As the name of my blog indicates, I spend a lot of time thinking about home. Of course, my Heavenly Home is the one that is eternal, so that’s where I need to lay up my treasures, and that’s the one I’m striving for. But in the meantime, I have been given this tiny piece of the here-and-now—this home on the edge of town, this family, this neighborhood—in which to serve Him. And, though this is in the earthly realm, I want the things that happen here to be investments in the Heavenly realm.




Saturday, January 27, 2018

Making a Space Work for You


Ron wanted a quick project to do before Christmas (have I told you that my man loves a project?), and so he decided that our tiny entrance to the master suite would be the thing to tackle. It was a pretty straightforward project, consisting of painting the walls and trim and hanging a new light.

This refresh was actually the final phase of making this space into what it needed to be. This is a tiny little entry, only 5 feet by 4 feet! But, although vestibule is small, I think it is genius design. There is a door from the kitchen into the alcove. Inside, there is a door straight ahead into the bathroom, and a door to the left into the bedroom. So many doors may limit the space, but they allow so many options for privacy and quiet. Great planning!

I am going to tell you exactly how we went about making this space work for us.




First, we needed to identify the purpose of the space and what we needed from it. 

As I told you, is a tiny 5' x 4' entry and there are three doors! Not a lot of usable space. But we needed it to work hard for us as there is not a lot of storage in the adjoining bathroom which is also tiny (5' by 7'). We also wanted the space to look cozy and fit our decorating style. We wanted it to feel like a part of the suite, not just a pass-through.


view from the kitchen


After deciding what we wanted from the space, we needed to (inexpensively) find ways to achieve that purpose and make it work! 

First the storage . . . 

To gain the needed storage in the space, we went with a slim, vertical piece. The jelly cupboard that used to be in our bathroom at The Farmhouse serves the purpose quite well. And it "hides ugly stuff"! (Love that!) Inside are toiletries, make up, hair dryer, flat iron, etc.

(That part had been done since right after we moved in. Now it was time for the next step.)

view from the bedroom


. . . and then make it cozy and personal and reflective of our style . . . 

Time for some fresh paint! We painted the walls the same antique white we have used in all of the other rooms in Pineapple House. The trim color is Quaker Green by Olde Century Colors (which we also used in the library).

Aside: Quaker Green is one of my favorite decor colors! It's such a rich colonial color and it goes with almost anything. I am so tempted use it in every room in my house, but we all agree that a dark color on the kitchen cabinets in our galley kitchen would close it in, and Quaker Green on the fireplace wall in the living room would make the room feel dark. So I must use restraint and use it where I can. :) 

view from the kitchen; peek into the bedroom at left, bathroom door straight ahead

We cozied up the floor with a small Oriental rug that had been in our bedroom at The Farmhouse. This simple touch goes a long way towards making this little space feel like a room.

Ron hung the "new" light that was given to us by friends before we knew we were moving. We brought it along to Pineapple House, knowing that it would go somewhere. It did! (Thanks for thinking of us, Chris and Kim!)



We also personalized the space with a few accessories.

The checkerboard is one that Ron made in industrial arts class in high school. The whimsical sheep is a gift from a friend.




And then there's the oak strip mounted on the wall to the right of the doorway into the kitchen. Let me tell you the story behind that.

view from the bathroom, looking into kitchen


You may remember that in The Farmhouse we had charted all four of our children's growth on the inside of a closet door. We hated to think about leaving that door, that beloved piece of family history. One of us (I won't mention any names) wondered if we couldn't take that door with us and replace it with another! But oddly sized paneled doors are not easily found and we did not have lots of time to search.

Shortly before moving day, Kati, Bekah, and I went to Home Depot and purchased a piece of oak molding. We brought it home, took it up to Kati's room, and painstakingly measured and copied every single mark that had been made from the time that Kristin was 6 and Ryan was 4!

Now it lives here in our little alcove. It's not the same as the closet door, but history has been preserved in a sense, and it delights me when the grands measure themselves and compare their heights with that of their parents' (or their aunt's or uncle's) at their age.



So that was our process of making a limited space work for us with function and personality!

