Okay, so I put out an interior AMA on Instagram and I got a few questions I thought I'd answer here. I'd love to start answering all of your design questions in my blog once a month, so if you have anything you've been dying to ask, go ahead and write a message below! I'll be compiling all my IG and website questions into a running list. I love nothing more than building community, and I think this is an awesome way to interact with everyone reading my blogs!
Let's get into it!
Q. HELP! My house has no entryway. I don't even have a coat closet and my living room feels really chaotic. What can I do?
A. I LIVE FOR THIS QUESTION! My house doesn't have any sort of entryway either. My front door is in the living room. I also have no coat closet. I feel your pain, I am with you, it's the worst. That being said, I've kind of made a magical *fake* entryway, and it really functions well in lieu of the real thing.
Now, I don't know where your door is and the placement of the door matters. In our home, the door is smack dab in the middle of the front wall of our living room. This causes an issue. A door to the side of the center of the room would allow for you to easily make an alcove with something like shelving to create the illusion of a walkway as you enter the house. I had to get a little creative.
If you were to look directly to the right from where I was standing when I took this photo (hi, Scully!), you would see my front door and a shoe rack. What I've done is placed the couch in the center of the room, so when you walk in, you see the back of the couch as a room divider. Eric and I have also chosen the entryway for our cat zone, which gives the space a purpose and helps to break up the room. Shoes and coats are still a problem. While I long to one day turn our front porch into an enclosed mudroom, our shoe storage rack and a coat hook on the side of the door definitely help. Dividing the space makes it feel less like your living space is also your muddy boot, coat, and catch-all area.
Q. How do I start using color?
A. ......You just *start* using color? I'm not sure what you mean.
I think a lot of people are super scared of bold colors. We have a very very bright orange wall completely packed with art that sits opposite our front door. It's always a conversation starter, but I think what I hear the most often in conversation is, "I wish I could do something like that." YOU CAN! You can do something like it! You just work to incorporate it! What do you like to look at? If you like color, that's all it takes!
Okay okay...I have a big tendency to go full motivational hype girl, but seriously, let me help you incorporate color! It's fun and exciting and it's not scary. I promise!
Q. Have you ever lived somewhere you couldn't paint?
A. I want to dive into this hard with a walk down memory lane!!!! Eric and lived in the world's cutest apartment, but our walls were manila folder yellow and I hated it at first! The walls actually became a really nice palette for hanging and layering with when I stopped fighting them. I could really channel my love of color into accessorizing. A pink frame, a bright lamp, colorful flowers on the mantle; the possibilities were endless! I also fell in love with pastels at that apartment because the only way to take that wall color from snoozefest to sweet was by playing up the pastel yellow so it didn't look dingy white. We had an entire wall of west-facing windows, and we were on the top floor so the apartment would more or less glow with the sunset. When it got dark, there would be this horrible blue that would creep in from the city lights below, and everything would look like a drab grey. Warm bulbs in lamps transform a space, and I don't care what anyone says about twinkling lights being cheesy. In an apartment, white strand lights ALWAYS look good. Plants are a huge one too. Plants bring in SO MUCH COLOR without having to paint a single thing! (photo ft. our angel, Butters, in front of our heater at our old apartment)
Q. What's one essential you would never be without?
A. Relating to home decor? RUGS! RUGS! RUGS! *shameless plug* FEATURED RUG MADE BY ME! COMMISSIONS OPEN! Fill out the contact form below! ;-) *shameless plug*
Have a good night!