entryway and parlor: after.

Yesterday before the Thanksgiving hubbub really got started I took a few photos of the house.  Here's the entryway in its current state:

I'm really loving this space, and having designated areas to put coats, gloves, umbrellas, shoes, etc. when you walk in the door.  It makes it so that it's easy to find things when you're rushing out the door as well, and it makes it way easier to offer guests a place to stash coats and bags without having to clear out special space in a closet or lugging coats upstairs to a bedroom.  The large shelf and hook racks are from Ikea (finally making somewhat old-timey looking things, hooray!), the free church pew below was recently painted and distressed by myself, and the little vintage desk next to it (which may or may not stay there) was from a thrift store. There are still some lingering boxes around of course, but things are really starting to shape up in the entryway.

And here's the lovely parlor, which is starting to usurp the master closet as my favorite room in the house right now.  Dan built, sanded, stained, and installed these bookshelves in just a few days.  The white cabinets below are from Ikea, the countertops are made from reclaimed wood from upstairs, and the shelves themselves are the fruit of Lowe's.  To the left you can see our records, and to the right I've got all the nonfiction books set up.

 

The view of the parlor looking west.  Fiction and cookbooks are in the black bookcase there.

And here's what it looks like if you're standing in the northwest corner of the room, looking into the dining room and the entryway.  Though there are plenty of things still to be done both inside and outside, the dining room is now the only room left that's still under major construction.  You can see the beginnings of the coffered ceiling in there, as well as the beginnings of the wainscoting on the doorway trim.

Here are a couple of before pictures of the parlor from last winter:

Phew, glad that's over.

As always, if you want to see more photos of Thanksgiving and what the dining room looks like, just go to Flickr.

We had a great day and were so happy to be able to finally host something in our new house.  Here's to more hospitality to come.