My Foyer

Have I mentioned how much I love having a foyer? Maybe not. Well, I really do. Our old house did not have one. Anyone that stopped by had the pleasure of walking smack dab into the living room or as I like to call it- " the eye of the storm." With a foyer, you can give your visitors a peaceful entrance into you home : A room that no one is in for very long. A room  that doesn't house a bed, tv or underwear. It's almost like a "pretend" room. Like "Come on into my foyer- I'm pretending the rest of my house you can't see right now looks just as clean and well kept as this!"

This is a shot of the foyer before we moved in.

I neglected to take a full picture of the "after" foyer. I guess because I change all the time there's not true "after". I find it really difficult to figure out when to take pictures because I feel like nothing is ever finished. I'm okay with that.

I love this little alcove seating area that I created. That bench has been in our family forever- this is the second cover I've had made for it. I have some leftover fabric and plan to have a bolster pillow made.

I felt like it needed some funky art- so I painted up these  little watercolors, painted the mats and put in some Ikea frames that I had. I keep thinking I may do a gallery wall of pictures here at some point.

This piece was my Grandmother's - I have had it since we got married and hesitated painting it until recently.

This piece is placed on the right wall looking towards the front door.

I'm glad I decided to paint it. It still needs a coat or two of varnish. I would also like to put round pulls  on it eventually to give it more of a Regency look. What do you think about my foo dogs? They were 7.99 a piece, although my friend Claire says I paid 7.99 too much. I'll be wrapping these up for her at Christmas.  

Happy Friday!! 

xoxo-

Tippi

I Brake For Books About Yard Sales

I'll be the first to admit I'm to lazy to "yard sale". Getting up early on a Saturday to go digging through someone's junk in their yard just doesn't sound appealing. The usual Saturday scenario  for me is to sip my coffee while watching Keeping Up with the Kardashians on the DVR. However, after coming across this delicious little book by Lara Spencer- I may have changed my tune.

  You probably know Lara from GMA. I bet you didn't know that she is full of decorating fabulousness and wrote a book about it. I can't even tell you how much I love this book. She moonlights as an antiques dealer and interior designer. She gives  you tons of ideas of what to look for and how to change it, if needed. 

And, have you seen her house? TDF! Lots of pictures of her fabulous casa in this book. I love every stinking inch of this house.  I did a little research online and found  few different  pictures that give a better full room view. ( Now I sound like a stalker.)

 OOOh- I so love that sofa and those gigantic lamps!!

I love the mix of Regency with Mid- Century funk with some whimsy. 

I really love her Master Suite. This is slightly different from the book. It looks like she changed out the lamps and added some art above them. A typical designer changing things out.

 This is her daughter Kate's bedroom. I love the accent wall wallpaper. Adorable.

This is her son Duff's bedroom. I never would have thought to put a ghost chair in a boy's room but it works well here.

Definitely buy the book. In the meantime, I'm going to go figure out how I can   become a syndicated morning talk show host so that I too can afford to have my own fabulous home look like this!

For addtional images click here.

(All images: LA Times)