A welcoming entry

Our entryway is a sore spot for me. Ironically, it's something that actually sold me on this town home. Townhouses notoriously have awkward layouts with tiny landings that are dubbed the entryway. So when we found a place that had an actual entryway, I was so excited. But then we moved in and I quickly realized that it was all doors and an awkward all it's own.

While it's aesthetically sore, functionally I'm so grateful for it. I can walk right out the front door with the stroller and after roll it into the utility closet. The little coat closet allows shoes and jackets to be readily accessible. The garage is a straight, stairless shot, so carrying in groceries, diaper bag and baby in easy. Wait, easy? Easier. Also with the front door and garage both entering the same place it does have a natural flow to drop off all the cold weather gear - which is oh so necessary in Minnesota.

But I like things pretty! And this is the first/only thing people see when they come to our home! And it was utterly void of our personality. Void. Ugh. I tried different things, because if one thing fails - try, try again. And thank goodness I did, cause I think I've finally got things going in the right direction!
First off, I painted it. Then I got some hooks. Inspired by Chris Loves Julia cause I'm ALWAYS inspired by them. They got these Pottery Barn hooks. But I didn't have $100 to spend on four hooks - who does? So I searched the usual places and found these at Target:



$29 for all four hooks. Take that! Luckily the ones I liked the most had the screw holes in them so I could take them off the board and put them on my wall how I wanted. I haven't found another set of hooks on a board that have the screw holes in them - and I've been looking (purely so I can feel ultra awesome about my serendipitous find).



I needed longer screws, which ended up more of a quest than expected to find ones with the right finish. To hang them I used drywall anchors since these will be holding some actual weight at times.

I just needed a jumping point and now the inspiration is coming. Next week (I think) we're headed down to the family farm to pick out some barn wood for a narrow entry table (so excited about this - it'll add a lot and be a piece of family history!!) .And then just a few more little additions and projects to make it say "welcome to our home."