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| Front door surround |
I thought I'd show another before and after of our house. This time the hall. The hall originally was carpeted (in a dull green), and had three different light fittings down it, two which were passable, and one heinously ugly. It had floral wallpaper and extensive water damage to the ceiling, which had also affected the arch, causing the keystone on one side to drop off at some point. Unfortunately, there were no professional photos for the real estate listing, and when we next went to Adelaide to view the house after buying it, the builder was already in and demolishing, so here is what I have:
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| Wallpaper, passable lightfittings in the back part of the hall |
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| Work in progress, ugly light fitting in the entry part |
The first part of the hall, from the front door to the arch, is wider than the second part. Obviously, you're somewhat limited by what you can do furniture wise, but in this entry part we put a serpantine front George 3rd tea table (wedding gift from my Aunt and Uncle) and a large iron mirror over it. I chose the mirror for the sale of our last house, but the iron works well with the glass inserts around the front door (they are quite unusual in that they are not stained glass which is more typical for the era of the house) so the mirror fits quite nicely here. We put in new hardwood floorboards (brushbox) as the original were baltic pine which I don't think wear well in high traffic areas, and put in new iron lanterns (large version in the entry, two smaller ones in the hall) that complement the iron mirror and windows.
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| entry looking toward the front door, sorry the lantern tends to twist in the breeze when the door is opened, I'm sure it's bugging some readers... |
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| View toward the back door |
I also had a rug custom made that is out of antique kilims that are cut up and stitched back together. There were no rugs off the shelf that would fit the space, and I quite liked that the rug was made of a very traditional looking item that was put together in a more modern way. The art on the walls is mostly family black and white photos that I've had professionally taken of the children over the years (mostly every 2 years) and framed the same way. We also have a Jeffrey Riccardo print that is in the entry. Eventually, I'd love to have a lot more art, but I'm happy to live with blank walls in the meantime while I wait for the right thing.
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| view from the back door looking to the front door |
I may still one day wallpaper the hall, but I quite like that this will all flow through to the back extension, bouncing the light around. Also, the rooms off the hall have quite a bit of colour/ fabric going on, so it's nice to have a somewhat more neutral space to balance. The one thing that I'm not so happy about is the return air grills for the air conditioning that are in the front entry. I really dislike them, but unfortunately, there is no other solution (other than having no air conditioning, which would be horrible in Adelaide, as we get very hot Summers). So, not the most exciting space, and not exactly radical on the decoration front, but it has a warm feel to it and now makes for a nice welcome to the house.
