I have a very large front foyer. It’s useless space really. The kind of space that if you’re coming from a tiny house and looking at mine, it seems like a blessing. It’s not. I’d rather have a wider living area. It’s always presented a challenge on what to actually PUT in such a big front entrance. I used to have a wooden bench along one wall that had a tiny storage compartment underneath. It was great when the kids were little-for sitting them down and pulling on boots and shoes but there was never enough storage space in the hallway. Our front closet is actually not located in the front hallway. Go figure! Walk about 10 steps from the front door, down one step to your right and there’s the front closet. Silly, really but I wasn’t about to knock down walls and all that.
I’ve never known where to put the countless hats, mitts, scarves, keys, slippers, etc. that a 5 person household accumulates. The closet holds our coats and shoes and not much else. I wanted more storage. Yes, there’s that word again-storage. I also wanted all this stuff out of sight. I have a thing about clutter, meaning I can’t stand it. Less is more, you know. The older I get, the more I want to rid my living space of stuff. It clutters my mind, all these possessions of ours.
This is where big old dressers come in handy. You know the ones people throw away? I currently have a love affair with such dressers. They are wonderful storage pieces. I picked one up for free. Some of the stuff I get is really dusty dirty. I mean really but I can always see the potential of such pieces. I didn’t really want or need the mirror that came with it. I figured I’d just trash it unless it started speaking to me.
I never took a before picture. Envision 1980s reddish brown. I did a test to strip the top and see what was underneath. Unfortunately, only part of this was solid wood so painting was the solution. As with everything I paint, I prep. A good cleaning with mild soap and water usually does the trick. 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of paint. Reattach the original hardware. I kinda liked the hardware the way it was, so I decided not to change it out. And done.
It now houses all the winter gear. We each get our own drawer plus one for slippers and one for keys, phones, etc. It helps fill in the long wall in this too-big front entrance quite nicely.
It didn’t end there. What to do with the mirror? Since the main floor bathroom was getting a fresh coat of paint and the “builder’s” mirror was in there (accumulating rust by the way), I knew it had to go and I knew I had a perfectly good mirror from this piece. It had a wooden design thing on the top (again, no BEFORE picture), which Mr. Restyle removed for me. Then he removed the mirror and I painted the frame with the chalk paint from the Not So Pretty in Pink chair. 3 coats of the chalk paint and a coat of the Annie Sloan soft wax. Pop the mirror into the frame. Attach a french cleat to hold up the mirror. A french cleat is used to hold up pictures. It attaches to the wall and then the picture gets attached to it. Looks like this:
Here’s the mirror. That’s how you get 2 for 1!
Restyle4Life 
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