I never know if I should call this space the foyer (that seems so formal), the entryway, or maybe now it’s the “piano room”. Either way, it got striped.
Sherwin-Williams offered to send me paint for one of my projects around the same time that we bought our piano (from Craigslist). So, I decided that it was a great time to give this whole wall a little facelift.
Since I was working with a pretty traditional piano and front door, I thought bold stripes would be a good contrast.
I used the same colors I’ve been using around the rest of our house:
I’ve been using their HGTV line but decided to try the Emerald paint this time around. It was seriously the most odorless paint I’ve used, which was good because I was painting over the course of a couple of days right in the middle of the house with the kids running around*. (My husband even commented several times that he couldn’t smell it.) It also seemed to go on a little thicker. In fact, I only painted one coat of the white.
I also changed out the bird prints for botanicals (taken from an old book I found at the flea market last year) and sprayed the frames gold so they would stand out against the stripes.
(For help with the striping process, I referred to my old post from when we painted stripes in the last house.)
*Although Sherwin-Williams supplied the paint, the opinions in this post are 100% mine.
Do you have any painting projects planned?
This looks amazing!! It changes the whole space! I love the changes with the frames as well.
Emily, it looks awesome. I love the black and white and what a great setting for the new piano. Now I’m itching to do some striping.
Looks great. Wonderful bold statement for your entryway and beautiful contrast to your traditional piano. Thanks for sharing, liz
It’s wonderful Emily! I want to do this exact this in our small half bath but I don’t know if I have the patience:))) I love EVERYTHING you do!
xoxo,
edie
A more interesting view from your office now! Love it!
~Kim
Oh, I love!
I’m in love!! Absolutely stunning!
Looks great & love the colors! I felt inspired by your accent door and just did the same thing yesterday. Thanks.
truly lovely!
I SO love this! The dark stripes against the wood of the piano look so great!
What a statement! This is fantastic Emily! GREAT look and execution. Love the frames painted gold and the prints are more bold. This is the best piano feature wall Ive seen by far.
Have a great week.
xo Nancy
Powellbrowerhome.com
I never tire of stripes! Love yours, Emily! and I am sooo happy that this sale is happening this weekend! I need paint!
I may have some stripes in my future too:)
Beautiful Emily!! Absolutely love it!
Love the look! How thick are the stripes?
Our calculations were a little crazy so they ended up being 9 1/2 inches :)
WOW!!! Those stripes look awesome in there! And, love the piano in that spot too.
looks great! i would love to see the console and the green ottomans back there to pop against that, but the piano works too :)
Hey – is Urbane Bronze more brown based or black based??
I would describe it as a really dark charcoal. The name kind of throws me off.
Wow, I love it!! This looks amazing.
Xo-L
simplylowcountry.blogspot.com
It looks amazing!! I love Urbane Bronze, too!
Wow! That’s some major drama! I’d love to stand right in the middle and get the entire picture with your office, family room, new kitchen curtains, and huge lantern. One more piece to a fabulous puzzle!
Love the stripes! Thanks for the inspiration – I have a hallway that is begging for some stripes. What about the bird prints? Are they for sale? I NEED them! ; )
They were just pages from an inexpensive Audubon book: http://www.amazon.com/AUDUBONS-MASTERPIECES-John-James-Audubon/dp/1572153172/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1
Love it Emily! Great job! Such a great way to add a pop of drama! Thanks so much for sharing! Cheers!
Thank you for the sales info! We had water damage in our entry way and living room due to Sandy, so we will be painting as soon as all is repaired.
Sorry :( Hope everything gets back to normal for you again soon!
The stripes look amazing. I love the drama!
Love, Love, Love! Very dramatic and sophisticated!
Emily Hewett
A Well Dressed Home
awelldressedhome.com
Looks great! Love the bold stripes in a more traditional space!
You do know everyone reading this is looking around trying to figure out where they can do stripes! :) Totally fabulous!
They look great, Emily. What a dramatic entrance and I am sure it looks so pretty from your office.
The stripes look amazing. Black and white stripes never seem to go out of style! The gold frames are great too.
Wow love how this looks! Now I am looking around on where something like this might work in my house.
Oh wow, it’s great! I love that you went bold. There have been so many tonal striped walls lately that it’s a nice change of pace to see a really bold one.
Thank you for the paint tips. I haven’t painted anything at my house yet, but I’m getting closer to ready… I love absolutely everything you did with this space! :)
It looks wonderful! I love seeing a piano in decor every now and again….
I love this! It turned out awesome and the stripes definitely make an impact in the space!
Looks great, Emily! xo Kristin
It looks wonderful Emily! I love the colors.
Emily,
Wow! The stripes and piano look fabulous! You continue to amaze me with your talents and energy! This ROCKS!!!
Angela
this looks awesome!!
It looks amazing!
