At the top of the stairs in our house heading to the top floor, there is a fairly decent-sized landing area. The hallway narrows on either side heading to different rooms, but that area in the middle felt empty and just large enough to where it felt like it was unfurnished. I knew it needed something. All we had done since moving in was add a fun light fixture...
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| Similar fixture HERE |
To be honest, this area wasn't exactly a priority to put together. It was just kind of a boring landing/hallway space. I didn't intentionally try to get it put together over the past few weeks, it just sort of happened.
When I got the new chairs for the family room, I moved the old ones up to this area because... well, there was just extra space. Nothing super thought-out.
The two chairs reminded me of the little sitting area I loved so much in our first house that I bought those for originally. So I essentially recreated that little space. I hung the same round mirror that had just been sitting around in the basement all sad and unused. I also added the little round pedestal table that I had in that original little space as well.
Then, a few weeks ago, I added the frame wall here) and threw in some accessories.
Boom. Sitting area.
It's not perfect, and I'm sure I'll change stuff around as I always do, but it's cute and fun and it's kind of nice to make use of some unused stuff and decor that was hanging out in the spare bedroom I blogged about last week (here). It's fun to shop your own stuff for little spaces like this!
Something else I should mention that's a bit weird about this space is that it's where the attic stairs drop down. So putting up a nice bookcase (which was my original thought), or another heavy piece of furniture was out of the question. We don't need to access the attic too often, but when we do, it's nice that all I have to do is move the left chair out of the way. No big deal.
I'm not a big fan of rugs on rugs on rugs (i.e. rugs on top of carpet). I think I may have mentioned this before, but the plan is to eventually remove the carpet in the entire hallway, leaving the carpet just in the bedrooms (I personally like carpet in the bedrooms. I think it's cozier), and put down hardwood floors that match the flooring throughout the main level of the house. I can imagine how pretty that would be just looking at the photo above... I can totally see it. ;)
The rug is the one I got from Lulu and Georgia when we first moved in. It was always a bit small for the foyer and I never could find a great place for it. I think it's super cute up here.
I ordered the chairs years ago when we moved into our first house from Sears (they may still have them). The little pedestal table is from Target from the same time and the mirror.... well, it's so old I don't even remember.
You can get a better idea of the size of the area in the shots below...
The area is right across from the guest bedroom, which is nice because it can act as a nice little sitting area for "reading a book" (as my Grandma suggested), or whatever one generally uses these little nondescript "sitting" areas for.
But mostly, it makes the area feel a bit more finished and it's cute to look at. :)
I threw together the little table with some magazines, a Diptyque candle, and a little turtle lamp that was in my grandparents' house for years. I always liked looking at it when I was little. I'm not using it as a lamp, so I just tucked the cords up inside his shell. He makes me happy.
I also added some height with a mercury glass vase and some feathers.
Which is nice because I'll be able to change them out when the mood strikes or when I want to do something fun for different seasons, etc. Same with the pillows. It's so easy to change out stuff like that to make a space feel totally different.
I added a cute little basket of books that I grabbed from the guest bedroom. Thought it was cute here.
Another fun way to incorporate some color and show off some fun pillows/blankets you may not be using is to throw them in a big basket.
Those yellow pillows always make me happy. I got them years ago from Target when they did the collaboration with Dwell. That collaboration was the best.... Totally need to do that again, Target. Get on it. The basket is from there too. The fuzzy pillows are from, you guessed it, Target. I have a problem.
So that's it! Just a simple little update that was easy to put together, but made a big difference. It's fun to create little spaces like this!
Now for a few home decor goodies I picked up at the Ballard Designs Outlet...
I knew they were doing their annual Presidents' Day Sale, so I thought I'd check it out. I didn't find anything huge, but I did score some good deals on a few things.
In our guest bedroom post, I talked all about the cozy leopard bedding accents from Ballard.
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| see more on this space HERE |
With the outlet pricing, plus another 30% off the sale price, plus another 20% off of my entire purchase, I got it for $28.
Didn't get a photo of it in the packaging (hence the crappy phone pic), but you get the idea. It's currently in the washer getting velvety soft. I may steal it though... haha. It may not make it back in there.
I grabbed some black "drum" chandelier shades. These guys can get expensive. I got them for around $8 a piece.
Not sure where exactly I'm going to use these. I'm thinking I may use them on the fixture in our master bathroom. I love the look of black chandelier shades. I have them on our dining room chandelier and I've always been super happy with them.
This next one is crazy... Remember our huge 12' Christmas tree? It was hard finding a 72" tree skirt to fit around it. I finally (coincidentally) found a pretty fringed burlap one at Ballard that worked really well. Those things aren't cheap.
I was shocked when I saw a few 72" tree skirts that were crazy discounted. Crazy discounted. They all were returns (I suspect), because they had random family monograms, last names printed on them.
I found one that looked like it had never been taken out of the packaging and was not monogrammed...thankfully.
I peeled it back so you could see the original price.
With the additional discounts, I got it for around $8.50.
The green is a bit less lime and a bit softer in person, but I thought it was gorgeous. Since our big tree is sort of "woodland critter" themed (sounds scary, but it was totally cute, I swear), I think it will look great. I'm going to use the burlap one around our little Paris tree in the living room/office this Christmas.
Didn't think we'd be talking Christmas again so soon, huh? ;)
So that's all for this week guys! Where are your favorite place to score deals on home decor??
I hope you enjoy your weekend!
