiring a cabinet maker to fix or change them out at this point, we simply removed the doors and added baskets. Easy peasy! But wow, what a difference that simple change made. It makes the hallway feel bigger and definitely more charming.

We bought new black hardware for the drawers and the cabinets in the hall and are so happy with that transformation, too.

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

The sign in the hallway outside the kitchen is one we bought for our old house (above, via Between You and Me Designs). I love this verse so I think its message is perfect inspiration in our new entry .

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall
We made the most of the little part of the hall outside the kitchen door with a farmhouse chalkboardmemo board and mail holder. The kitchen door is to your right in this photo, the basement door is on your left, the basket built-in is behind you to your left, and my son’s room is a few feet directly behind you, for those of you trying to figure out where this is. Also, the door to the right in this photo will be removed and replaced with an archway in the coming weeks.

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall
Zinc wire message board card holder / Metal mail holder

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall
Directly to the right when you enter the house through the front door, we added this cast iron row of hooks. We are all about function in this house, as long as it’s cute, too. :)

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

When you first enter our home at the front door (through what will soon be a Dutch door, of course), you are in this small hallway. The hooks (above) are on your right and this doorway in front of you leads into the dining room.

We painted the mirror (from Ikea) with Annie Sloan Paris Grey Chalk Paint. The chevron wood cabinet is from Pier 1.

While it’s still a little hallway, it now feels fresher and more inspiring thanks in large part to a coat of white paint (Swan White by Glidden) to contrast with the slate floors and the (four total) adorable farmhouse-inspired flush mount lights from Barn Light Electric (a long time sponsor of The Inspired Room).

We still intend to put up some painted paneling at some point, I’m sure we will get around to that eventually.

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

Above is a photo of what this part of the hall looked like before.
Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

Here’s the comparison of the before and the “progress” shot!

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

This is what the little part of the hallway that leads to the master bedroom and bathroom looks like. We haven’t yet decided when/if/how we are going to close it off to the entry (probably when we add a powder bath someday), but we do love how it looks now! Again, a coat of Swan White paint really helps the space to feel cleaner against the slate and it’s so much more inviting. The new dark hardware is a perfect complement to the black and white hallway.

We also changed out the doorknobs in this hallway. While we found a lot of really cool doorknobs we LOVED and may get someday, these knobs were so affordable (and easy enough for Courtney and I to install ourselves) that we couldn’t pass them up for a quick and easy change. We love the dark finish for another touch of soft black in the hallway.

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

This is that little hallway before. Lots of “swine” :).

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall
Tobacco Baskets on the wall

And above is another angle of the hallway leading to my master bedroom, after.

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

And above, here’s one last look back at the BEFORE of the hall looking from the kitchen door towards the bedroom. I can’t wait to share you the “after” of this entire hallway once we have the Dutch doors installed and our kitchen complete! Stay tuned.

Did you get a chance to take my fall house tour? You can see it here!

Thanks for following along with this adventure!

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

SOURCES:

White Barn lights: Barn Light Electric / Benjamin® Union Porcelain Stem Mount Light / White Finish / Flush Mount / Mounting Finish: Same as fixture (white) / No Cage

Black drawer pulls

Black doorknobs

Proverbs sign: Between You and Me Designs

Baskets: World Market

Topiary – (similar)

Zinc wire message board card holder

Wood farmhouse chalkboard

Metal mail holder

White paint color: Swan White by Glidden

Sources may include affiliate links

Before & Progress: Farmhouse-Inspired Entry Hall

33 Comments

  1. Laurie

    Love!!!! Can you please tell me the width of your hallway and the depth of the cabinet? I’m working on hallways at my home too. Thanks! :) I love following your progress!

  2. Julie Currier

    What a great transformation!!

  3. Nadine Peacock

    What happened to the pretty target curtains you ordered. I’ve been crushing on those curtains for about a year but can’t find them in my area, they’ve been discontinued.

  4. Cristina Festa

    You inspire me. Love the hallway. I’m starting my kitchen remodel in a few weeks. scared and happy all at the same time.

  5. Peg

    I love following your progress on this transformation! Lovely and cozy! Thanks for inviting us in. :)

  6. Gwen

    Amazing! Inspiring me to put on my paint clothes. Absolutely great transformation!!! Thank you for sharing.

  7. Leslie M

    I love what you have done to pull off a beautiful, charming, and yet refined farmhouse entrance! It is well accessorized. The built-in is gorgeous with new paint and baskets. Great job!!

  8. Elizabeth @ Ellieandelizabeth

    What a difference!! Love it, it looks so much better and you got rid of the ‘swine’ paint, lol! Wonderful as always!

  9. Adrienne

    That white paint made such a difference! The other changes you made really are the icing on the cake, beautiful. I am definitely in love with your little wire card holder too :) I’ve been looking for something like that for a while, so thanks so much for sharing a source!

    Happy National Coffee Day! Have a cup (or two) to celebrate ;)

  10. Michelle Seebruck

    Your house is just so beautiful. You inspire me everyday with each blog I read. You are hands down my favorite. I wish this World Wide Web would have been around when my children were little. Thank you so much for sharing your home with all of us.
    Enjoy the day.

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      Hi Michelle, what a kind comment. That means a lot to me. Thank you so much!!! <3

  11. Mark McDonough

    Farmhouse is huge these days and you did it right! Love it!

