Entrances

I'm still browsing thru the book Moving On by Sarah ban Breathnach. She wrote Simple Abundance. But the chapter I'm on is about foyers and entrances. When she made alot of money she bought an apt. in NYC for

big bucks and had a grand foyer. She loved it. She also knew she shouldn't have bought it. But she speaks of this as the entrance into our homes and who sees it. She says many of us do not use the front door and go in thru garages or near cellar doors cuz its the easiest door to use very often.

And so I thought about that. This house is set very strange so I don't use my front door much. My entrance is actually on the side of my house, not out front. Company and deliveries come to it but I go thru my garage. You see most times I'm out shopping or getting things for the house. And so when you come in thru the garage, you go thru my laundry room which is bright and sunny with lots of windows to go right into my kitchen. If I had to use the front door for this, I would have to go thru a gate, up some steps, open the front door, go thru the living rm and dining rm to get to my kitchen. My freezer is also out in the garage so things I could put right in the freezer, well the trip would be even longer.......going thru the kitchen, then the laundry rm into the garage and the other side of it is where the freezer is.

But she makes a good point about how we decorate and make our front doors nice for company and we don't do the same for ourselves. Its almost like we say to ourselves, company deserves that but we don't. So the question is, do you use your front door? And if you don't, what door do you use and is it as pretty as your front door, or the door you use for company, is?

This is the view people see of my front door and porch as they come up the stairs. Right now it has my teak table on it and no chairs but that will come later. And my grill and some garden stuff and boxes is out there. I haven't had much time to do anything yet. But the view is incredible and makes me smile so I figure it will make others smile too. But hey they are coming to see me, right?.......so I see I'm going to have to make this porch pretty to bring their eyes back to reality and me! :)

So far I have this hydrangea that my realtor gave me. I kept it inside too long and it was getting droopy and brown no matter how often I remembered to water it. I almost threw it out then I thought DUH YOU MORON, you live where it rains all the time....put it outside! I was so used to no water around in CA. and forgetting things outside that needed watering that I didn't realize this. So for now, during the rain the other day I put this sad looking hydrangea in my blue and white porcelain pot. I didn't pick it cuz of the color combo tho....but dang it looks good in there doesn't it? And with the rain it perked up so nice, so for now that's where its staying till I'm able to plant it. But it gave me ideas now for the other pots. After all it rains here alot so I wont have to worry about watering things much. I can do some gardening right on my deck for now. That made me smile.

But when you open my door this is what you see.........I don't have a foyer or entrance.  It opens right into my living room. I always hated houses like that tho. My old house did that but at least it had a marble landing that you stepped down from. So I created an entrance there with my Chinese wine cabinet and my Steven Power painting over it. It was stunning, like a grand entrance in a fancy place.

But here I just cant do that. You walk in and to the left is my tv.....just about the only place I can put it. And behind the door is the coat closet. Then you go right into furniture and the big windows, etc. So I think I'm going to put that big Steven Power painting right there on the wall ahead. Between the fireplace and book case, altho I was considering getting two matching bookcases to put there since I don't have very many and I do have tons of books. I cant put much near the fireplace either. I'm finding that it puts out so much heat, anything near it gets hot too. So this is a very strange awkward room with no real entry. Its a weird and very different house I think. But then I think its perfect for me, I'm at times weird and different.

I had an aunt once say to me, you just like anything that's different don't you? She had me pegged huh? I think shes right.