Foyer Flourishes

Before (in the foyer)

After (in the foyer)

I think I have the finishing touch for the foyer. It may actually be the first room to be completely “done”. I’m sure I’ll continue to tweak things here and there as no room looks lived in and used if it remains static, but for the moment I’m happy with all the details (but I would like a few more plants, if I can get the light they need). The grasscloth wallcovering was a fun homage to the 70's decade of the house; I'm glad I only attempted an accent wall, as it is a bit tricky to hang! The terra cotta fountain is suppose to be an outdoor garden accent, but I like how it ties in the flagstone floor and the trio of vases we bought in Peru.

The missing element was the candles. I bought the chunky floor candle holders on eBay, but always felt they needed something. They were originally a shabby chic distressed look, which was pretty but not to my taste. I painted them a custom color (adapted from SW Moody Blue), the same paint I used on the picture mats for the sketches we bought in Cartegena. The smaller framed photos are all travel pictures we or fellow travelers have taken on various South American visits; I turned some to sepia and framed them in black frames with white mats from Wal-Mart.

Today I popped into a discount variety store on a whim and scored some hand-poured vanilla pillar candles for $1.99 each. They're just the proportion I've been hunting for to cap off the corners. The only thing that remains is to strip the carpet off the stairs and refinish the tread and risers, but that's technically in the stairwell and not the foyer, so I think I can still call the foyer finished!

Before (from the front steps)


After (from the front door)


Before (looking towards Jeff's office)


After
(the wall color is a little off in this photo)


During (view of stairs looking toward family room; I had begun scrapping the popcorn ceiling)


After