House Tour: Entry and Reading Nook

 

With no formal entry (or dining room) in the house, we needed a spot to act as a landing pad when you walked through the front door.  The spot where we placed my antique industrial sewing table is straight ahead of the front door, and the table fits this space well.  The lamp is vintage, the mason jars are Henry's marble jars (he earns marbles for doing certain jobs), the small white ceramic berry basket is by roost and random holds little things we don't want to lose, the snake plant is in a pot from TJ Maxx and there is a white ceramic feather dish to hold our keys.  Under the table is a crocheted ottoman, which I made.  I usually keep my purse on top of the ottoman, although I mainly keep it there to keep anyone from accidentally kicking the carbon monoxide monitor plugged into the wall behind it.

The chairs had rush seats that were damaged, so I painted the frames with milk paint and covered the seats with grey leather from the local hide shop.  The pillows are made with Waverly fabric with hemp/cotton denim trim.  Between the two identical chairs is a small table that I added decorative trim and new knobs to and painted.  The lamp is from Home Goods and echoes the vintage lamp on the entry table.  I found the pair of framed vintage floral prints at the yard sale of old family friends.  They purchased them at a flea market in Marin in the 1970's and the prints had been hanging in the master bedroom.

 Knick knacks and clutter are being kept to a minimum here, and this floor to ceiling built in bookcase is the perfect place to keep mementos and books organized and out of the way.

 There is one shelf that is taller than the rest so I hung photos of my grandparents to fill some of the white space.  Below Grandma and Grandpa area some of our favorite books, which are stacked on top of each other and held up by geode bookends from an estate sale.
On the shelf below are a set of antique silhouettes, a Lollia candle, our Beta fish and my dad's medal from Vietnam. 

 I know they are everywhere but I had my heart set on a Ficus Lyrata.  It was surprisingly tough to find but I finally came across one shoved in the back of an indoor plant display at Lowes one town over.  It is bitty now but doing really well in front of the window and I can't wait for it to be a nice tall tree

Our favorite chair followed us from the new house and is placed in front of a huge window.  The bamboo table (painted cream) has been with me for more than 10 years, the rag placemat is thrifted, the coaster is a slice of a geode that I added felt feel to and the coffee mug is leftover from my old shop.

Stay tuned for more peeks of our home coming up in the next few weeks...  Henry's room is up next!