I promised Adventures of a Real Mom wouldn’t be all big happy smiles and a clean house. That isn’t at all what my real life looks like. So I thought once a week I’d try to share something in my life or house that is far from perfect. (Trust me, I’ll never run out of material!!). I know this is long and may not seem like a fail at first, but stick with me and see if you find several Real Mom fails along the way.
Today, I’ll share the story of my foyer. My foyer has always been a pretty plain area. Nothing special. The front door is a big metal door original to the house from the early ’80s. I’ve struggled with this area since I bought the house. It’s so boring but I wasn’t interested in spending much money or time on this area because in my house, it’s a very little used space. Unless there is a rare guest, we all use the downstairs door that leads to the driveway and vehicles.
Now that my daughter is having friends over more often, that means the occasional parent coming to the door and inside the foyer to pick up their children. I figured it was time to tackle this little space. Last summer is started to slowly work on it.
First, there were two enormous boxes containing window treatments I had ordered a year before (yes, they say there for over a whole year). The guys graciously installed the blinds to get them out of the way. Second and completely unplanned, while at Walmart, I found a nice tall tapered planter and a few bunches of artificial bamboo and other plants. Off to a nice start, anyway, and I was happy enough with that for a few months.
The banister and stair rail are original and have certainly seen better days. I love Rustoleum Caninet Transformations and still had some leftover from another project. One rare Sunday, I knew everyone would be out of the house so I decided to tackle that. A few days before I stripped off the old paint. When the weekend arrived, I painstakingly painted everything trying desperately to get the little margin between the wood and carpet but not get any on the carpet. I was able to remove the stair rail and painted that up as well. Since there was nowhere to keep a wet painted tail and associated hardware, it sat on a shower curtain in the front lawn for a few days. I squeezed in a few minutes here and there to get a second coat and top coat on. I thought it would be a much quicker project but I always underestimate.
The one wall along the stairs going up had a nasty, greasy handprint on it which had also been around for a year or so. I had tried several cleaners to remove it but all I did was lighten it a little and start removing paint. One day I got ambitious and painted the wall. Again, leftover paint from something else and way more time than anticipated. But, I love the buttery look and it changed the whole feel of the space.
Yay! A mostly freshly painted area! And just in time for the holidays. I love a deviated banister for the holidays. I just feels so festive! We’ve been decorating ours for several years now but it’s always a pain. The greenery dies, looks ugly and there’s long white pine needles on the stairs. This year I found decent fake garland at Joann’s during their Black Friday sale. I also found an adorable light up Christmas sign. It took a little while and finagling but the banister, sign and new fake holiday stems look awesome! I was so proud I just wanted to stay in this tiny space forever! The only few square inches in my house that were not a disaster.
Minor fails along the way (huge boxes and greasy handprints for years…). But now let me share one little secret about myself. I love getting decorations put up around the house, especially Christmas decorations but I despite taking them down. The house looks so bare and sad once the Christmas tree is down, the lights are off and gifts are put away. This is where my real life and Mom fail really happens…today is February 23rd and still the same Christmas garland, Christmas sign and Christmas stems are in the foyer. I even decorated right over the Christmas garland with a Valentine’s string of hearts!!
Honestly, I’m a little afraid to take the decorations down. Winter is dark, cold, and dirty when the snow melts. There’s no green plants anywhere. It’s utterly depressing!! Maybe once the weather improves I’ll be able to force myself to take down the Christmas garland.