  12. Suzanne Mullins

    I’m loving the before and after shots. Everything is so much brighter.

    In looking back in your blog I saw a set of dream dishes. They are blue and green, with dots on some and stripes on others. How can I get some?!! Who makes them? I absolutely love blue and green together.

    Thx, bundles..

  13. Jo Jo

    You’ve done a terrific job of lightening up,and beautifying this entry! Love how you transformed that hallway cabinet with the baskets and hardware. Looks like those built-in’s provide some great storage and you made them even more attractive. Can’t wait to see your Dutch door installation and kitchen remodel. ?

  14. Karen on Bainbridge Island

    Melissa, everything is really coming together. We installed our Dutch door about 4 months ago, and there hasn’t been a single day when we haven’t had it open. Love, love, love it. Some of the best money we spent on this remodel.

    We painted ours a wild green….Parakeet by Sherwin-Williams and couldn’t be happier. We have had more positive comments on the front door than any other thing. Carry on!

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      That color is so popular among my readers today! I love your door and think it was such a fun choice. You are ahead of me but I’m taking your word for it, I know I’ll have mine open all the time, too. HURRRY UP DUTCH DOORS! :) I might have to throw myself a party when they are installed I’m going to be so excited :).

  15. Gary

    Love the transformation! Little details just make an area stand out so well. Great job.

  16. sandyc

    Love, love, love the way you’ve used farmhouse inspiration to work in your home, to look perfectly natural and to make you happy. And the way you always inspire us to do the same. You asked if we ever stopped to celebrate progress? I’ve been doing that for the last three weeks after a weeklong visit from my brilliant brother from Missouri. He came down for a week to help me do those things I’ve been wanting to do for the last 3-1/2 years but hadn’t found the right handyman. I’m extremely grateful that the key items on my list have been accomplished but the wonderful cherry on the top was that a request to evaluate my plan for a changing an extremely busy and ugly kitchen ceiling setup resulted in a new kitchen ceiling. The 30-year-old solar tube with a 6″ globe handing down that looked like a boob minus the nipple now looks as though it was installed yesterday, the two surrounding 2×4′ Texas-sized fluorescents are gone and I have three wonderful rustic pendant lights in their place and a new ceiling fan all in the dark oil-rubbed bronze that matches by dark-framed windows. Additionally, the cabinet on the wall between the window over the sink and the patio door is gone (inspired by what you did in your previous house) and my bro has started the framing to fill in the area above the cabinets (also as you did in your previous house). Got a ways to go yet and my bro will be back but I’m happy as a lark and “always” inspiration from you makes such as difference. So eager to see more.

    Karen on Bainbridge Island, love the Parakeet green – that’s in the family of green colors that turns me on.

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      It always makes me so happy to hear when a friend has found inspiration here and applied it to their home! It makes all worth it to know it is helpful. I’m so happy for you, it feels so great to cross some projects off and see your home start to reflect what you want it to be. ENJOY!

  17. Wanderer

    I Loooooooooooooooooove black hardware on white doors and cabinetry. Very pretty! This fall I’ve been doing something not very fall-ish… Painting my front door (after a little construction!) a very happy yellow green… and funny enough it’s a color your readers have been commenting on, Parakeet green! That’s the cello I did on my front door and my goodness it’s lovely. Sandy and Karen, I hear ya! My heart beats for Parakeet too!

    https://wanderlustingbydesign.com/2016/09/29/making-an-eh-door-the-door/

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      I love that, your door looks great (I took a peek!)! So funny that you are all commenting on loving that same color. It’s such a happy hue, I can see why!

  18. Rachel

    It looks so fresh and light but cozy! Love it all!

  19. Deanna Rabe

    I love it! It looks so great. Very inspiring to see that even small changes make a big difference!

  20. Mary

    I loved the map you put on the wall in your other house. Will it work in this house as well!

  21. Carolyn

    Love it all, especially the built-in! We found that black hardware (which my daughter found at IKEA) was the perfect finishing touch for our kitchen, too. It’s so fun to remodel and decorate vacation through you!

  22. Robin Y

    Lovely, Melissa! What kind of topiary is that in the terra cotta pot? Looking to add some greenery indoors….

    • Robin Y

      I see now. I thought it was really :/ Fooled me ;)

  23. Kelli

    Just love all of your updates and can’t wait to see as you progress! Would you mind sharing what color you used for your trim and doors? I’m going to be checking out your wall color soon too but it looks like the doors and trim are a brighter white? Thanks for sharing all of your sources–you make it so easy with the links you provide–so appreciated! :)

  24. M.

    White swan on the walls. What color did you use on the woodwork/trim??? It all looks beautiful.

  25. Kristy

    Love your home and the changes you have made. But the word “archway” threw me. With all your beautiful trim, it seems an archway opening wouldn’t fit style of the home. A wider opening with same white trim, maybe?

  26. irma

    i really like the drawers with the shelving above, in the hallway. They make me think of a modern version of the old fashioned linen press i had in my 1930’s house. Very functional for us as we had ours next to a small bathroom with no storage. So we kept towels in the drawers and organized baskets of hygiene, medicine, hair products,lightbulbs,cleaning supplies in baskets on the shelves above. Only thing we had was a wonderful door with an old latch to close it off from view.

 

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