Our Entryway

Thanks for all of your kind words about Mary Graham's birth story!  I am so happy to know that you all enjoyed reading it and that my experience can be an encouragement to others.  I love to talk about birth, so if anyone ever wants to chat, please let me know! :)

Moving on from one topic I feel passionately about (birth) to another--decorating!

I've been wanting to share some of the updates I've made around the house with you all for a while now.  Problem is I can hardly find the time to clean up around here, much less take photographs before my cleaning and organizing efforts quickly come undone.  If you're anything like me, you appreciate seeing photos of people's homes that look less than perfectly clean and organized.  I'm all for that kind of transparency (trust me, I've got lots of dust and laundry and dishes, etc.!), but for the sake of memorializing my little attempts at creating beauty amidst the chaos, I'd like to at least tidy up the space that's being photographed :)

When I last showed you our entryway, this is what it looked like:

And here it is now:

The term 'entryway' is a bit of a misnomer because this is simply the back wall of our living room.  However, in our little place, you can practically touch both the sofa and the kitchen counter from the front door, so entryway it is!

If you recall, I was inspired by this image I saw in a recent House Beautiful issue.

My parsons table is West Elm.

The lamps and shades are from JCPenny.  Ever since Paula posted pictures from Lindsey Ellis Beatty's house in Birmingham, I was set on finding a pair of lamps similar to the ones I spied in her living room.  She has the same West Elm table, but her lamps look like they could be Johnathan Adler maybe?  Anyway, I thought the curved shape was a nice complement to the angular lines of the parsons table.  At less than $60 for the JCPenny lamp and shade combined (I got them on sale), I was sold.

Do you spy her parsons table and lamps in the background?  ps. I'm obsessed with her whole house! (Source)

The storage ottomans are from Target.  We use them for stashing the kids' toys!  You can actually fit a lot of junk in them! :) I looked at lots of different styles, but found that most affordable ones were not the cutest.  I have plans to do something like Emily A. Clark did with hers, but in the meantime these were the least offensive fabric (they're actually a neutral herringbone pattern and nice looking as is, but I'd like to bring in a little more color with a different fabric), so I figured I wouldn't mind them till I can find the time to make new covers for them.

The woven basket is from HomeGoods and it's always filled with shoes.

The bamboo blinds are from Overstock.  We (and by we, I mean Philip.  must give credit where credit is due!) mounted them high above our windows, which I think does wonders for our moulding-less windows.

Here's a picture from before we moved in which I think highlights the need to mount the blinds high.  The windows feel choppy and your eye just kind of gets stuck.  It seemed to me that the ceiling seemed lower than it actually was or something.

Mounting the blinds high draws your eye up and disguises the fact that there is no charming moulding to enjoy around our windows without blocking the light.

Hooray for a pretty, welcoming spot to drop your keys, your sunglasses and your shoes.  And perhaps stash a toy or two as well :)