My Big Fat Front Hall, Part Six

I found my wallpaper. Well, I found several versions of it, but some of the wallpaper I like is hand-painted silk wallpaper, notably at Griffin and Wong.

Unfortunately, it’s about 400 USD for a panel that’s the standard 3-foot wide and 10-foot high.

I found Griffin and Wong, by the way, by doing a search for “cheap Chinoiserie, through which I found this forum forum on less expensive Chinoiserie wall paper: http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg0523344324974.html

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My Big Fat Front Hall, Part Five

It occurs to me that I could spruce up the little white cabinet by putting on nice drawer pulls. I mean, look, the pull on one drawer is missing entirely, and the one on the door is gone; I’ve been using a piece of string for longer than I want to admit.

Also I need to take everything out of it and sort through it and throw stuff away and organize it so I actually use it for something other than storing old phone books I’ve never used, which right now is it’s main purpose.



Meantime, I moved the big armchair into the living room and replaced it with one of the extra dining room chairs.

My Big Fat Front Hall, Part Four

I vastly prefer wandering around a real, bricks-and-mortar building to look at real furniture, but sometimes doing a little on-line research doesn't hurt. And I found a very cute-looking, very Chinisoirie-ish cabinet online at Overstock.

I kind of love it, and it's under $300. But still, "under $300" means "more than $200."

Maybe I could put the bookcase in my storage bin and instead have this lovely thing. But first, I’m going to try rearranging things a little. If I can do this without buying any furniture, I will be quite pleased with myself.

Also a friend suggested I get a paper lampshade and make a hanging lamp from the ceiling light. That will be about ten bucks for the shade. God knows how much for the handyman.

http://www.overstock.com/

My Big Fat Front Hall, part three

Urban Oasis is a store that has space at ABC Carpet and Home. And ABC Carpet and Home is a towering paean to home design, five floors (or is it six? Or sixteen? It’s ENORMOUS) of the most unusual, interesting, and in many cases, expensive, furniture you will ever see in one place. Spending an afternoon is a great way to get design ideas.

So, that’s what I did. And occasionally you can find something there that isn’t wildly pricey. On the fourth floor, I came across Urban Oasis, which had fabulous Asian reproductions, each piece reproduced with a unique flair that updated it and made it really sing.

And made me longing for this tall cabinet. It was $1500. While I don’t exactly have a budget for this project, I was still able to discern that this was out of my reach.

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My Big Fat Front Hall, Part Two

Okay, my first job was to get an old-fashioned wall phone, something I’ve wanted for years, since realizing that each new improvement in telecommunications brings the quality of sound one step closer to that of two orange juice cans and a string. Plus, I wanted to make room on that tiny table---and even if eventually I get a larger table, I could use the room.

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