THE FARMHOUSE

Our entryway is the workhorse of our home. We're in and out of here 100 times a day (at least it feels like 100 times a day) and the kids used to throw shoes and backpacks every which way. It just wasn't working for me, so we spent a couple weekends updating this space, making it more functional for our family (and beautiful, too).

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This space has changed a bit since I last shared it on the blog. So I listed out what we've done below:

A vintage rug

The first thing we did was find a rug. I've been looking for the perfect rug for this space for two years now, and it finally hit me: I should be looking for something vintage. Vintage rugs are odd-sized (we needed a long and wide runner) and the existing ware and heavy pattern would surely hide the dirt that comes with living in the country. So we searched Etsy and found this one. It's inviting and colorful and looks perfectly distressed and never dirty ;)

Lighting

Lighting is the single biggest change we made in here. We installed a sconce on the wall above the bench and finally swapped the overhead light for this vintage fixture (sent by one of our readers!). The fixture is a tad small for the space but really lovely. We also installed a second vintage fixture in the attached vestibule (which has never had a light before) and now we have 3x the light we used to. We also added a Caséta by Lutron switch and plug-in and the entry lights are now scheduled to go on 30 minutes before sundown. It's been quite lovely to walk into a warm, lit home on these cold evenings. Lutron kindly sent us these products (and sponsored our Instagram post today), but I wanted to mention them here since we have been really, really impressed.

Hooks at kid height

Hooks are by no means revolutionary, but they've really helped us stay organized. We found these at Pottery Barn and added one for each kid at a height they can reach. All of our shoes go in the baskets under the bench.

A Large Mirror

It took me a couple months to find a good brass mirror that would fit in here (that wasn't $2,000...ugh), but I finally found this one at Ballard Designs. It's 5' tall and it works well in here.

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I’ve also been thinking about adding a cushion on this not-too-comfy bench and using Erin’s ‘how to make a tufted French mattress’ tutorial.

Living Room

We also rearranged the living room recently, for about the twentieth time ;) This space deserves much more attention than we've given to it, but thankfully the layout is finally working for us. We brought these chairs down from our bedrooms (where they weren't getting much use) mostly just to try out a different layout and we liked them so much that they stayed.

The rug is new (but vintage) and on borrow from our office. It's from Olio Collective and will eventually go in our office after we make some changes to that space, hopefully this winter. I'm looking for a larger, thicker rug for this space. Garrett requested it be soft and cushy to play on, so vintage may be out. We'll see what we end up with.