Do you have a space in your house that needs some out-of-the-box thinking to make it work for you?  






25 comments:

  1. I love that you’ve made this space part of the master and made it a suite! Its wonderful with the rug, light, cabinet, and that oak board!

    Love it all!

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    1. Thanks, Deanna! Hope you're able to visit Pineapple House this year!

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  2. I love it! And the story behind the oak molding!

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    1. Thank you, Cheri! Our growth chart is one of those things that I am SO glad that we did!

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  3. Cheryl, I love every special touch that you are adding to make the Pineapple House your's. The little vestibule is a charming spot. The Quaker Green is a lovely calming color and looks perfectly happy in your home. You and your Ron make a perfect decorator pair. How lovely it all looks. And your children's heights on that oak board speaks volumes to the heart of your home. ♥

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    1. Thank you for your sweet comments, Martha Ellen! Ron and I are a team, that's for sure!

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  4. Excellent changes and good solutions. I love the light that your friends gave you, the color of the molding and door, and the oak recording of the children’s growth.

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    1. Thank you, Vee! They say that necessity is the mother of invention. I believe that is the impetus behind many solutions! I am happy with the light too. It is the same style that we hung over the sink in The Farmhouse. When Chris and Kim changed out a light at their house, they thought of us. I'm glad they did!

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  5. The room looks great!! I love it....

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  6. Love everything you did to this area, and the paint color is wonderful, as is the board that shows your kids' heights!!!

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    1. Thank you, GrammaGrits! We have been so glad that we recreated that closet door growth chart!

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  7. I love that Quaker green color, it almost looks like blue/grey. Cute story of the height board! Wonder what the new owners of your old house think of the closet door?

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    1. Thanks, Melissa! You know, I have wondered that too! We do see the new owners occasionally . . . I'll have to ask. :)

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  8. I love it all. Just perfect and looks so much like your style. And I especially love the board with the growth chart. How cool for the grands to compare with their parents! It's really a nice space to have to give you extra privacy--we have a very similar space but we think of it more like a hallway. Hmm, now you have me thinking!

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    1. Thank you, Dotsie! We have loved the idea of the growth chart and I am happy to have found a way to bring it with us (and still leave the new owners with their closet door ~smile~)! I suppose we are used to looking for usable space and solutions from our years of living in The Farmhouse. There were few closets and the ones we had were small, so we learned to make use of all available space!

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  9. Great use of the space and personalizing it. Love the extra privacy feature this space affords. What a great idea to use a piece of board like that to record growth that you don't have to leave behind. Going to suggest that to our son and dil! Or maybe we'll just do it at baba and gramps place. Hope your weekend is going well. No small projects here right now...just big ones!

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    1. Oh boy, you are full of big projects! It will all pay off, I'm sure, but in the meantime . . . whew!

      I definitely think you should start a growth chart at your new place! It will be such fun to record that history and your granddaughter (and any future grandchildren) will love to come to Baba and Gramps' house to see how much they've grown!

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  10. Thanks for visiting Thinking About Home, Teri . . . and thank you for your kind words!

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  11. How special! It serves a great purpose AND fits right in with the rest of your decor. I agree about that Quaker green! Just plain beautiful!

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    1. Thank you, Rebecca! I don't consider myself a "green" person, but I am drawn to Quaker green in my home! It kind of works as a neutral in a colonial color palette. (Not sure if that makes sense, but it's how I see it.) :)

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  12. I love houses with unique, cozy little nooks and you did a fabulous job making such good use out of this space. The rug did it...just perfect there, increasing the coziness. I have revamped the floor plan for the new farmhouse a bit and hope that the space we created for a laundry/mud room (instead of just a closet) will be a much more practical and useful.

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    1. Thanks, Debby! It must be lots of fun (and maybe overwhelming?!) to be able to design the floor plan for your new home! Can't wait to see all that you're going to do!

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  13. Your little hallway looks wonderful...I love the light fixture and the oak board with the growth chart copied was a splendid idea!

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    1. Thank you, Cheryl! I am so glad we thought of copying the growth chart in the middle of the moving frenzy!

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