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Soulful home: a warm welcome (February prompt)

Home collaged lettersSo far I think we’re off to a great start! I was so thrilled with how many of you undertook January’s clutter challenge! How did you do? If you’re just joining us, catch up here.

Kathryn Robyn and Dawn Ritchie, authors of the book The Emotional House: How Redesigning Your Home Can Change Your Life, believe that every room in your home has both a practical function and an emotional function.  Understanding this is the first step to creating a home that fits your personality and lifestyle.  For example, the kitchen is for nourishment/nurturing; the bedroom is for rest/calm.

This month we are going to address that area we find just as we enter our homes.  (I’m referring to the place where you would greet guests or answer the doorbell.) The entryway/foyer is meant to create a welcoming feeling, helping us and our guests to feel comfortable, to relax and to be themselves.  Your entrance is the first sight that visitors have of the personality of your home, so incorporate some mementos or objects that reflect who you are. Warm colors in your decor and accessories give instant coziness.

An entryway should obviously invite entry.  That means an obstacle-free path from the door with enough room for people to remove their coats and purses and hang them up.  And it’s a transitional space, something for people to move through as they come further into your space.  So as you make changes, think how you’d like your guests to feel when they enter your home.

Here are a few articles to help inspire you:

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Here’s a “before” and “after” view of our entryway:

entryway before and after

I decided to add a rug to define the space, incorporating the colors in our living room and that I’ve been drawn to lately.  I added the picture frames to the wall (on sale at Aaron Brothers last month) and painted red the ones that were white.  I bought and painted the bird coat rack, and also painted a grey paper lamp cover that I really didn’t like since it was dull.

birds redolamp redoentryway full size

I’m pleased with the outcome.  It’s a lot more inviting now.  I would still like to add a little chair, perhaps something like this one I saw in a magazine.chairs

Just like last month, please let us all know in the comments what you’re up to this month! As you can see from my redo, it doesn’t have to be anything major.  Have fun with it.  🙂

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12 responses

  1. This is awesome ! You are so talented – Just absolutely gorgeous. I wish I was have as talented as you are — my home needs some different things going on in here, but I try. Love this !

    1. Naomi

      That’s why we can work together to help each other! You are equally as talented, but in different areas.

  2. […] Hopefully some of you have more of a welcoming entryway now.  Did you add some photos? A table? A coatrack?  I would love to hear what you’ve done if you decided to tackle last month’s prompt. […]

  3. What sweet creative fun…and such a warm and wonderful way to be welcomed into your home. Love what you did here!

  4. Love, love those colors. Definitely an inviting entryway. Our front porch is our entryway, of a sorts. It’s closed off by a bamboo wall from the front yard and has a nice little seating area. Plan to mosaic the table this summer. It’s one of my favorite places to sit in the morning with a cup of tea.

  5. Love what you did with the wall. Super cute!

  6. I agree…I love a welcoming entry way. I just re-designed my a few months ago and love it! I love your colors and those frames! Gorgeous! I would love to come home to that every day.

  7. Loving the clutter challenge, Naomi. people can now drop in unannounced with me being totally embarassed. Or so I thought until I described our front entry down below.

    Nice job with your entry, love the colors! Mine has a grand curving staircase with a baby gate at the bottom to keep the dogs downstairs. Braced against the baby gate is a plastic garbage pail loaded with books to keep the dogs from knocking over the babygate and running upstairs and eating the kitty poop. There’s a dining room chair against the curve of the staircase so the cat can slip through the railings and go upstairs to do her kitty business with the privacy of not having a dog sticking their nose in her butt. There’s also a dog crate because sometimes puppies just need to be in there.

    Sigh… after reading your description and writing my description I do believe that’s an area I need to deal with.

  8. What a fun transformation Naomi – and what a fun project for the month. I absolutely love that rug! We have the tinest, probably most structurally awkward little entry way in the history of houses, but I’ve got it to a point where I’m pretty happy with it. Freshening it up with a new rug is always a fun thing, and for some reason I always delight in the search for them.

  9. I’m all about colour. Love your entry now Naomi. So warm and inviting and fun.

  10. so bright and warm! you’ve done a lovely job!

  11. Becky

    Looks lovely, Naomi!

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