Something old, something really old, and something new

I've been doing a bit of shopping lately for stuff for the house. For example, I was dying to get an old-fashioned glider for the front porch. I started haunting Craiglist, and found this one:



My eventual plan is to strip it down and refinish it like some of the ones on this site.

I also have been searching for an antique armoire for the foyer, as there isn't a coat closet anywhere on the main floor of this house. I happened to mention that to the designer at Sherwin Williams when I was looking at paint, and she just happened to have one that she was selling. So this is now officially ours, but Fred has to go back on Friday with a strong friend or 2 in order to get it down her stairs:



And then today Annabelle and I bopped into the Polish pottery store in town, looking for hooks for a valance project I have in mind for the kitchen. No hooks, but they had just gotten in a shipment of Polish pottery jack-o-lanterns, and I was unable to resist. So now I have this handsome fellow on the mantel in the dining room:



In painting news, we have selected the colors for our kitchen/butler's pantry (and our bathroom on the second floor) as well as the living room and dining room. The kitchen and butler's pantry will both be painted in Hinoki, which is really kind of buttery yellow but for some reason looks pink on my computer screen:



The living room and dining room are going to be Ecru, which is a beigey color with a hint of green in it:



I'm thinking of using that color in the vestibule at the front door as well.

But then the foyer . . . what to do about the foyer? I'm all about the purple these days, so I brought home a couple sample paints to try out. The one I'm most excited about is called Mature Grape:



Fred has a 4-day weekend this week, and we are hoping to completely finish off the first floor.