We recently finished a complete overhaul on a large, sort of awkward, entryway of our house. For over a year now, I worked on a vision/plan with a way to transform the space and make it look inviting. While I didn’t take an official before picture, this is one I snapped right after we moved in. I was actually thinking about redoing the wallpaper and having a feature wall, because we started out with some crazy dated textured paper.
Then this gal right here got a little antsy with the already-peeling-mess-of-wall paper and had to rip it down! Seriously, one day Sam came home home from work and was like, “What just happened here?!” I was a woman on a mission and the paper had to go.
It was now a beautiful blank canvas screaming for me to paint a story and boy did I! And of course by “I” I mean my husband, a good friend (a talented designer), and myself created this masterpiece.
Our feature wall, which you’ll see in a minute, is a dark color so I wanted to paint the other three walls with a subtle gray color and had the trim pop in white. (My friend suggested having the trim be a dark gray and that might look cute too!) But for reals, I’m in love with this gray!
One of the biggest struggle for me was to figure out how to “dress” this room because of it’s size, without over dressing it. I found that fantastic chair on sale at Pier One and I already owned the pillow/throw combo. We also placed this cute metal side table complete with books, magazines, and funky turtle shell. When I ran across that shell statue in Target, I KNEW it needed to come home with me because my kids would love it, and boy was I right! My boys seem to think we have a ninja turtle in our home, ha! Lastly, I stacked these amazing square frames from Ikea to add height to the wall. Inside the frames are pictures drawn by my little ones; every so often we will rotate artist’s work. Which was a HUGE win, the kids feel so special with their work of art being displayed for all to see. We needed something to help warm the room as well as break up all the tile that adorns the floors of our house. So I pulled this cute Ikea polka dot rug from another room and gave it a brand new home!
My favorite part of my room is right here. This wall I dreamed up and combined a few ideas I had run across on pinterest before. Of course I had to put my Brittany spin on it.
How beautiful is this wall?!?! I’m not sure that I’ve ever been more proud of something in my life, ha! Sam put so many hours into making this pallet wall. We collected pallets for what seems like FOREVER. Then he had to remove all the planks, sand them down, stain them, and cut some to size. Shoot that was only the half of it, because next he built a structure against our current wall to nail the boards to and on top of that he had to figure out the layout and attach the boards. It was quite the ordeal, but I wasn’t it so worth it?! What was I doing while all of this was going on? Supervising- the toughest job around, but somebody’s got to do it.
Pallet walls seems to be increasing in popularity lately and while I’m not one to really jump on trends- I’m a trendsetter, not follower (ha!), this was a trend I could get behind. Well, with a little tweaking. On pinterest I saw where some had a wall with a picture of each child, the day they were born, and then a clock stopped at they time of their birth. I like the idea of honoring each of those life changing moments for us, but wanted it to be a little more abstract. So our giant clock displays the time from when Sam and I got married, you know, the moment that began our family. Each clock surrounding it is stopped at the time each member of our family was born. I know which clock “belongs” who which child and so do they, it’s quite comical. As far as the clocks go, most were purchased from Hobby Lobby, on sale or using a coupon…and definitely not all at one time. But boy were they worth it!
Speaking of Hobby Lobby, and who doesn’t love that place, these fantastic marbled arrow head mirrors came from there. I love how they fit snuggly in that little awkward small space. Just the perfect little pop to our room.
Okay, there is one key thing about this room that I haven’t mentioned yet and that would be our light fixture. If you remember we had this shine gold, screaming “I’m from the 80’s send me back” hanging in our room. Not only was it a bit outdated, but it was a little too formal for what we wanted in this room. After a little shopping at Lowes I grabbed this farmhouse light for CHEAP and spray painted it the precise steal color I had hoped for. But I had a major problem, I am NOT an electrician and I needed a professional’s help. A few months back I was introduced with a company called HomeAdvisor and they specialize in helping connect homeowners with home improvements specialists. Actually, they are the largest online network to do this! This was exactly what I needed.
They have a screening process to make sure only the best and most trust worthy professionals are available through their site. So, it seemed like a no brainer to give them a try. Using the HomeAdvisor website was such a breeze, they helped me narrow down my search for what I needed, and even showed me a true cost guide where I could see about how much my project should be. Then I was able to request a quote from my local business. So simple and easy to do from my own home- plus I loved having the peace of mind with hiring a professional. But my favorite part by far was the customer service. After my project was completed HomeAdvisor called me to see if I went with the professional I received a quote from, asked me how they were, what kind of job they did, etc. They were so thorough and I respected the fact that they only wanted to make sure they were only offering the BEST professionals to their homeowners. This flat out impressed me.
What HomeAdvisor didn’t know was that I have MANY more projects to complete in my home. They treated me well and I’m proud to say that not only will I be using them for my next room makeover, but I’ll be sharing with all my friends as well.
Even this little munchkin loves our new space.
After all was said and done, I am beyond pleased with how it turned out. In fact sometimes I just sit in my beautiful new chair and stare at our clock wall…because how cool is that?! And I’m not the only one who is a fan of the room’s facelift.
Thanks to HomeAdvisor for letting me share with my readers about your services. All the love and opinions are my own!
Randi - Dukes and Duchesses says
That wall is so amazing! And I love the cluster of clocks. I’m impressed with the HomeAdvisor aspect too … have to check that out.