Well, that idea kinda flew out the window. First, during the move one of our wonderful movers placed our living room lamp on our entryway table. And I realized that I really liked the height. It added some drama and filled the big empty wall behind it.
Then, I saw this photo on Thrifty Decor Chick. And all bets were off.
Don't mind her half-painted walls...just focus on the lamps. If you don't already know, you will soon find out that I am a sucker for teal anything. And when she said she recently got these lamps (for cheap!) from Target...well, I was in the car to Target that same day ;)
If you have ever registered at Target you probably know that Target is TERRIBLE about having "seasonal items" in stock. And the term "seasonal items" basically that means all of their cute home decor stuff. Pretty much everything we registered for when we got married was listed as "limited availability" (therefore, impossible to find) by the time people started buying gifts for us. Well, these lamps were seasonal, and therefore, limited availability. But after two different Target stops, we found ONE lamp. Small problem. I need two. And I don't live in Dallas anymore, folks (sadly...) Which means, we only have two Targets within a 30 mile radius of our house (Temple and Harker Heights). Then the next closest ones are 45 minutes south or north, respectively.
Nick had to go to Waco one day, so I had him stop by the Waco Target. They also had ONE lamp. But when we got home we realized the two lamps didn't look the same. One was a slightly darker shade with larger "ribs," (ie: the glass base was not as smooth, it had more of a bumpy texture). It was weird because they were the same lamps...same tag, same code. But even Nick agreed they looked totally different when placed side-by-side. I am guessing the lamps are handblown glass...which accounts for the difference in color and texture? Who knows!
Anyway, so a few days later it was off to Georgetown, with the hopes that they would have a more similar looking one. They did! But imagine how ridiculous we looked to that cashier when we tried to exchange one lamp for seemingly the exact same lamp. "Is anything wrong with it?" "No, its fine...it was just an aesthetic thing...this one is smoother..." Yeah, pretty sure she thought I was crazy.
So I got them home and TA-DAAA!! My pretty new entryway.
I am really pleased with the little bit of "drama" that the lamps provide. The look is decidedly more "upscale" than my original milk jugs idea...which actually works better with the living room decor (which you will see in my next post).
At first I just had the two lamps. I didn't know what to do with the wall behind them. Then all of a sudden one night, right as I was turning off the lights to go to bed, it just dawned on me. Gotta love it when inspiration hits and you know exactly what to do!
Anyway, I had been toying with the idea of doing a graphic wallpaper or a stencil on this wall. Like a more subdued version of this:
But with our house being so "open concept," there wasn't a clear line dividing the entry wall from the living room wall. Plus, I could just see the stencil/wallpaper idea looking a little too wild, not to mention being a LOT of work.
So I thought, why not use a stencil to create a damask pattern on a large piece of canvas? That way I would still get that graphic look, but on a more small-scale version that wouldn't completely overwhelm the space and is easily changed when I change decor.
My living room decor is whites, creams and a bit of teal, so I tried to follow that same color scheme for the painting. It was super simple. I got the canvas 50% off (yay for sales!) at Michaels, then I went to Home Depot and bought one of their tester paint jars of a cream color (I have found this is cheaper than buying tubes of acrylic or oil paint from an art store). I painted the whole canvas, waited for it to dry, used painters tape to hold the stencil in place, then used white spray paint on the stencil. I sprayed and moved the stencil until the pattern was created. It was super easy and just the look I was going for!
I found this really cute flower votive holder at Michaels too. I've been eyeing similar versions of this from Crate and Barrel and West Elm for months, so I was excited to find this one for just $12!
One of the things I've been trying to work on when decorating the new house is my inability to accessorize. I really struggled with finding the right accessories when decorating our rental house. I have a tendency (even though I know its wrong, wrong, wrong!) to want everything to match perfectly. So if I wasn't 100% sure it was the exact shade as the other colors in the room, I wouldn't buy it. Also, I am too cheap and too anti-clutter to buy knick-knacks on a whim. So for that reason, when I found this flower votive and actually BOUGHT it, I felt quite proud of myself. :)
Also proud of myself for stepping outside my design box, taking a cue from the Pottery Barn catalog, and placing my newly-acquired accessory on two books. I know...I'm just such a risk-taker, huh!?
So that's about it. Bet you never thought I could rattle on about a table and two lights for this long...I surprise even myself!
Finally, to conclude, I want to remind you that the lighting fixture will be changed...eventually.
I am paralyzed by indecision at this point though. I'm just not sure what will "go." (Again, with my "matchy-matchy" tendencies!) I had originally thought of these two:
Now I've also added these two to the drawing board:
Your opinions are welcome!
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