Entryways today are the vestiges of a once great empire.
In both design and decor the entryway can and should be the preamble for everything to come. Whether your idea for a great introduction is the first four notes of Beethoven’s Ninth or Keith Richard’s opening guitar riff in “Satisfaction,” your entryway can be the tone-setter for your tastes and habits and time of year.
Yes, entryways tend to change with the calendar whether you intend them to or not. Whether it’s the footwear on the floor, the coats on the rack, the quality of the light through the windows or the toys your kids stash by the front door — to everything there is a season. At The Joinery, we offer you some beautiful entryway “canvasses” on which to paint your seasonal masterpiece.
Consider these “Fab 5 Fav’s” for giving your entrance a welcoming touch of freshness or seasonality.
1. With very little more room to work with, you can install this casual bench/table that we call Robin’s Perch, crafted here in cherry wood. When the hard rains fall and your hallway is halfway to becoming a mudroom, here’s a neater, tidier and more comfortable way to remove those boots and overshoes, perhaps even storing them beneath the bench. In other seasons it may be purely ornamental: a tabletop for vases, trinkets, baskets — or a utilitarian place to shuck those baseball mitts and bike helmets. It invites informality in a Northwest kind of way.
2. Because butlers are in short supply and coat closets can seem like they’re in the next county when a kid (or big kid) is scampering in and out all day, the coat rack remains a classic convenience — and in the case of our Single Coat Rack, a mighty handsome and well-crafted one at that. Its ever-changing array of jackets, windbreakers, slickers, scarves sweaters and car coats makes for its own kind of seasonal foliage.
3. So, coat rack or boot bench? We won’t leave you hanging on the shoehorns of a dilemma now that our Celilo Coat Tree — the best of both worlds — has made its debut. Coat trees — or hall trees — have been around since Victoria and Albert were kids, but they’re traditionally ornate and ponderous affairs. The Celilo is slender and spare, so it doesn’t overwhelm a narrow room. But even though it’s svelte, details like it’s through-tenon construction and special Swedish cast hooks make this one sturdy as well as handsome.
4. Just 15” deep, our Half Round Entry Table is made to tuck into those narrow entranceway niches. We give you six standard wood options, from white oak to rich western walnut, to blend with your decor. Imagine it as the stage for a small area rug below, a shadow box holding seasonal knickknacks above, and a cozy lamp and flower arrangement (and handiest of all, perhaps, a tray for your keys!) on the table itself. The detail is beautiful and even in the high traffic of your hallway, it’s guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Finally, we can also get you into the game when it comes to accessorizing your entryway and your furniture of choice.
5. We proudly stock Pacific Caravan’s family of Alberta Lamps, whose finely-turned wood stems, durable stoneware bases and midcentury modern designs are an amiable complement to our classic tables and benches, and whose superior linen lampshades let the beauty of our woods shine through. While you have an unending choice of illumination for your entryway, our designs and Pacific Caravan’s really do go together like a lock and key.
As you reinvent your entryway and redecorate for seasons and celebrations, The Joinery can also help you mix and match to our hardwood furniture with tiles, mirrors and display boxes, plus wooden cases or wooden toys and games that may offer up the missing pieces of your tabletop tableau. Come take a look and you may come away with the perfect hall!