It’s always interesting to me when you see a house filled with furniture, how people choose to set it up. Often times there is wasted space, or they’re just not really sure of what the builder intended the space to be used for. Now I’m sure there weren’t thinking anything special with this space. Quite honestly I think the wall is longer because they forgot to put a pantry in and then added a little one as an after thought. That’s okay though, it’s been making me be more focused on buying fresh things when I go to the store, rather than processed foods, but I digress.
My point being, is rather than just a long narrow wall coming in from the garage, which is the entrance we use 90% of the time, I wanted to use the space. Our new kitchen is much smaller than our old one, so I am trying to be very intentional about making every square inch as functional as possible for us.
This is the hallway before. We have our main floor half bath here and the pantry behind it, so there wasn’t any expanding the space without some major $$$ involved. I painted the walls gray instead of that light green to start, but then wanted something a little fun for this accent wall. I thought this Peel and Stick Wallpaper was just the thing! I never thought I would be adding wallpaper to my home, but with this being so easy to apply and take off, I’m okay if this ends up being just a trend!
It was really easy to apply and adjust. I actually didn’t line up the pattern the first time I did it (no sleep problems, didn’t even cross my mind) and was able to adjust and fix it, no problem. I just had to cut my outlet holes with a knife and then we were good to go. I will say, not much came in a roll, so you’re probably better off buying two rolls depending on the size of your space.
You can tell by the calendar, nothing fast happens with a baby. I know all the projects I want to do, but when your kid isn’t much of a napper, it takes longer! Aaron built me this piece from IKEA that is actually a shoe rack! It fits perfectly in this space, goes right up against the wall (notice it only has front legs), and it only comes out about 5 inches so it doesn’t crowd the space when you walk in the door.
We are able to keep our lunch boxes in here (Parker has a this raccoon one, yes it’s adorable), dog leashes, umbrellas, and other things that you need right as you walk out the door! Plus it’s a great place to set your wallet and drinks when you walk in.
I wanted to add a piece of wood to the top to make it seem a little more intentional for the space, and get rid of any shoe racks vibes it might be giving off. Yes, that’s a thing. We tried staining this piece of wood to match the calendar and frame that would be hanging above it. It ended up taking two coats of gray stain, one coat of golden pecan stain, and one light coat of a dark stain that we rubbed in and wiped off. Ya, it was a pain, but we actually got the color pretty close. I sealed it with this poly since we would be setting things on it while we got settled coming into the house, including cups, and didn’t want it to mess up the board. The biggest commitment was that we glued the board to the top of the piece of furniture. I didn’t want to deal with trying to hide the screws from the top or underneath, so we just had to commit to this having a board on it. I had it sitting on top of the piece for a couple weeks to make sure I liked it better that way and I do! I think it looks like a mini table now.
I love it! It’s a small space that now serves a lot of function with our calendar, the storage, and the shelf! Plus the wallpaper is a fun little accent wall to break up the gray! I eventually plan on painting our kitchen cabinets white and our interior doors dark, so I think it will pop even more so then. Feel free to send help on the cabinets, really having to work to psych myself up to paint those again. Also any votes on dark gray versus black interior doors? I can’t decide and will not be painting them twice :) Anyway, those are projects for a different day. Happy weekend, and hope you like the space!
