Transforming our old-fashioned vestibule into a cave of delights

The original vestibule

When you step into our house, the vestibule was the first thing you'd see - and it was boring.

It had cream walls, white paintwork and three mirrors hanging on the wall, Kelly Hoppen-styley. Some people may describe it as 'tasteful'. Personally I hate this description, it is a term estate agents use along with bijou - in other words boring, small safe and uninteresting. 

I wanted to create an interesting and inviting environment and feel I have. It feels like a little cocoon of a comfort blanket containing unusual original artefacts that I have mostly created myself. Being a maximalist I tried to cram in as many things as possible.

Here are the elements I changed to bring together the finished room. Be sure to go all the way down for a video at the bottom of the blog post.

Colour

The walls, ceiling and paintwork are painted a very dark burgundy which I had mixed using Dulux paint. 

This gives it a lovely Victorian feel which also compliments the era in which the house was built.

Painting the vestibule a dark colour has made the hall darker as the cream colour that it was painted before bounced the light off the walls and into the hall. 

The new burgundy colour

The hall is already dark, but I've never gone by the rule that if a room is small and dark then paint it light. I always say if a room is dark then paint it darker. 

I don't actually think it makes it look smaller, just more cosy, but then I am biased towards dark colours, not everybody's kettle of poisson I know.

On its own it may have been overpowering, but that's where everything else comes in.

The Gallery Wall

I created a gallery wall on one side, which is the wall that you first see as you walk in. 

To populate it, I chose my favourite items from all around the house. 

I found an old black and white picture of our house which our neighbour gave to me. It was taken when the house was first built in 1898 when  it was surrounded by fields. I put this into a 1960's frame.

While rooting through our house I found a small hand carved panel in dark wood that apparently came from my great grandad's church organ.

The gallery wall

There are some sentimental pictures of Mum and I along with 'Best Friend' sayings displayed on tin and wood, given to me by my best mate Lorraine over the years.

I chose a mosaic face that I made years ago from cut up squares of paper in red, black and yellow stuck on to the bottom of an old wooden drawer.

There is a lovely photograph of love locks that my brother took for me for a special birthday on canvas.

David Bowie items just nestle in gently between my other sentimental pictures, to include the image of the 'Diamond Dogs' studio sound wave and of course Aladdin Sane prints.

Everything on the wall holds a special place in my heart.

Everything had to be crammed together and fit together like a jigsaw. I measured the wall area and then reproduced this as a template marked out on the rug on the floor using various things, such as bits of string, pens etc. 

Once this was done I played around with all the things I had chosen until they all neatly fitted together. Everything was attached to the wall using sticky strips, small hooks and tiny nails to try and reduce the amount of wall damage should I wish to move things around.

Hall of Mirrors

Next came the mirror wall.

I already had three vintage wall mirrors that were previously on the wall, so I had to leave these where they were as they were very heavy and had been hung up using rawl plugs and screws.

These mirrors pre-determined where everything else would fit.

The mirror wall

One of the handheld mirrors, with me and mum in the reflection!

I had kept a lovely handheld mirror which belonged to my Nan, so I bought another one from Schpock to go with it.

I love a bit of kitsch so I bought a lovely 1960's oval mirror and then just slotted in some small cheap mirrors from B&M too.

My nan's handheld mirror

Going Green

Still not enough maximalism!! I wanted to mix in some foliage, but found it rather expensive, I could never fathom that one out, why is it so dear? 

The Range do a good selection at a budget price so I bought some long trailing ivy which hangs down at one corner. 

Then I positioned another trailing plant in the other corner and attached some more trailing plants along the picture rail.

It was at this point my husband - not known for his interior design skills - came in and said it was beginning to look like a Pizzeria! 

Living with three men I'm used to having the mick taken out of me and being at the receiving end of verbal sarcastic comments to include shouts of "I'll have extra cheese on mine!"

Final touches

Last but not least the radiator cover which obviously has a shelf so this has to be covered also. 

I remembered I had my children's first pair of shoes dipped in silver along with my first ballet shoes and some rather creepy Victorian baby shoes. 

Baby shoes and ballet shoes

These made a small display all grouped together.

I found some ceramic, metal and wood creations that I made years ago. Gaps were filled or crammed with other bits and bobs from around the house.

Overall I'm thrilled with the end result. 

It's full of drama, looks ostentatious and very OTT, just what the doctor ordered!