Linda’s Dream House: Making An Entrance

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Free Tips on a well decorated home

I’ve always loved mural wallpaper, so what better way of making an entrance to the dream house than doing it up right in the front hall!

First, here are some inspiration images I’ve been collecting for a long while. This first image is Suzanne Rheinstein’s New York Pied-a-Terre which features a gorgeous paper in the living room. One of the things I so love about a mural is how it just expands a space.

I particularly love local Boston designer Susan Harter‘s paper murals – so gorgeous.

Susan Harter’s Delft Black wallpaper

Another Susan Harter paper, which comes in shades of gray and also very soft pastels. Such a beautiful misty soft palette.

Susan Harter’s Barrington Mist mural wallpaper
detail of Susan Harter’s Cotswold Sky mural paper
This is a Scenic panel. It was printed by Zuber & Cie. It is dated 1930–40 and which was acquired it in 1954. Its medium is block-printed, canvas mount. It is a part of the Wallcoverings department at the  Cooper Hewitt Museum

The image below is from the current month’s Design New England magazine designed by Architect and Interior Designer Ramsay R. Gourd. Photo by Greg Premru. It’s very similar to the architectural style of my dream front hall.

And so, a little reminder, there is a closed vestibule / mudroom at the front of the house which leads to the front hall.

Linda's house exterior

Here is the inside of the vestibule showing that there are bench seats on either side for removing muddy or snowy boots as needed.

 

Vestibule bench

And the ceiling view which features a wallpapered ceiling and beautiful star shaped fixture.

Vestibule ceiling

And here are the details of this vestibule space featuring Circa Lighting, Thibaut wallpaper, Joe Ruggiero for Sunbrella fabrics and the marble floor by Exquisite Surfaces.

Dream House Vestibule

And now peeking into the front hall…

vestibule into front hall

 

The front hall with its beautiful mural wallpaper! The gorgeous flooring is the same as in the vestibule. I debated a lot about building in a coat closet under the stairs versus doing an armoire and decided to stick with an armoire. If I did a closet, it would either be as a jib door hidden in the mural, or a standard millwork door. In the end, I just like having a beautiful old piece of furniture in the space.

Front Hall

And here are my selections for the space featuring a beautiful yet simple Circa Lighting chandelier, Susan Harter‘s Cotswolds paper in gray (note, the paper used on the walls is different, but worked better in the software!), a stair runner by Merida, and an antique armoire available through 1st Dibs.

Dream House Front Hall

 

You can see all my selections and links on my Dream House Pinterest board here.

Have you ever planned your dream house? Or better yet, have you gone ahead and built it? I’d love to hear about it!

xoxo Linda

18 thoughts on “Linda’s Dream House: Making An Entrance”

  4. I love all the pictures until the end!
    The murals on both sides look so unfinished….maybe because of the “computer drawing”! The last pictures look really bad to me…big fat armoire…wallpaper on two sides not enveloping. Looks wrong to me!

    Reply

    • Hi Penelope – I’d love to hear how you would envelope the space in the wallpaper when the staircase takes up the entire wall? I did lay in the graphic of the wallpaper on the stair walls and it looked ridiculous – as I’m sure you can imagine if you think about it.

      Reply

      • It isn’t your computer renderings that make me gag! Sorry it sounded like that! It is just hard for me to visualize with computer renderings. I think your idea of a jib door in the mural on the wall space behind the armoire would make the area more open. So, I would have that wall under the stairs also with the mural. Just my opinion! Not all the walls. then it would continue and not be broken up. I love the mural wallpaper!
        Thank you for a great post!

        Reply

  6. Linda I love murals of all kinds and color palettes! I do understand what Penelope is saying, the computer drawings make the space seem much smaller than it probably is!

    xoxo
    Karena
    The Arts by Karena
    Featuring India Hicks

    Reply

    • Hi Karena – in fact, it is a very small space. The front hall is only 9′ wide. The house is not intended to be a mansion but to be more like the original homes in this area where the front stairs are often not huge. L

      Reply

  7. I love your computer renderings. Do you do them yourself? If so, would you mind sharing the program software. I think they give an excellent representation for the client
    thank you. 🙂

    Reply

    • Hi Christine – thanks so much! I do do them myself. I use Live Interior 3D Pro, which I think is just for Mac, though they may have released a PC version. The only drawback is that it doesn’t render floorpans well, or elevations at all. So it’s limited, but I think for showing a realistic look at a space, it works well. Plus, you can “walk” through the rooms to get a feel of the true volume of a space, which I like. Happy Sunday! Linda

      Reply

  8. Hello Linda:

    I just saw that you were kind enough to feature my mural wallpaper on your blog. Thanks so much! I love the dream hallway idea. Never thought of putting a color like grasshopper next the the mural, but it totally works!

    Susan

    Reply

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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