The Artful Foyer

Since we finished painting a month ago, our front hall remains painfully bare. I quickly put away the painting gear and replaced the (temporary) rugs, but otherwise, the walls are bare. Not a terribly inviting space!

And yes, for those who asked, we do intend to replace all our trim work and moldings in the future! Either I will buy a mitre saw or we'll hire someone to take care of the whole catastrophe and give me seriously tasteful new baseboards and trim. In the interim, I had planned to paint it all white (to hide the hideousness of the brown contractor-grade trim), but our painting contractor quoted us another $1500 to paint all the trim in the house!!! I wasn't keen to waste that much money on a temporary fix, so we shall live with the dreary brown trim until I (a) get out my paint brush for the next 20 weekends or (b) buy myself a mitre saw and a DVD box set of "This Old House".

But to heck with fundamentals...back to decorating!

As I posted before, I'd like to put a pretty mirror in this space, with a small "demi-lune" wall shelf below (since there's room for very little else). But finding the simple, elegant mirror and shelf I have in mind (or even a middling alternative) may take a while.

The space does have one thing going for it - a rather pretty antique light fixture which is far more lovely than this photo suggests. There is also plenty of light and a nice little coat closet (where I've replaced ugly brass knobs with cute little glass ones).

To get our foyer started, I plan to replace the rugs and put some pretty framed art on the walls. The art we choose is important as it sends a first message about our tastes and style! I want it to be gentle and lovely and simple, and I want it to say "calm" and "peaceful" and reflect the pared-down traditional look we've chosen for the house.

While I don't want to over-emphasize the rosy purple colour of the light fixture, I'd like to choose a few prints that complement it and also work with the creams and greens and pale tones of the living room.

I like these giclee prints from Pierre-Joseph Redoute, which are all available on the consumer-friendly (no taste required) site www.art.com. These prints are simple, pretty and historical-looking and will work nicely with the old-fashioned botanical and bird prints I have elsewhere on the main level.

I also adore the swirling goodness of Arts & Crafts motifs, as shown by example in these delightful wallpaper prints from William Morris (also available from art.com). I'm not sure if these would work in the foyer, but I do think I might need to buy a couple of these for elsewhere in the house!
Choices choices. What do you think?