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cornomama4
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| Posted: June 02 2010 at 4:23pm | IP Logged
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So, we have one of those 2 story foyers so common in newer builds. This one does have a lovely half circle window but is a total waste of space and has been impossible to decide how to decorate (this is not ususally a priority for me, but right now it builder's white with lots of embellishments by ds3 at about hip level...)
Since I'm looking for a huge project to distract me from the real housework I need to do, I've decided to make it the "foyer of inspiration". It is basically a large square that opens to the schoolroom on the east, the main living area on the south (another 2 story decorating nightmare!) and up a beautiful wooden staircase on the west side.
I plan to paint the whole foyer a "normal" color like bisque or something, but then stencil quotations in strategic places. I have them in my mind, somo for years, and I want the kids to think back and remember these. I also feel that I want the entry to our home to show who we are in some ways; what our home is all about. And my creative muse is keeping me up at night 
"What does one stencil in their foyer" is quite an interesting and serious topic to me as of late. The short list:
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." Seneca
"Love is patient,love is kind, etc." Corinthians
"I am so glad you are here. You remind me how beautiful life is." C.M. Rilke
"One learns by teaching" Seneca (obviously this will go above the school room entrance)
"As for me and my house, I will serve the Lord" wherever that is or the "Love God with all your heart, mind, etc." one.
"Peace be with you."
That's just the first few. I'll have to write them all and really choose the best ones..there are so many words to "live by"
So, if you were going to paint your foyer with quotations, what ones really speak to you and have spoken to you for some time? I'm so curious about the words that rumble around in people's minds that they come back to again and again in moments of clarity. Any nature ones or St. Therese ones? Succinctness is a plus ;) as are eternal ideas not related to the news of the day, even though that makes me think of a fun project looking at famous quotes and their historical context (the buck stops here, read my lips "no new taxes", etc.)
Anyone willing to add their best quotes? Thanks :) :)
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: June 02 2010 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
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"Love Begets love" St. Teresa of Jesus
"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord." Jeremeiah 29:11(up to 14 is inspiring)
"All thy children shall be taught of the Lord: and great shall be the peace of thy children." Isaiah 54:13
"May the most just and loveable will of God be done, be fulfilled, be praised and eternally exalted above all things. Amen. Amen." St. Jose Escriva
"Come to my garden, rest there in my arms.
There I'll see you safely grown and on your way.
Stay there in my garden, where love grows free and wild,
Come to my garden, come sweet child." unknown
Your idea is truly beautiful and inspiring! I recently spent some time at the website of the Chapel of the Miraculaous Medal (leaving a prayer petition)...there are several tall decorated arched areas that might inspire you in this endeavor! If you go to the page that lets you take a tour of the chapel you'll find a page with a full view of the interior...click on each flashing little star....it will give you a close-up view and written background on what is portrayed. You might also enjoy inviting visitors to your home to add their own touches...perhaps keeping special pens or paints (maybe metallic ones) on hand for such purposes. Enjoy your lovely project!
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cornomama4
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| Posted: June 02 2010 at 4:56pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Servent! I love the "All thy children" and the "come to my garden" ones!
The idea about keeping pens is also neat :) A lady I knew host artists and musicians in her home and several walls are graced with quick "of the moment" works by the artists. Very unique and truly their space...can't get those at Target;)
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: June 02 2010 at 5:05pm | IP Logged
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"Where there is room in the heart, there is always room in the house." Thomas Moore
"How can there be too many children? That is like saying there are too many flowers." Mother Teresa
"Peace: It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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Marcia
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| Posted: June 04 2010 at 3:51am | IP Logged
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we have a family tree painted with our family photos on it (extended family back to great-grandparents). Our quote is from Psalm1- you shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth fruit in due season.
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Marcia
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Homeschooling 10th, 7th, 5th, 2nd, PreK and a toddler in tow.
I wonder why
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stacykay
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| Posted: June 04 2010 at 6:38am | IP Logged
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We have nothing as creative as this, in fact, ours is a boring white. But, we did see an interesting foyer at a Christmas party. In addition to an old world map on the ceiling, there were quotes along the top on each of the four walls, all in Italian. The family is Italian, and it was neat to see their heritage and important-to-them-quotes, even if we couldn't read them! 
Is there anything unique in your family or background that could serve to give a distinctive *you* to the quotes?
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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robinhigh
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| Posted: June 04 2010 at 8:19am | IP Logged
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I've been wanting to do this in our classroom... I have a large crucifix and want to stencil over it "Love is repaid by Love alone". It's a quote by St. John of the Cross and is in our Carmelite chapel in LA where I used to be a Secular Carmelite.
Your quotes are so beautiful and the one by Mother Teresa... How can there be too many children... i will put that one in the hall with all the pictures of our children...
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stacykay
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| Posted: June 04 2010 at 12:19pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I wanted to ask, where are you getting your stencils?
God Bless,
Stacy in MI
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cornomama4
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| Posted: June 05 2010 at 6:58pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the other ideas!
