Show Your Style!

We never planned for our little ol' entryway to flaunt her stuff, but man she sure does! When we started playing around with Lowes Flooring Visualizer, I couldn't get comfortable with whatever kind of wood flooring we were going to choose just going straight up to the front door from the hallway and den. Weird, I know. I felt like the entryway needed its own designated floor space, not to mention the traffic coming in and out of the front door that would require a rug. We are messy, dirty animal people. If I was going to have to put down a rug, then why not do something more sustainable? Thus, was born the idea of keeping a tiled entry - but what area?

The flooring we were taking up was tile, so it was easy to visualize, and I knew how durable it was for weather, dogs and life. I wasn't a fan of small-tiled (areas) entryways, so we needed to go large. (We were coming from all common areas having tile with no breaks.) It was when the tile was scraped up that our contractor suggested that we follow the original old terrazzo ❤ tile floor line. Brilliant! It went from the front door to the wall, and just past the brick wall to the edge of the corner wall. Natural breaks. (Side bar. Honestly, had I not gone with my beloved checkerboard black and white tile, I totally would have gone with one of the new terrazzo designs.)

John was agreeable and trusting with the checkerboard design I wanted in the entryway. I had enough IG pictures to convince him. As I stated in my laundry room blog, I searched high and low for 12" matte marble look black and white tile. When I found them for an affordable price, I ordered enough for the laundry room, pantry, and then enough for the entryway. Daltile Perpetuo, INFINITE BLACK and Daltile Perpetuo, BRILLIANT WHITE. The ongoing convo I was having with our contractor is I wanted the entry tile outlined with wood flooring to look like a rug. He wasn't thrilled. I kept on looking. I came up with this idea (below pic) in tile that we all agreed on. Love loved! Back to ordering more tile, but 12'x24" for the side borders. This was my inspiration off Instagram.

This was the final incredible product. Be still my heart! 😍 I'm going to add some gallery pictures at the end of this blog showing the tile work (true artisan work) and paint work in this entryway. We seriously had some true craftsman showing off for us.

I had asked Ron, our contractor, to give me a German Schmear look on an already painted several-times-over brick wall. I had researched enough to know that we probably needed to go with a lime wash or white wash technique to get the best effect. Ron did some layering of colors and then applied a white wash to give me the German Schmear effect I wanted. I think he nailed it! I was over the cinnamon painted wall and the distressed toned-down wall gives me the perfect backdrop for French Country. #trustme

We have a few vintage pieces of furniture in the entryway. I had originally planned to paint the old china cabinet that is currently black, teal and cinnamon a "dovetail gray" along with an on old teal grandfather clock. The china cabinet is one we picked up years ago in an Abilene antique shop and cut the legs off to make it ground level for this particular spot in the entryway. I gave it the facelift with three colors and gold glass trim. It holds a piece of marble on top from a built-in dressing table John salvaged when his parents lived in this house back in the 1970's. I use it to store tablecloths and holiday/party dinnerware. The grandfather clock was a gift his father received from General Motors, also in the 1970's, and was standing in this house back in the day. After seeing how the furniture looked on the new tile and against the Schmear-like wall, I only painted the clock. Happy, happy with the results!

And the final product......Drumroll 🥁🥁🥁 (Additional picks in Gallery at end of blog.)

Note on purchases. I do try to shop local, but there are considerations. I'm considering 1) what I want 2) a deal 3) how much time I have to look 4) how quickly do I need it. The purchases we made for the house were done after work in the evenings and on weekends, so not a lot of time to shop around. I also tried really hard to shuffle things around and reface a lot. But when I couldn't......

Links to complete our entryway look:

Modern Semi Flush Mount Ceiling Fixture, Farmhouse (Amazon currently unavailable)

Gustav Klimt Garden Path With Chickens Art- Etsy or Amazon

The entryway was truly a "trust me" vision, and we are very happy with how it turned out. It accomplishes its own designated area, allowing for whatever comes in and out of the door. But above all......It looks AMAZING!!! So happy ☺