a test case: the entryway.

our entryway is small & dark, but takes care of the basics of housing a doormat & a few hooks for coats.

i wanted to jazz the space up a bit by adding some color on the wall, a little artwork, & a few hooks. at some point in the future we would like to add a light in this space, but there is no electrical in the room, so a light will have to wait.

{this is the best & only picture of the entryway before i got my hands on it.}

some of my inspiration came totally from my own head. i adore chalkboard paint & pretty much like to use it wherever i can. i loved the idea of having a chalkboard wall (you know, floor to ceiling) but there just didn’t seem to be a good space in our house for it. until i started brainstorming for the entryway. yep, it is covered in chalkboard paint. you may be thinking that i am crazy for wanting to paint such a small space with no light a dark color. you are right, i was probably a little crazy, but the great news is that the room really isn’t too dark, even with the nearly black walls.

the bad news {isn’t there always bad news?} is that i really didn’t consider how messy a chalkboard wall would be. i think all of that creativity got in the way of reality. so, i may eventually try to add some kind of board & batten wall treatment in order to keep that chalk dust at bay.

my other inspiration is actually a pinspiration.

{see original post here}

i love this simple, clean look of empty frames. i was able to find a few fun frames from etsy, but am still on the hunt for a few more. i also originally planned to paint the frames white like in the pinspiration photo, but i sort of liked the original frame color & decided to keep it until i added more frames. i am also sort of loving the idea of painting the frames gold.

so without further adieu, our entryway:

{my welcome sign in fauxligraphy & frames. that little teeny white dot next to the lower frame is actually a magnet. i painted a couple coats of magnetic primer underneath the chalkboard paint so the middle of the walls are a teeny bit magnetic.}

{two sets of hooks for aaron & me. i added a framed chalkboard mirror on this wall too.}

i did actually paint chalkboard paint in the entire little room, even above the doorways, to be consistent because it is unlikely we would ever write anything that high. although my friend amanda suggested that i write something way up high that is semi-permanent. i am still thinking about that. i seasoned the walls by rubbing them with the side of a jumbo piece of chalk. then i wiped the walls with a damp cloth many, many times to try to remove the excess chalk & help with the messiness. the purpose of seasoning a chalkboard is so that when you go to write or draw on it, whatever you write or draw won’t become permanent {well, permanent in that you will always be able to see it even after it is erased}. i am torn about the seasoning of the walls; i am glad i did so that we can erase things, but i am sad i did because (a) seasoning with the chalk is what is making the walls so messy, & (b) i wasn’t tall enough (& was too lazy to get a ladder or chair) so the seasoning only goes up about 5.5 feet. oh well.

i would like to find a fun, colorful, & durable rug for this space, but for now, our old front doormat works. any ideas on where to get a good doormat?

would you paint any of your walls with chalkboard paint, or is it just me?

M

 

source list:

• doormat {target}
• hooks {anthropologie}
• frames {etsy}