Interior Design- The Foyer Complete!: Sunnybrook Farm

 Doors to the right go to the living room; rear doors open to terrace.

After the excitement of building the curved "flying" staircase as described in the previous post, the rest of the foyer will seem almost "dull". I hope you all did not miss the excitement!

After the staircase, my helpers were exhausted and left the rest of the foyer to me. Fortunately it went well. We wanted a foyer that was quiet elegance because we had colorful plans (hopefully still elegant) for the dining, living, and music rooms.

The flooring:
Since the staircase was already in place, I had a bit of work to make a floor template.

I decided I wanted a marble floor and found a roll of shelf lining paper that had the colorations I wanted: a mottled creamy blend with a slight surface sheen.

"Marble" colorations are almost right.

I kept the design simple—1 inch squares of “marble” laid in a regular pattern. I marked a grid on the poster board and glued down the squares. I did all the squares except around the stairs. I did this last when I put the flooring in place to do as good a fit as possible in that area. Since then, I have been putting the flooring down first and the staircase on top.

Wallpaper and Paint:
The wallpaper is dollhouse wallpaper, MiniGraphics, I think. I picked a white on white stripe for the greatest effect (I hoped). Here too, I had made the mistake of gluing the staircase in place without at least wallpapering that section first.

The trim paint is Delta Creamcoat Eggshell.

Moulding:
I found a wonderful “swag” moulding by Unique Miniatures, and it came in two smaller “sizes”, which turned out to be needed.

The three swag mouldings

The largest looked great on the long walls but the swags were too wide for the rear wall and did not look good. The second size was just right. It took a long time to find a trim for the ceiling edge above the stairs. Then I found the smallest “swag” and that was it! I glued it “on-edge” around the opening.

Finally, matching mouldings

Doors:
Actually, here was a bit of a problem. I bought the double doors to the dining room and living room from HBS (Houseworks). I planned to remove from their frame and hinge into my own frame.

The problem was that the wood was rather odd with “imperfections”. I don’t know what wood was used, but even with a filler-sealer, the wood did not stain well with the mahogany MinWax stain I used. I put on a couple of coats, trying to even it out. It finally looked “reasonable”. I would really like to replace them at some time. (The doors do look better in “real-life” than in the photo, though.)

The hinging went well except I had to first sand off the curve on the edge of the door (the “pins” side). I even managed to mortise-in the hinges! Of course, I kept losing the brads for the hinges.

The doors and their moulding: Ionic half-columns and a classic pediment.

Door Trim:
I had a lot of fun here. Two Ionic half columns hold up a pediment made from Unique Miniatures “Classic” moulding. Cutting the two end “turn-around” pieces was a pain because the pieces needed were small.

 The Ionic columns are from a local craft shop (baking section). I cut them in half with my band saw.

Chandelier:
12-Arm Grand Chandelier by Cir-Kit Concepts.


Brass chandelier

Furniture:
The foyer didn’t need much furniture. The chair, settee, and tables are Bespaq. The magnificent Chinese mahogany mother-of-pearl screen was found by my sister. My sister had the knack of finding the most wonderful things.


Bespaq furniture

Chinese mother-of-pearl inlay screen.

The foyer is finished! Hallelujah!
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And a preview of the next room to be discussed: the Chinese and Chippendale Dining Room:

View into the dining room.