I’m still working my way through the comments from yesterday’s post about the headboard and bedding for our bedroom, but as I’ve often said, sometimes one comment changes everything. And that’s what happened yesterday. I had planned to continue working on the bedroom suite foyer, but I sat down to read a few comments first, and one comment grabbed my attention. I apologize because I can’t remember who wrote the comment, but it totally changed everything and made the poll about the mirror moot almost right out of the gate.
I’ve mentioned several times before that I get stuck in ruts. Once I envision in my mind how an area or room will look or be arranged, it’s really difficult for me to imagine anything else. I think we can all get that way to an extent, which is why I think it’s so important that if you ever hire a interior decorator or designer to help you with your house, hire one that works with a team of people, or at least one that relies on the input of at least one other person. I rely heavily on my mom’s input, as well as the input that I get from those of you who leave comments on my blog posts (especially those of you who have been around a long time and know my style and my taste).
Anyway, all of that to say that for the longest time now, even back when I was in the midst of building my closet and trying to work out those details, I knew that the foyer would act as an extension of my closet. I didn’t want to give up any storage area in the closet for a bench, a chair, or a full-length mirror. So almost from the beginning of planning my closet in its current configuration, I planned the for the foyer to act as an “overflow” area — an extension of my closet where I could put a bench where I could sit and put on my shoes if needed, and a full-length mirror where I could check my outfit before heading out the door.
But for some reason, every time I imagined the completed foyer, I pictured the bench being on this wall next to the left of the closet doorway…
And then I envisioned the mirror being on this wall of the foyer, which is the main wall (i.e., the most visible wall) of the foyer. This is the wall that’s front-and-center when looking into our bedroom suite from the music room.
And since that’s the only way I’ve envisioned the foyer for months now, I couldn’t “see” it any other way. It’s strange that I couldn’t see it any other way because mirrors aren’t really something that I’m drawn to when it comes to decorating. It’s not that I dislike mirrors, but most of the time, I see them as a missed opportunity to add color and interest to a room. So I’ll almost never choose them as a decorative item over a framed, colorful piece of artwork.
But in this context, a full-length mirror is necessary since I don’t have one inside my closet, and everyone needs a full-length mirror in or near their closet. But why I chose to put the mirror front-and-center and make it the focal point of the foyer, I have no idea. And why I chose to shove my favorite picture from our wedding day, along with all of the colorful items, into the corner of the foyer where they’re almost hidden when the bedroom doors are open, I have no idea. That’s just the rut in which my mind had gotten stuck, and I couldn’t envision the foyer with any other configuration.
And all it took was one comment to break my mind free from that rut and make me realize that a simple swap would make the whole thing so much better. So I moved the bench, the colorful pillows, and my favorite wedding day picture to the main wall of the foyer. And now all of this gorgeous color and pattern is front-and-center in the foyer.
And then I moved the mirror to the wall to the left of the closet doorway. It’s fully accessible and it serves its purpose. And it fits this space much better, in my opinion. But it’s no longer front-and-center. It’s no longer the focal point of the entire foyer from the music room view into our bedroom suite.
I love this whole arrangement so much better! I mean, any time I can have color and pattern be the focus of a space, I’m going to be much happier with the end result.
And having the bench there still leaves plenty of space for Matt to maneuver through this area (especially once I move our router, which continues to be an eyesore at this point).
I’m not quite finished with the decorating. I love the chapel picture on this wall, but I don’t think that it’s big enough to carry that wall all by itself. So now I’ve circled back to sconces. I don’t want to do hardwired sconces (at least not yet), so I’m going to try out either sconces with rechargeable bulbs or candle sconces for now. If I really like how they look, and I think I might actually want them for lighting rather than just decorative purposes, I’ll eventually have them hardwired. But for now, I just want sconces to add some visual interest and widen the decorative elements on that wall.
Here’s a wide-angle view of everything I have on the walls in this area for now. Please excuse my mess. I’m in creative mode right now, so things get a bit messy, but I’m going to do my best to have the foyer completely finished by the end of the weekend. That includes moving the router and that unsightly cable coming out of the ceiling.
I wasn’t sure what to do on the walls flanking the door to the bathroom (i.e., future storage closet). I pulled out the remaining 12 pictures that I cut out of that Bible study book that I showed y’all a couple of days ago, and I taped them to the wall to see if they would work here.
I actually love them there, but my mom didn’t like them. She liked those walls better with nothing on them.
And I get it. Not everyone likes as much color and busyness as I do. I’m still undecided on that. I’ll probably finish everything else in the foyer and then make my final decision on those walls. I do like a lot of color and pattern, but I also don’t feel the need to put something on every single wall. So I’ll decide on that last. But I think I’m well on my way towards having a finished foyer by the end of this weekend. I’m very excited about that possibility!
More About Our Bedroom Suite Foyer
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Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
