Well hello all! Hope your weekend was lovely!! I’m pleased to say the basement storage room is organized and CLEAN and there is no sign of the mice! WHOO HOO! It took forever, seriously. I’m sure I’ll share it’s organized bliss with you soon.
Today I’m kicking off a fun little shindig I’ve got going…I’m pinching myself because I’m partnering up with Target over the next few months to show off some of their new items in the Threshold line. Have you seen it? Do you LOVE it?? Of course you do, it’s awesome. (And I’m not just saying that, I’ve been drooling over it for months.)
Target calls this line of decor a “casual-traditional look” and when I read that I was like – bingo, that’s my style! That may explain why I like it so much. You’ve probably seen the brand popping up for the past few months, but it’s about to get even better!
They challenged us to spruce up the foyer this month and I’m so stinkin’ happy with how it turned out! You may remember how I changed up the black buffet in our entryway to the beautiful aubusson blue last month:
I think that was one of the best decorating decisions I’ve ever made by the way – it makes SUCH a statement now.
Well there’s an area off the the right of that buffet that I consider still part of our foyer, but it’s an odd little spot. It’s right by the stairs, kind of in the dining area, but it’s still part of the entry into the house.
It’s one of those spots I’ve struggled with for years now. Over the past year or so I’ve had a settee and a wall of old vintage windows on the wall, but with the blue on the dresser the settee looked all wrong, so it got moved up to the master bedroom.
I had an idea to lighten up the spot and replace it, and I started with a trip to Target. Who doesn’t? :) I knew I wanted a little bench or stool, so I headed to this aisle:
I loved this dark brown one – it was uber sophisticated and had TONS of storage space inside:
But it was too big and a little too dark for what I was going for.
I also loved this one, with the dark wood legs and the tufted top:
It had storage too, that seat lifted up! But it was too modern for what I wanted.
THEN. I found her. The one:
She’s a she cause of her pretty little (short) legs and tufted top and of course…nail head trim. Add in plenty of storage inside and I was in luuurve.
I brought her home with me and then started a little redo to finish off the spot. I grabbed a chair I bought at Goodwill eons ago that has been sitting in our closet:
I painted it and recovered the seat forever ago and my plan was that it would be a nice little spot to sit to put on shoes or socks in our closet. Instead it became a spot to pile purses and clothes on three feet high sooooo…it came out.
It’s SO easy to recover a seat like this! If you haven’t attempted it I promise you can do it! Just cut your fabric down so it’s big enough to wrap around the edges and then start stapling:
I usually start on one side, staple, go to the other side, staple, and work my way around, pulling the fabric tight as I go.
The corners get a ton of staples – start with one:
And then staple the heck out of it to get a nice little corner:
Remember, NO ONE will see it. I promise. Unless they’re a freakity freak who looks under your chairs. But then do you really want them in your house anyway? Staple away.
I used the fabric to trim out the drapes in our living room near this spot, so pulling it over to this area worked out perfectly! I added one of my placemat pillows that used to sit on the settee, and I LOVE how it came together:
Yes, that was a placemat – I filled it up and then sewed a button in the middle to give it a little tuft. :)
I had been eyeing this Threshold mirrored tray like mad every time I went in to Target, so I finally picked it up for this spot:
Love it!
I’m not big into the decorating with bugs trend – like the vintage prints I see for example. I think they are beautiful but also think it would freak me out to have them in my house. This little votive holder I couldn't resist though:
You only see really see the image when there’s a candle inside, I just thought it was cool and I loved the bright yellow. (I used an LED votive in mine.)
I like using things differently from their intended purpose, so I used a blue votive holder and a green glass as vases:
It was all coming together beautifully, I was SO happy. But those vintage windows hanging above were just feeling so heavy. That wall has always stumped me because it’s big but I couldn’t do a mirror (there’s one above the buffet), I couldn’t do a gallery wall (one on the staircase right next to it). So what the heck do you put there that’s big but not heavy feeling?
I looked over above the sofa at my DIY painting and knew it would be PERFECT!:
It was too small for above the sofa anyway, so this works out even better. (And now the wall above the sofa is now completely empty, but I’m OK with it. For a while.)
I LOVE how it pulls in the color of the buffet – it was like it was meant to be!:
Crazy.
I don’t move furniture around much in this house but the accessories and art get moved around constantly.
Now it’s so much calmer in this spot – it works well with the area to the left and with the stairs…I felt like it was all fighting before:
We’ve moved most of the Bub’s toys to the basement, but I did keep some of them up in this bench. Things like foam swords that him and his buddies need quickly when they’re playing outside. You don’t how how often I hear “MOMMA, I need my swords!!”
It happened just the other day because we’ve had some days that feel like spring is here…they are brief but they get me excited. I love how bright this spot is now, and that there is so much color!
Funny how our tastes change. Six years ago this would all have been red and black. Five years from now it may be all white. But for now I’m a big fan of color in our home, it makes me happy. Especially this time of year!
So are you getting the spring bug yet? Do you decorate differently when the temps start to warm up? Are you obsessed with the Threshold line at Target too? Here’s a little tidbit – the full line isn’t even out yet! It will all be released in March and I cannot wait to see what else they have in store! (In store…get it? Har.) So do you like my Threshold items in my threshold?
OK, I’m done. :)
