Odds and Ends

How To Make An Entrance

Decorating a Small Front Entrance

Some houses have a very small entranceway. There is hardly enough room for four or five guests struggling with coats and boots, let alone a classy hall table and mirror. The kitchen doorway may be the first thing people see when entering and directly inside that doorway, the naked white side of a refrigerator.

Okay, maybe classy is out here but homey is a definite possibility. Between the kitchen doorway and the refrigerator is enough room for a compact table. You can use whatever small table you have on hand but it should be one that wont tip easily or add to traffic flow problems. Think tall stool with a square flat top. In this case, a plain wooden plant stand was topped with a lace doily. Because this is actually in a kitchen, a decorative luncheon plate and a cup and saucer were used in this display, but your options are endless. The end result should be colorful and eye pleasing.

We popped a small faux plant into the cup.

And now we tackle the problem of how to make the big white empty space seem less barren. Most of us use fun magnets or those magnetic business cards left behind by trades people to hold up memos or the kids artwork. But, because we want to present a more dignified face to arriving guests than an ad for Joes Plumbing Service can muster, much more thought must be given to what we attach to this side of the fridge.

If we think of it like we would any wall that needs decorating, the first thought that comes to mind is pictures. Greeting cards, plus mat frames, plus magnetic strips glued to the top and bottom of each mat equals framed art for the refrigerator.

Browsing for ideas one day, we happened upon these copper-plated cookie cutters and immediately thought of copper pots decoratively hung in kitchens. To hang cookie cutters, start with ¾ round magnets and, to help them to blend in with the white of the fridge, purchase a package of white ¾ round sticker labels and attach one to each magnet. Then simply arrange them in a pleasing pattern on the fridge and hang the cookie cutters. The laws of science will do the rest.

The materials for this entranceway makeover cost very little but, when youre acknowledging your visitors compliments, you can leave that small detail out.