Functional Foyer

When we lived in The Netherlands we made friends with a couple from Texas.  They had a small and functional apartment where they made use of all their space.  They shared with us that in Texas they had a huge home where they did not regularly use many of the rooms and they thought it was wasteful.  This comment about space really stayed with me.  I pay a lot of attention to the space in the various homes we have lived in and if it is functional or decorative.

On a side note, when I was a kid I thought being a grownup in a comfortable home meant you had a room with furniture you only used when company visited and had lamps with plastic on the shades.  Maybe this is a Ukrainian thing.  Many Ukrainians on the prairies have a room with lovely embroidery and comfy furniture that children are never allowed in and the space is used solely for guests or very formal family events.  Seems kinda wasteful now.

Our home in Saint Awesome has a very similar floorplan to the art deco row home we lived in in NYC.  One significant difference is the foyer.  In NYC you walked in the front door and directly in front of you was a small closet and to the right was a french door leading to our livingroom. In Saint John, you come in the front door into the vestibule.  From the vestibule there is a foyer, called Reception Hall or Hall on blueprints, and that foyer has double french doors to the parlour aka livingroom or the swinging door to our kitchen, or up our stairs.   I like the vestibule idea – keeps drafts from entering into the house.   When we first moved in, I was  put off by the size of our foyer.  It seemed too large in my opinion.  However, I have come to understand that the Fenton Land and Building Company did a terrific and thoughtful job of designing our home and all details were considered.  This room is used all the time – it truly acts as a reception room.

When we had the alarm installed in our home  I was quite taken aback when the front door alarm was not put on the front door but on the interior door between the vestibule and the foyer.  I immediately had the technician change this.  I have since discovered in Saint John – most often the interior door between the vestibule and the foyer is locked but the exterior is not.  Maybe it is a code thing, but I also wonder if this is just a cultural difference.  We did have another solid brass antique manual doorbell put on our interior vestibule door to alert us when mail is delivered etc. when the post person enters our vestibule.

I love that we have original wallpaper in our vestibule.

In our foyer we placed an antique bench where the original owners had a bench, according to the 1920 lawsuit over our home featured in an earlier blog.  This is wonderful – it has storage and allows people to sit and put on shoes.  A kind person dropped off the mirrored hat rack we use about the radiator.  It’s great to use the radiator to dry out coats and bags on wet days.  We have an umbrella stand beside the bench.

On the other side of the foyer is a hat rack with lions that we brought back from our time in Holland.  Below it is a stunning dresser gifted to us by a local friend, he believes it may be a Lordly and Howe piece because of the design and choice of wood but I could not find any stamps like our other Lordly and Howe piece.  

This dresser was incredibly refinished by a local expert and if you are interested I will pass on her contact details.  We use this piece to store gloves, scarves, and purses.  See the before and after restoration pics below.

I do enjoy wearing a cloche and if you do too, check out Hats on the Square.

Finally we have our mechelse kast.  This is my favourite piece of furniture in my entire home.  My husband bought me this piece when we lived in The Netherlands.  I walked by the store every day and it seemed too fancy for me and I thought it was out of my price range so I never asked about it, I just admired.  My husband bought this piece, a cabinet from 1815 (which we call the Napoleon) and the hat rack with the lions for 850ish euros.  Antiques are often cheaper than Ikea in Europe.  My husband wanted the mechelse kast in the foyer and I was annoyed.  But he is right (a phrase he rarely hears).  I store liquor in it, gifts, keys etc.  I use it daily.  

Below you can see our closet.  I did my best to make the most of the storage inside but it is small and harkens to a day when people only had 1 or 2 coats.  

We have a ceiling medallion in this room (I am considering lightly painting it) and it is one of three ceiling lights originally in the house – all other lights were sconces. 

We have wheel cut stars on the globe so whenever possible we have the same design in other antique light shades.  We also added an antique light to our vestibule.  

Here are some views of the space – hard to take good pics.

There are some truly spectacular vestibules in Saint John.  It is so hard to capture the beauty of the vestibules and foyers we have.   One of my favourite activities is walking at night to see the vestibules and the stained and beveled glass lit from behind.