Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I'm Polivoracious

While we wait for closing day I can't help but toy with ideas on how to spend the "fun money".

"Fun money" is the kind of money you spend on fun things such as paint and fabulous fixtures and furniture and, oh, say window treatments (Has anybody ever wondered why it's called a window treatment? As if a window is a kind of disease that you have to treat ...it just strikes me as a weird choice of word. Oh well ...)
and other decorative touches to turn your house into your family's nest as opposed to the kind of "serious" money you have to spend on rough plumbing, drywall, rewiring your entire house or - God forbid - structural repairs *shudder*

For a visual person like myself those magical "mood boards" are just a great invention. Combine that concept with internet gadgetry and - voila! - enter Polyvore !

If you haven't tried it, go check it out! Fair warning: it's a fantabulous time drain.

I ... ahem ... whipped up 2 sets toying with 2 ideas for the entry hall of our potential new old home. Yes Sirreeee! Our house will (once we remove a 2.5 ft wall section not original to the house that separates the downstairs from the upstairs to create 2 separate apartments) have an actual entry hall. Not a squarefoot of tile, not a door mat sized space of dirt-catching carpet, no, an actual entry -hall-. How stinkin' cool is that?

And before you start wondering why I'm so excited about an entry hall. Up until moving here I had taken them pretty much for granted and never knew how much I appreciate them. When you enter a house or apartment in Germany you set foot into an area that is clearly designed as an entry area. You do -not- step right into the living room (and yeah, since we're already touching the subject, I'm not a big fan of the whole "open floor plan" concept, nuh-uh, not at all.) The Ugly Duckling being an old-fashioned house designed when a house wasn't "fair game" to just about everybody who rang the door bell has ...or had, at some point, a semi formal entry hall with a stair case going up to the second floor, an archway possibly with french doors to the living room and another door leading to the little hallway between library and dining room.

It's saaa-weet!

Well, it will be once we're finished loving on it. Which brings us back to Polivore and mood boards as I continue to daydream and brainstorm about just how it could look when we're done. Generally hubby's and my taste can be described as "traditional Farmhouse meets NYC loft" ... hehe. I'm the country farm nut, hubby the NYC lounge-about. So here goes ...

Entry Hall - Design Orange:
After years of renting and existing alongside the colors "builder beige" and "swine" we decided we'd love some color. What prompted us to go "Orange!" I have no idea but we're warming to a nice golden spicy orange. Antique travel trunk and type writer are 2 of our collectibles and will be coming with us and we'd love to show them off much more nicely than we do now. Simple white sheers and dark matchstick shades on the windows, a sleek simple drum shade for the light fixture and for a little quirkiness and impact we love the idea of adding a zebra rug.

Hallway - orange


Entry Hall - Design yellow-grey
During those short moments when I wonder if orange might be a little overwhelming for an entry hall I always fall back in love with the rather hip combination of yellow and grey. Here's my other take on an entry hall look using batten and board against a soft warm grey on the walls, a sweet crisp yellow and white fabric for window treatments and a fun and fabulously inexpensive grey rug from IKEA.

Hallway - yellow/grey

So, what do you think? Yay for the grey and no for the orange-glo? Yes for orangeness and nay for grey?

1 comment: