Evolution of a Room: Piano Room, Entryway, Stairwell

We have been in our home 3 1/2 years now and I still feel like there is so much to do. It is frustrating not having a room "done". Although are they ever really done, I mean, really? I think not. This post is a little photo heavy, but I wanted to show how far this room has come. I have been waiting to do this because I still have projects in the works for this space. They are taking longer than I anticipated, which is frustrating. I get impatient with this kind of stuff and my current projects I have to rely on someone else's help. Ugh. Anyhow, here is where the room started from the first time we saw it to this afternoon.



This photo was taken after we lived here over 2 years. I hadn't really done anything to this space except move in a couch, a piano and hang up a piece of art. For a while it also housed Nate's weight set.......I am so glad that has been evicted to the basement. I don't miss it at all. The entryway table was given to me by Nate our first christmas here.
Flash forward to the Fall of 2009. The room had definitely progressed. I had the room repainted, white ceilings and a faux finish on the walls. The large fern I got to go next to my railing but at this time it was hanging out in here, waiting for the holidays to be over.




This photo is a before of what the stairwell looked like til this last Novemeber.

This is the after. Let me tell you getting that wall done was intense. I worked on it when Nate was out of town, late at night while the kids were sleeping. Crazy, I know. That is insanely high to be perched on the top of a ladder without another person around to help hold it! It also took forever because I was constantly up and down getting more paint or readjusting the ladder. It was still fun though. I painted it in a Ralph Lauren suede finish. It has a cool texture to it. The pictures don't do it justice. I definitely still have plans for this area.
This is today, showing my fern where she normally resides.


At the end of February I found these window panels and fell in love. Of course it helped that they were on clearance! I also got the curtain rod for 70% off! Score! The room was feeling too gold to me and I felt like the couch was getting lost in tbe wall. There is the littlest bit of a rust color in the details of the pillows and I have been trying to pull that color into the room for a while. The paint job in the stairwell, the piano room, some of my accessories, my hallway rug all help to pull it out. It still needed a pop to help pull it though. The curtains were definitely part of the answer.

So were these pillows. The moment I saw them I knew they were what I was looking for. When people ask me what I am looking for I feel like my answer is alway, "I will know it when I see it." I wanted a solid color pillow because of the pattenr on the couch, but I loved how I still got a cool texture with the criss cross pattern sewn into the pillow.

Doesn't that make such a difference? I love it!

With our Ogden house finally going under contract a few weeks ago I got to bring home the things we took over there to "stage" it. I originally bought this to go in my downstairs. However when I brought it home two days ago I decided to put it here to see how I felt about a little table in this spot. Instantly I knew that this was where it was meant to be. I never thought that it would work there because the yellow of the table was more bold and I had a vision in my mind of what I thought I wanted. As soon as it was placed in the room though it was amazing to see how much the color transformed to fit into the space. Another awesome thing is that it works wonderfully with my current project for the space. What a happy coincidence. Seriously, if you were to see this table in a different space you would swear that I had painted it. Awesome. Then I had to set about rearranging the accessories in this space. What an adventure. Because of another room in the house undergoing a transformation I feel like EVERY accessory is finding a new home. It is fun but also disconcerting to have to find a perfect happy home for everything.


The piano has been one of those areas that I really struggle to decorate. It is constantly changing and I have yet to step back and say "Yes! That's it!" Still waiting for that to happen.



So there you have it. Atleast thus far. Stay tuned for more evolving to hit this area.