I finally put up our new hall mirror tonight. Here it is with our beat-up Florence Knoll credenza (we had a marble slab cut for the top, which had delaminated over the years) and some wee horn penguins I bought a few weeks ago at Feel Design in Beacon. At the end of the hall is our new coat rack (and yet another mirror, bought in the street in Philadelphia last weekend for $5). It makes me feel fancy to not throw my coat over the banister anymore!
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Very nice! I am slowly ripping off your decorating ideas in my own home! Really though, at the time I thought the purple was great, but the hallway looks so much brighter and bigger in white. Is that marble inlay in your banister? I think I forgot about that.
ps: I really need to talk to you sometime, I could use your perspective on things of a personal nature.
It’s not marble on the banister, they are embossed majolica tiles. They’re on three sides of the post, each with a different floral/seashell motif. Had the banister been stripped yet when you saw the house? The entire staircase was completely coated in brown paint (the stairs, the spindles, the beadboard, the moldings, and yes, even those tiles!) and totally gross when we bought the house. The tiles were perfectly preserved under all the paint!
Email me!! I’ll be online all day, of course. xx
Yes, the banister had been stripped when I saw the house, I had just forgotten. The staircase looks so good! I will e-mail you this afternoon.
Looks fantastic Anna!!!!
I LOVE your hallway – so, so gorgeous!!!
Wow. Fabulous. This post is making me sick that we recently got rid of our Knoll credenza with the laminated top. Why didn’t we think of marble? Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
I love, love, love your hallway!! It looks so fresh. I also adore your wee horn penguins. I bow down to you and your hallway. 😉
please tell me about the process of adding the new marble slab to the top of the old credenza. i was thinking of doing the same but had never seen it done before. so no idea how to actually do it or where to go.
Hi Steven,
There’s not much to it, really! I went to a place that does marble countertops, and gave them the measurements. For this piece, I specified that I wanted 3/4″ thick, honed (matte surface, not polished), white carrera marble with 90-degree corners/edges (not rounded at all).
A couple of weeks later, the marble guy delivered the slab to our house. It’s not actually bolted to the top or anything, it’s just resting on there. The weight is enough to hold it firmly in place. (Make sure that whatever you’re planning to put the marble on can support the weight!)
Good luck 🙂
thank you!
Hi, I came across your website while conducting a search for “Danish Modern”. Your house is wonderful! I love your furniture. (Esp. the TV stand, the tray table you made, and the chair you converted to a rocker.) Adorable.
I bought the IKEA Grundtal mirror (like you have above your sideboard in the hallway)a few days and am wondering if you can tell me how you hung yours? There is no stud where I want to put it, so I was going to use Hercules Hooks (As seen on TV!), but thought I’d ask you first how you hung yours. (Although I’m assuming you may have had a stud to put it on.
Sorry, boring question, I have it and am anxious to see it in action.
Thanks!
Lea in Seattle
Lea, I didn’t go into a stud, I just used a heavy-duty plastic anchor (I have plaster walls, so the best type of anchor for you may vary) and a screw that I didn’t screw in all the way. I didn’t use all four of the hanging holes, just one. As long as you have the right kind of anchor in your wall, you should be fine!
p.s. I just Googled “Hercules Hooks”, and found this. A lifetime subscription?! Yikes!!
Yikes, is right! I got my Hercules Hooks at Walgreens in their “As Seen on TV Section” Mine wouldn’t go into the wall all the way, so I think there actually is a stud there. I hung it with a big screw and think it will be fine. HHs go all the way through the wall (or are supposed to) and are meant for plaster, drywall, and paneling. I’ll try them again with something else…
Thanks so much for your help!
lea