My goodness it’s amazing!!! I super love the idea of the foyer being the piano room. The stripes are perfect. Great, great job Emily!!
Solved the pesky problem of the vent! It looks classier, a lot less busy. I love Urbane Bronze!!!!
Wow! It looks great!
I LOVE IT! Love the traditional piano and front door with those stripes–awesome choice. I’m so happy to see a piano in home decor! Ours is a cherry finish- not my preference but it’s an amazing instrument- and this gives me so many great ideas. Thanks!
The bold stripes are fabulous! I’m so impressed. The whole entryway looks so well-thought-out and put together (not that it didn’t before, obviously! But now it’s amazing). Well done!
richerfullerbe.blogspot.com
Mercy, my whole house needs painting, but the half bath gets a new coat this week because we have company coming on Friday night! The foyer looks beautiful!
They look awesome! I love them paired with the wood tones of the piano and the door! Definitely deserves to be called a foyer ;)
AMAZING EMILY!!! I was thinking about DIY-ing myself some striped curtains but now I may just do the walls instead! We just got a new SW store in my town, I’ll now be there this weekend!
Kim
A Better Home for the Holidays
LOVE LOVE LOVE the stripes!!
Beautiful transformation! I love the idea of giving a patterned look to the entryway. In fact, I have plans to use a stencil in my entry way. I have an open floor plan, too, and I think the entryway needs something extra special to set it apart. You did that perfectly here! Love it!!
I adore this space! It looks amazing! What gold did you use on your frames?
I love what you have done!! So beautiful! I have painted stripes in some rooms before and when I have repainted over the walls and you can see the lines through the walls because the paint is uneven. Do you have any suggestions for how to paint over striped walls and not see the paint lines through the new paint? I would love to do my bathroom in stripes, but my husband is not sold on it since he could see the old stripe lines through the new paint! Am I making any sense??
Hmmm….I’ve never thought about this before (because I’ve never painted over stripes–yet–I guess). My first thought would be a great primer but maybe there’s something else they could suggest at the paint store. Anybody know?
Fabulous transformation. The stripes really make this area pop and give the piano a whole new vibe. Love it!
Shelly
It looks great, Emily! I’m so impressed that you’re still getting projects like these done with the twins so little! I’ve been wanting to paint stripes in our entryway and up the stair well for about 13 years now and haven’t ever had the fortitude. I think it’s the stair well that gets me. I always pictured vertical stripes, though. Are they “out”? And if I were to choose horizontal stripes, do you think they would still be in style long enough to make it worth me doing it, considering that it’s taken me 13 years to do it and may not get changed for another 13?? Your opinion is appreciated!
I don’t think vertical stripes are out but honestly, the thought of painting stripes up a stairwell makes me want to run for the hills. It’s hard enough on a plain wall! I’d personally hire a professional for that one :)
FABULOUS.
You have inspired me!! I know you painted them gold but where did you purchase the frames? Thank you so much for all if your ideas. You give me hope I can turn our home into something incredible without spending a $$$$!
They are the cheapest, plastic frames that they sell at Michael’s. I think they’re the store brand.
Where did you get the mats for the frames? Did they come with the frames?
I was wondering the same thing about the mats! I hope she has an opportunity to respond!
Love the stripes and the colours you chose. Freshens it up completely!
It looks amazing, Emily! Thanks for sharing your tips from your previous stripe project as well. :) Megan
Absolutely fabulous! Love the contrast that you created.
It looks wonderful and finally that grate you hated is covered !
Love it!!!!!
Love it especially with the piano.
I love the SW paint sale…but even then, I’m too cheap to try that emerald line. They are proud of it!!! Your stripes are perfection…and love with the gold frames!
These stripes look awesome!!!
Am I the Only one that doesn’t like it? (sorry, being honest). I absolutely love the before and most of your work. The stripes remind me of vintage jail suits-thus reminding me of jail-eek!
Never be sorry for being honest. Funny enough, I often feel like I’m in jail here :)
I think you picked the perfect shades and perfect size stripes to make the area “POP”…simply fab!!
Looks great! Unfortunately we have to take down 33 year old wallpaper in our bonus room this winter and paint. Yes, we should have done it a looooonnng time ago :)
Not feeling envious of the task ahead. Hope it goes well!
I like it! One thing I will comment on is that you need to make sure the portion of the piano that faces the window is oiled and protected. We had one facing a window and it trashed that side of the wood by drying it out over the years. It was unfortunate and I wouldn’t want someone else to have it happen!
wow – it’s beautiful!!! I just purchased a piano that looks very similar to yours. And I love what you’ve done with the wall! I am now so inspired to decorate around my piano!
Your foyer looks fantastic, beautiful, breath-taking – WOW! I love it! Love, love how the gold frames pop off the bold stripes!
