I've been reading a lot of decorating books lately, and one of the things that really resonated with me is Erin Gates' philosophy on foyers. In her book Elements of Style, she says "[the entryway] introduces visitors to your house and tells a little bit about what they will find inside." Up until now, my foyer told visitors our house is boring and blah, with likely a stray flip flop lying around. Now, I can't promise the flip flop thing is gonna change, but the rest of my foyer did get one heck of a makeover!
The jumping off point for my entryway update was this insane rug from Society6. It's chinoiserie. It's animal print. It's whimsical. It's everything I want my house to be. Sidenote: if y'all haven't checked out Society6, you HAVE to. Like now. It's a collection of 300,000 independent artists' designs (everything from chinoiserie to Star Wars), all of which can be made into pretty much anything you can think of - wall art, rugs, throw pillows, water bottles, phone cases, yoga mats, the list seriously goes on. I'm not even exaggerating when I say you can find anyyyything you're looking for there.
So as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted by...myself, the Party Leopards are the perfect greeters for my house. We're here to party - grab yourself a hat! From there, I added a rattan chair with a dalmatian print pillow to play off the leopards, my recently made over pink and gold lanterns to pull out the hot pink, and a sapphire foo dog for the blues. On the other wall went my cobalt scalloped console table filled with my favorite things - ginger jars, flowers, and my spirit animal - the flower crown-adorned, sunglasses-wearing dalmatian. Because nother thing you can expect to find in our house? Dogs!
Then...serendipity. I DIYed this pink and gold dripping Chanel painting several years ago for my office in our old house but didn't have a place for it in our new house. Until now. It's extra and kinda garish, and like...so am I and so is this foyer. The colors are perfect, and I loooove the juxtaposition of an oversized piece of art in such a small space. It's also kind of like painting the walls without actually painting the walls!
We're lucky enough have a designated mudroom space off our garage entrance, so I didn't have to worry too much about functionality in this space. However, if this was to be used as our family's main entrance, it would just take a few easy updates or additions:
Stick some large baskets under the console table for shoes and backpacks.
Add a decorative bowl to the table to catch keys and mail.
Hang a hook or two for bags and jackets - easy peasy! (I've been hanging these all over my house - functional and stylish)
Hope y'all love it as much as I do. My office is right off the foyer, and it makes me smile every time I walk into work. And that's what your decor should do - make you smile and transform your house into somewhere you love living. Have fun with it!
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