House Tour: Entry

I love the entry to our house.  When I was younger, I would think of having a foyer or entry in which I could put fresh-cut flowers, beautiful chandeliers and it would be the first impression people would have.  Flash to reality.  Nobody uses our front door.  The main man getting all of those snapshots of our entry is the UPS man.  I was comforted a couple of years ago when a friend at work said, “Did you get a new chandelier in your foyer??  I was driving by your house and saw it on through the front door!” I was elated someone had the opportunity to see it!

I do really like my foyer, and there have been some vast improvements made since I’ve lived here.

2008:

Ignore the obvious mini-monster the photo here and focus on the background.  This, unfortunately, was the only picture I could find of a true ‘before’.  The caramel colored carpet extended all of the way into the foyer.  I had already painted but nothing else was done.

2009:

The carpet came up in 2009.  We then sanded and stained the original wood (which is pine).  The pine isn’t necessarily meant to be finished, but we liked the look of it.  The soft wood takes stain color really well, so we went with a rich dark walnut stain.

2010:

From 2010 until present the entry has just underwent some styling changes which are chronicled in the ‘sticks and stones’ post from this past spring.  I kept the framed insect pieces, but switched out the tall sticks for something a bit more colorful and styled.

2011:

The only thing I would still really like to do to the space is repaint the front door, and add some art to the stairway.  Mostly, I’m happy with the entry… not that anyone enters through it!

Do you guys have an entry way? Do people use it?

Have a FANTASTIC Tuesday!