"Before, Before, Before, and After - The Entry Hall . . . "

Greetings,

I've actually been wanting to put this series of blog posts together for a while - and I guess it just took a rainy Sunday here in San Francisco to keep me trapped in my office long enough to pour through years and years of photo files to get everything pulled together.  If you've been a regular follower of my blog - you know that my poor little house gets a serious make-over with alarming frequency.  Sometimes it's about adding in a new piece of furniture.  Sometimes it's about needing to re-allocate space in the house.  And clearly, sometimes I just get a bit bored and need to re-imagine our living space.

I wanted to take you through some of the various iterations of different rooms in the house - so - let's start with something kind of easy.  My entry hall.  It basically has always been (and I assume will always be) the entrance into our apartment.  But, that doesn't mean it doesn't get ALL of my attention from time to time.

Let's take a look . . . . 

This is, I think, somewhere around 2006 or 2007.  That room at the end of the hallway is VERY fluid in its usage - but, I can remember it being 'the study' from this image around that time period.  The component bookcase was from Design Within Reach - and solved the immediate problem with the unending, overflowing collection of art and photography books.  Colourwise - this is what I commonly referred to as my 'dark and stormy' period.  

By 2010 - the back of the house was a dining room - and that year we had the great pleasure of being photographed by Rue Magazine for their holiday issue - and a big thank you to Crystal Palecek!  Same old floor.  Same old bookcase.  But - some very lush Phillip Jefferies grasscloth on the walls! 

This is the summer of 2012 after I had perfected the Chinese chinoirerie red ceiling in the entry.  I think I painted that ceiling on and off for almost a year until I had the perfect shade.  

 

In 2013, House Beautiful published the house!  It was such a joy to work with Newell Turner, Doretta Sperduto, and the great photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy.  After so many years of art directing the shoots at my home - it was amazing to see my house through their lens.  We're clearly moving into a much brighter period in my house's decor.  But, you can wave goodbye to the chinoiserie red ceiling.  

 After Drew moved into the house in 2014, I had to re-think the usage of the house - and I needed to brighten up most every part of the decor.  No more chocolate.  No more deep, murky olive.  Bright clear blues and greens began to take over.  But, God bless that runner - it has almost never not worked . . . lol.

And last year in 2015 - Traditional Home photographed our house for the holiday season.  After so many seasons of seeing the house dark and mysterious - it was amazing to see what they were able to capture through the lens.  A big thank you to Anne Maine from Traditional Home and John Merkl (our fantastic photographer.) 

 We'll continue to explore the varied history of the some of the rooms in the house over the next few weeks . . . stay tuned.

cheers,
Scot