Project List, Part One: Foyer & Dining Room

Ok, I'll admit-- this home project blogging thing has gotten off to a slow start. To be fair, I have been busy making over my lifestyle for the past six weeks. My husband and I have been working good habits into our daily routine (going to the gym, eating better) and working the bad habits out (being lazy about house chores and dining out constantly). So, with some new, all-around healthier practices in place (and it's still practice, not perfection), I've made quite a bit of headway with preparing for my impending project-palooza! Most of my weekends and evenings lately have been spent sorting, purging, cleaning, and organizing; finally, it's time for the fun stuff!

As previously promised in my first ever FolkSmart blog post, here is part one of my 'honey-do' list of decor projects (yes, I'm referring to myself as honey-- my husband's more the technical type than the creative/DIY type so I fly solo on most anything home improvement related), along with some "before" photos. As suggested by this post's title, I fully expect this list to expand/explode, twist, turn, and then some.

We'll begin at the beginning-- here is our modest (and currently über bland) foyer. I am hoping to find/make/steal (ok, not that last bit) some functional decor to spruce up this high-traffic spot:

• I am keeping the tile, as it's fairly new and neutral. I'd like to find a nice rug in a durable material, an unusual shape, and an all-concealing pattern which will accommodate foot traffic entering through both the front door and the garage. I also need one of those no-slip mats for underneath said rug (note to self).
• While the plantation-style blinds are consistent throughout the house, I do like having at least a decorative panel or two flanking the windows. I'm hoping for a neutral color in perhaps a funky pattern or interesting texture. I need new hardware, preferably matching the drapes that will be just around the corner in the dining room. I want to mount the drapes higher than my previous set to bring attention to the hight ceiling in the foyer.
• You totally can't see it from this angle, but if you look up as you enter, there's a big blank spot on the wall that has been crying out for six years (SIX YEARS?!) for some kind of unique, welcoming, colorful, substantial, awesome art work of some obviously not very specific sort... it falls under the "I'll know it when I see it" heading.
• My dream would be to incorporate something, anything really into this entry that won't eat up too much space, but would be a good catch-all for unopened mail and possibly my purse. It will likely have to be wall mounted (there's a little bit of space next to the window which might work), as there's no floor space for furniture. Well, you can see that.
• The paint on the baseboards and wall, not to mention the weather stripping around the doors, needs some TLC.

So, pretty much for the entryway-- rug, window treatment, wall art, wall organizer, touch up paint. NEXT!

Surprise (!), I've actually already started redoing the dining room. A little bit. Since I have a semi-open floor plan, my original decor incorporated the same colors in the dining area, living room, foyer, hallway, and kitchen. Guess what? I got sick of all that green, red, and beige. I'm adding splashes of color and moving toward a more eclectic-but-cohesive look. I like things that look collected, not "I went to Pottery Barn/West Elm/IKEA and picked out my whole look in an afternoon" decorating. That's. Just. Me.

Anyway.

Dining room 'before' (I never really got it together in there)...

And 'semi-after' (or, would that be 'during'?) my installation of a gallery wall, removal of old rug, repainting existing frames, rearranging furniture, etc. It is still a work in progress and is a serious contender for being my first "See, look what I did!" complete from beginning to end blog entry.

In addition to the gallery wall (which isn't even close to being done), I plan to:

• Possibly add a rug. I don't know. I just removed one, so I'm thinking long and hard about this (TWSS!).
• Definitely change the window treatment hardware (to match the nearby foyer window), possibly change the curtain. Again, I dunno.
• Add table thingies? You know, obviously I need some placemats, "natkins" (or, napkins if you're either a. not me or b. not five), "natkin rings" (yep!), place card holders, centerpiece options, candle holders, ummm loads of other decorative tchotchkes with which to festoon my table when people come over and it has to look fancy.
• OH-- here's a project I know I'm going to do soon. Repaint my hutch AND piano (photos below). That's actually more like two projects, I suppose. I have some cool plans for them, including a sneaky technique (we'll call it a "techsneak") for changing out the looks from season to season. I've already been stalking local thrift stores for crappy furniture with awesome hardware to transplant.

That's all for now, regarding these nooks in my house. I think next will be Part Two: Master Bedroom & Master Bath, Part Three: Living Room & Kitchen, Part Four: Guest Bathroom & Other (I'll figure out what "other" is later). I have loads of smaller scale projects in mind, too. Landscaping, for one! I guess that's not so little. Closet organization, how-to-maintain-a-home-office-while-maintaining-sanity (my husband and I both work from home), fabulous flea market and thrift store finds, and so on.

Ciao for now!