ABM Studio: The Entryway (Before)

Colorful door inspiration! green, pink (does anyone know?), blue, mint

The entryway is the first room in our little (BEFORE) tour of the new studio. I'm excited to share photos of the current space, plans and ideas for future projects and some inspiration photos too! 

The front door is a big deal. I love the mood that a bright, colorful door can create. A door can make a great first impression! We're planning to replace the current front door with something more solid and paint it a bold color. Which is your favorite from the inspiration images above? I'm personally most in love with the pea green and bright blue. Yellow is always in the running, though… always. Here's the view when you walk though the front door. When I look at this photo my mind is instantly spinning with ideas. Art, lighting, paint colors… where to even begin? This house has the BEST bones—so, so much potential.

First up, lighting!Lighting Sources 1/2/3/4. 

I love the idea of a big pretty statement light in this space. Or maybe something with a pop of color? Maybe even a DIY fixture? Something like Sarah's pendant lamp? At the moment I'm leaning toward something big, either a chandelier or a metal globe of some sort, but I've been known to change my mind… a lot. Here's the stairway. I doubt we will paint all of the wood. We will put major thought into this before starting, because undoing it is a crazy hassel. In my home the stairs were already painted, so I am leaning toward keeping wood on the stairs and painting the risers. Currently the stairs are in good, but definitely not perfect condition. There are scratches in the wood if you look closely. I'm excited to bring on the paint after we've thought long and hard about it and committed to an idea! I won't lie. It makes me nervous, but so excited at the same time.Stairways at two Madewell locations (rainbow steps via DesignLoveFest)

My two favorite stairways that I've ever seen are both at Madewell locations (no surprise there!). I love the idea of adding type or bold color to the risers of our staircase. Wanna know another fun detail?? There are two sets of stairs in our new space! The second one is an enclosed hallway type staircase right behind the kitchen, leading up to the sponge painted room. Since it's less formal we'll probably do the crazier idea there. I'm just excited that we get to dream up a stairway makeover x2! Under the entry stairway there is this open space. The possibilities here are SO fun! Here are my first two inspiration points:a. My initial thought was something similar to this (via Design*Sponge) but shelves built into the space beneath the stairs. How cute would it be to have a little hidden bookshelf right there?b. But then, I saw this reading nook (via Indulgy)! That's pretty special. Now I can't decide what to do with that little nook. Here's a view of the entry from the dining room door. 

I can't wrap up this post without a little talk about my favorite subject of all… COLOR! Color is a big consideration in this new space. We haven't made any specific choices yet, but what we definitely agree on is that we don't want to do an all white house. As much as we LOVE all white houses (that's basically what my home is, and I have never regretted it even once!) With that said, we knew it was time to break out of that comfort zone and try some new things. In this space we're looking forward to experimenting with color, texture, print and patterns! If we make a regrettable choice (and we fully expect to) we'll paint over it… no biggie! We're looking forward to trying new things, learning from our mistakes and growing as designers and bloggers along the way. 

For the record, we like the color the entryway is already painted, but since there are quite a few spots on the walls that need to be mended before painting we will most likely go with a brand new color. I mean, the temptation is just too much. If you need us we'll be in the paint aisle, staring at swatches like zombies for the next few months. Sigh… 

Thanks for taking a little (BEFORE) tour with us. We're excited to share our progress as the space begins to take shape!I love this idea to paint "welcome" at the entry and this sweet welcome sign from Terrain.

Whatever direction we choose to take from here, I just want our entryway to feel like a welcoming space! I want our front door to basically smile and say, "Good Morning!" I want the entryway to speak to what this home is meant to be, a creative space. 

I'm looking forward to hearing what you guys think about all our crazy ideas! xo. Elsie 

ps. For more obsessive daily studio inspiration, follow my studio inspiration board on Pinterest. 

Credits// Author and Photography: Elsie Larson, Inspiration images are linked throughout.