Making a Colorful Entrance

This entryway was fairly grand in scale, but it definitely did not make for a welcoming, first-impression. It was dark and dated but had a lot of potential!

The Original Entryway…with a hidden gem

Of course there was the requisite front door. But, it was dated and did not match the style of this mid-century home. It had faux, leaded-glass windows with matching side lights.

The flooring was old school, classic Saltillo tile. It was actually in great shape but, just not the right vibe for the new style direction of the home.

The inside of the front hall closet was twice as wide as the door making half of it inaccessible. This was forcing the owner to add a large shoe storage rack in the entry space.

Extra storage/she rack in front hall. The dog crate was temporary.

But, behind those two double doors was a hidden gem!

On far right, single door entry to a closet that is twice as wide as actual closet door.
Double door to the left opens up to a hidden gem!

The Hidden Gem

OK, now check out what was behind these big double door. THE HIDDEN GEM…

A full wet bar! With a retro, gold-veined mirror back-splash. We decided it would be fun to play into the gold veining on the mirror and go with some gold accents.

Unfortunately the sink had been disconnected. And, usually that would be an easy reconnect but, due to some other issues, it ended up being more cost-effective to remove it. But, we planned to rework the cabinet and electrical to accommodate a wine fridge below.

We will reveal a fun “after” for this retro bar sometime in the future. We just wanted to whet your appetite for a fun, future before and after reveal coming up.

So, there you have it. a tour of the “before” foyer.

A Fun, New Plan

THE FRONT DOOR

The homeowner loves color and we had already honed in on an overall color palette for the home interiors: blues, greens, teals, purples. Of course other accent colors could be added but, our plan is to stay in the vicinity of this color scheme. The home is mid-century so we also wanted to play into the “modern” part of the style as well.

From the moment I saw the house and its dark entryway (and approach to the door), I knew the style of front door that I wanted to propose. And the owner agreed with my idea. I had planned on a 3-light door but, they preferred a 5-light style. No problem!

THE CLOSET

In order to get rid of the cluttery shoe storage rack, we wanted to open up the closet to use its full width potential with half of it being for shoe storage and half for coats. We made sure that all the shoe shelves would be adjustable for a variety of uses: shoes, boots, bins for hats, gloves and dog paraphernalia. Since they have mostly short coats, they opted for two rods for short coats with no long hanging space for longer coats. The few longer coats they had were rarely used and could be stored in bedroom closets.

Here is a rough sketch of the hall closet plan.

THE BAR

The bar closet was fully viewable from the adjacent living room. While initially reticent to put focus on the bar, the owner finally agreed to have the doors removed and make the bar a fun showcase. Plus, we could reuse the doors for the now, two-door hall closet!

But, like i said, we will give the bar situation it's own before and after reveal sometime in the future.

THE FLOOR

The entryway floor had the potential to be lively and vibrant! Initially, we looked at a few different tile directions but, none were really a homerun. Until I discovered the amazing concrete tile from Artobrick. It came in so many colors and sizes that I knew it could become a fabulous mosaic. I shared my plan with the owners and they loved it straight away. I shared all the potential colors and we zeroed in on the final color selections—16 colors in all. With so many colors, I thought it would be best to use just a few sizes. We opted for a large square tile surrounded by double picket tiles.

Some of the tile size options. We went with a large square (not pictured here) and large double picket (bottom right).

Look at all of these color options!

DESIGNING THE FLOOR

Since the tiles are handmade and made-to-order, I knew I would have to create a very precise order list. And, with 16 colors and 2 sizes to create the pattern, I had my work cut out for me. I had to map out the randomized layout ahead of time to know exactly how many of each color in each size I needed to order. Plus I had to account for the grout spacing and overages (“overages” are when you order extras in case there is any breakage).

This is where the design ended up.

To scale, randomized floor tile layout using a 1/4” grout line. Each number represents one of the 16 colors.

This layout doesn’t quite match the final layout but gave me the basis to place the order.

Then, once we received the order, I got a helper for the day and we sorted the tile by color and size. And then, to make it easier for the tiler to do the installation, we laid it all out on the deck. That way they could just go row-by-row to install it.

Dry fit layout for easy plug and play installation for tilers

The End Results

With the addition of a new accent light in the front hall, the final installation came together really well. (Full wall painting will be managed at a later date once some other projects are completed).

We are all so happy with the end result! What do you think?

If you are interested in having us help you with making any design changes to your home, give Trotter Studios a call or send us a note!

Wendy TrotterJanuary 20, 2025Mill Valley, CA