I’m soooo excited about the Sherwin William’s paint sale! I was in the store over the weekend and the sales clerk told me about it. Fortunately, I nailed down the color I want for our living room and family room so I’ll get to take advantage of their fantastic sale. Woo hoo!
I don’t have any projects planned as I’m renting a small cottage and can’t do anything to it per the landlord, which is ok, but your foyer looks fabulous – I really love the stripes, it seemed to really ‘chic’ up the space! ;-))
Love it!
Great idea for a piano placement! I never thought of putting it in my big entry!
Great idea for a piano placement! I never thought of putting it in my big entry!
Love it!! Looks awesome against the piano, inspires me to try and work in stripes somewhere in my own home :)
Kasia
http://www.kasia.labocki.com
Wow!! It looks fantastic!! Love the colors and the gold frames.
We recently bought a house so we’ve been talking a lot about paint colors and techniques to use in our new space. I love the broad stripes. We’re doing something similar in our son’s room. We are totally taking advantage of the Sherwin Williams sale this coming weekend, too!
I saw this on pintrest this morning, but had no idea this was your entry! I love it! Having done stripes recently… I love the contrast in black and white! Perfect with the door and the piano!
love love the stripes!!! Perfect addition to your entry way :)
It looks amazing. Great colour choices. So, do you have a team of nannies over there helping or are you seriously the most amazing machine ever?!
We have really really good babies (thank the Lord!). They seriously just hang out and smile–for now. The older ones run around like yay-hoos while we paint.
Maravilhoso e esse piano que lindo. Adorei as cores muito chique.
Tenha uma ótima semana.
Did you spray paint the black frames gold? If so, what brand/color did you use. I bought some similar frames from Hobby Lobby that I need to paint gold. They look great on your wall and I can’t wait to do mine!!!
I just used Rust-Oleum’s brass spray paint.
Oh i love the stripes! Adds so much interest into the foyer!!!
XO
Kristin
Stripes are so unexpected in the foyer, beautiful! l love the botanical prints, could you please share where you get them and the frame? i have been trying to put something above my fireplace and i think they are perfect!
thanks in advance for sharing.
Laughing to myself, because I saw this pic on Pinterest while feeding my baby in the middle of the night, and thought “ooh, I should send this to Emily Clark, because she’s been looking for beautifully-styled pianos”. I had no idea it was yours all along! It’s beautiful !!!
Well, it’s the thought that counts :) Glad you’re getting in some good Pinterest time in the middle of the night!
I love it, and also love the changes you made to your prints and frames, as well! Do you mind sharing the name of the book you used for your botanical pictures? I just love reading your blog everyday!
It was an old book I found at a flea market called “Wild Flowers of America.”
Thanks, Emily!
Emily – this looks great! I love the stripes contrasted with the rounded front door. Wow!
Well I am sure this image will blow up on Pinterest!!! I have already seen it :)
It looks so dang good….love that you painted the frames gold and switched out the prints for something a little stronger. You rocked this girl!
Your stripes are AMAZING!! I love that you used such contrasting colors, they really pop and make a huge statement. Gorgeous!
FANTASTIC use of pattern and color! What an inspiring entry.
Wow, That’s beautiful! I’ve been putting off getting my piano from my mother until we move to a house with a proper space for it. However, my 7 year old really wants to start learning to play and you’ve inspired me to make room!! Love the redo!! Kelly (aka Official Baby Holder for Hart to Hart) :)
Thanks, Baby Holder Kelly :) Nobody’s taking piano lessons here yet, but it’s in the plans.
Piano lessons are a wise investment! I took lessons for 15 years and I am so grateful that my mom pushed me to do it!
Add me to the list of people who LOVE what you did to the foyer. It looks fabulous!
I can’t seem to find the words to express my extreme love for the stripes in your foyer! Incredible! They get me every time! And the small detail of spray painting the frames makes such a lovely difference!
xo!
Jen
Yes, what you did with the piano room was very bold. Actually at first, I thought you did that with the initial intention of resembling the piano keys. But either way, it livens up the surface. It also made the room look wider than it really is. You can experiment with stripes on different objects. They can either stay visible or hidden. It would be a nice surprise!
Leeanne ^.^
Absolutely striking. I love it!
I love them!!! They contrast so well with the traditional touches in your moldings and architecture, and of course the piano. Great choice.
Emily– I love the stripes! I’m also glad you found a piano and it looks darling there!!
I’m late in commenting, but I think this is so perfect here! I love what the stripes bring to the entry!!
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I know I’m way late on this post, but I just wanted to add yet another WOWZA to the long list. Love, love, LOVE the stripes.
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Looks wonderful! Where are the frames from?
I am working on stripes in my family room and one of my blog readers recommended that I check out your foyer. It is stunning!!! The contrast is so visually interesting! I may have to try more of a contrast in another room…I am so inspired now!
Thank you, Stephanie! Good luck with the stripes. What a job!!