entry hall

Happy Tuesday! It was my birthday yesterday, and to celebrate we took a little drive north to Healdsburg on Saturday. After brunch, we hit three huge and amazing antique stores...pretty much my dream birthday :) My husband was sooooooo sweet and stayed by my side for hours as I discovered treasure after treasure. What a fun day! 

It was really hard to narrow it down to a few items to bring home with us, but I tried to be practical and focus on something we needed. The situation inside our front door hasn't been the most user-friendly. Since we moved in, we had a wall hook/rack which worked but was really no match for our coats, scarves, bags, etc. SO, I was thrilled to find this beauty!

Sorry - it's hard to get a good photo since the hall is so narrow!

I love it! Look at the amazing details - gorgeous, right? And it's in really great shape. Great little investment, I say.  The above photos happened before I loaded it up, so you can see how pretty. But let's be honest, it's most often going to look more like this:

I love all the hooks and spindles - so many places to drape a scarf or bag!

While I was taking these photos, I realized that I don't think I've shared our green hallway with you previously. We painted it over a year ago and I still love it.

I'm such a big fan of some glossy black trim and doors and think they work especially well in this space.

 I'm not in love with the light fixtures and hope to switch them out sometime this year....

The black brings some drama to this tight space while keeping the look crisp. It's kind of difficult to capture the actual green of these walls with the tight quarters and limited natural light, but the above is pretty close. I seriously love this green and have not grown tired of the walls one bit in over a year (pretty unusual for me!!).

And the end of the hall looks like this (below) at the moment. Miraculously, this little situation hasn't changed since the we painted the green - I really like this little collection and have left it much longer than most art arrangements in our house. However....I've started to think about a switch-up so thought I better share it now! :)

So....would you ever consider green walls? And how do you keep your entry area(s) neat and tidy? I'd love to hear!

I have availability for projects this spring and would love to work with you!  

Contact me at katiegaviganinteriors@gmail.com for rates & package options.

thrifted bits

Hi everyone! Hope you had a fantastic (long :)) weekend.

I hit a few thrift stores yesterday. I was focused on finding a few missing pieces for an office I'm hoping to finish this week....and although that didn't happen, I did bring home a few really fun treasures and thought you might like to see.

El Salvador is carved in huge letters on the backs of these - totally handmade 

and will be right at home in our kitchen or dining room soon :)

With a little President's Day discount, I nabbed all four of the above for about $7 total!

Gorgeous little bowl and glass. Someday I'd love a set of moroccan drinking glasses, but I'll settle 

for this one for now - will be perfect for toothbrushes or pens or something :)

This little pineapple dish makes a pair, since I already had one (not exactly the same but very similar). 

For 75 cents, I'll take it!

sprucing up the deck

One of our goals this year is to seal and stain our deck, and along with that to furnish it so that it can truly be an extension of our living space. It's amazing - huge and south-facing with tons of sun and warmth, and for much of the year we spend lots of time out there. I'm excited to make it a place that's more usable and comfortable.

Something that will really help warm it up visually is RUGS! I'm always keeping an eye out for deals on outdoor rugs.  I'm not willing to spend much because I'm certain they will fade in the intense sun. (We've had sandals shrivel up after a few hours in direct sunlight - I'm telling you, it's pretty intense :))

So, I was pretty excited to pick this up at Salvation Army for $5 last week! 

I think it's actually meant to be a beach mat...you can see the creases where it was folded in thirds. I'm sure they'll flatten out after a few days.

 don't mind the rugs on the railing hanging out to dry :)

Woo hoo! Now to find a table & chair set, two more rugs, a few potted plants, side tables...and all bargains like this one :)

kitchen art

I've struggled with the wall space above our sink. I've shared previously the idea of adding some open shelving and/or a tile backsplash. My current thought is that once I find the right storage cabinet for our dining room, we may not need the additional dish storage in the kitchen. So holding off on more shelves for now.

In the meantime, I was compelled last week to fill the blank white wall (do you ever have those moments?!). It was an impulsive moment and I just had to use what I had on hand. I had these wicker trays I had picked up at Goodwill a year or two ago, and have used them randomly around the house. Also have this BEAUTIFUL, treasured, pink-rimmed basket from an Ethiopian friend which I use all the time for fruit and such.

I had a vague memory of something I'd seen on pinterest which loosely inspired the idea (although I didn't go back and look at the photo until just now...I'm telling you, I was on a mission :)).

  via my pinterest

I really love it. They're just loosely hanging on nails, so I can easily grab them if I really want to use them...although I'm not sure I'll do that since I'm really enjoying having them on display. So beautiful! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. They add just the right amount of color and texture to blend well with the tiles - not too much, just enough. Love it!

 those oranges are waiting to be juiced, fyi...we don't eat that many oranges around here! :)

The changes to the sink area inspired me to switch some things around on this nearby wall as well. I picked up this photo at Salvation Army last week (my husband is not sure about it but it really speaks to me...the colors and patterns especially but I don't mind the nice old man!). The Nicaragua bag has moved around the house since our trip in 2010. Yay for decorated white walls - one of my favorite sights! :)