Stacy, I'm planning on just getting different alphabet stencils in a few sizes and styles. I ususally don't plan the practical things like that out ahead of time and end up reinventing the wheel a few times whenever I take on a project 
When I was in undergrad we had these really boring and awful practice rooms at the music building. They were like 12X12 cement block rooms painted off white. One night a fellow student and I snuck in the building late at night with a few boxes of crayons and proceded to decorate a few. One we did as under the ocean with fish and a 9ft purple octopus that took up almost 2 walls. Another I did with a giant french horn half buried in a lovely landscape. Another was just cartoon faces. I guess techinically this was vandalism, but the students loved it and no one knew who did it! Those rooms were the favorites until they repainted about 4 years later.
I hope my foyer is more "sophisticated" and reverent, but I hope it's as inspiring ;) At least I won't be "tipsy" when I do the foyer!
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: June 05 2010 at 7:19pm | IP Logged
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You know you can get the vinyl clings with the quotes on them.. so that you don't have to actually paint and you could even try out different positions and things.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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cornomama4
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| Posted: June 06 2010 at 10:08pm | IP Logged
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I'll have to check those out! Sound like a real time-saver! I was planning to rough them out on paper to work with positioning.
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Lisbet
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| Posted: June 06 2010 at 11:03pm | IP Logged
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My friend has various quotes around her house in latin - I am always encouraged when I come home and look them up! LOL!
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Abby, 15
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cornomama4
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| Posted: June 07 2010 at 11:18pm | IP Logged
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I'll certainly be putting some quotes in other languages, like a secret challenge to folks to look them up ;)
Like the Seneca quote: one learns by teaching....unus perceptum per eruditio
Of course then I have to check the grammar and all....:)
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: June 09 2010 at 4:43pm | IP Logged
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cornomama4, I can't thank you enough for posting this. While we don't have a foyer, and there is really no adequate space on our walls for inspiring quotes, you have given me just the motivation I needed to add some personal touches to our home. We've lived here five years and had learned to just accept the original owners' builder neutral colors, since life has always seemed too hectic to paint, and the funds just never seem to be there for such an undertaking. This past weekend dh and I found five gallons of paint for less than the cost of one in the mistinted section, while we perused the store for other needed household items. St. Anthony was very busy that day!
I've already started with our two entry areas, painting them both a lovely muted rosey terra-cotta shade! I really love the new look and the way it sets off our religous artwork! A good friend once gave me the sage advice, "Use what you have"...based on that wisdom I strung a beloved aunt's fifteen decade rosary in front of the scalloped lace window valance of one entry, which also houses our family "command center"...the drape of the rosary perfectly mimics the shape of the curtain. On one of the walls I hung a treasured silver crucifix my mother brought home from Mexico, from a visit there during her youth. In the other entry area I hung a very small ebony cross with ivory colored corpus that had been from the estate of a woman from our old parish. The color is such a stunning contrast to the once ivory walls and it really sets off our favorite images of the Sacred Heart (from my mother's estate", Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of the Rosary (by Chambers) and a large distressed plaster crucifix.
The next project will be our dining and kitchen areas...The paint is a golden hued tan, which goes very nicely with some unused wallpaper scraps that I rescued from my mother's estate (before someone threw them in the dumpster)...I'm looking forward to adding the border over our kitchen counter and above the stove area.. there's just enough! There's also enough complementary wallpaper to use as a backsplash behind the stove. Adding new decorating touches, for a mere pittance, and resurrecting some cherished items that will serve as daily reminders of loved ones who've passed away is such soothing balm for my soul! I doubt I would have taken on such a project without your inspiring post! Thank you for again for sharing! Hope you have just as much enjoyment with your inspiring project!
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cornomama4
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Servant, sounds like your projects are going to get done before mine, so maybe you will inspire me to get going! I'm still in the planning phase for the foyer, but I did manage to finish the schoolroom (formerly a dining room) in colors called buttercup and grass green and just finished my "office" in a wonderfully horrid color called Carolina parakeet. It's a chartruse with more green than yellow and is just what I need in there to wake me up and inspire me :) It was the pantry/office/junk room but now it's exclusively for my officey needs: farm office, homeschool records and planning center and tax/financial center.
It's neat you got that wallpaper from your mother's estate. So little in our home has a history, though dad is sending a print of a farmer with scythe that's been in his office for years to commemorate me making hay this year with a scythe. This may be my cue for a decorating theme, old prints of agrarian pursuits since that's what's happening around here lately.
Obviously there is little time for the house during garden/haying/barn and coop cleaning time. I almost pray for rain so I can catch up on laundry. But dh said he really wants us to "be" here instead of looking like we just moved in and will move again at any minute. It's time to settle and make this place our own!
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Servant2theKing
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cornomama, I'm amazed at all that you've accomplished already, especially while haying, with a scythe no less! You're wayyyyy ahead of us...it's taken us five years to get to this point. Your schoolroom and "office" sound really wonderful and cheerful! Sounds like you and your family are making your own history with pursuits like garden/haying/barn & coop! Enjoy settling and making your place your own!
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: foyer of inspiration
