Entryway Makeover

When we set out home goals for this year, we decided that this would be a year of smaller, less expensive projects.  I am happy to say we have completed our first project from that list.  The front entry of our home is a bit awkward.  There are lots of stairs and doorways.  Here is how it looked last fall, before we added the white planking.

The view from the family room into the entryway.

We liked the look of the chalkboard print in the before picture, but wanted it to look a bit more finished.  I had found some ideas on Pinterest of some chalkboards trimmed like windows.  I first saw one years ago on one of my favorite blogs, Mallairdville Manor, and it's been on my to-do list ever since.  Billy used some old trim that we had in our basement along with some leftover chalk paint.  He used the same method of trim as he did around our windows.  He wrote a post about it here.  Total cost for our new entryway chalkboard was $0.  I am really happy with how this little project turned out.  It will be fun to add different chalk art with the seasons.  I am always pinning ideas on my chalkboard art board on Pinterest.  Also, we made sure the opening is the same size as the engineering prints are from Staples so I have the option of getting one printed if I am not in a chalkboard art kind of mood.

The deer head over the chalkboard was a Target clearance find after Christmas.  It was about $10.  I added one of my preserved boxwood wreaths (purchased at HomeGoods last year).   We also purchased this red cabinet from Target.  I like the punch of color it adds.  The March issue of This Old House Magazine is in our wire mail basket.  We hand them out to guests as parting gifts when they leave (just kidding!).

We added a couple of more clearance finds to the top of the cabinet.  The teal glass lamp was a steal at $14 (70% off from, you guessed it, Target).  All other items were also from Target.

I added a saying that I printed using Picmonkey and enlarged with Blockprints for the chalkboard.

Here is a copy of the saying I used on the chalkboard.

I am really glad that we finally got around to finishing this project.  Our entryway is the first place our guests see and definitely worth the effort.  And just for the sake of keeping things real in a house with 3 boys, here is what the chalkboard looks like this morning:)  My little guy had to add his own personal touch to the bottom.

As always, thanks for reading!!