A Boring Hallway to a Mini Library and Doll Display

This is the second time I am joining in the Metamorphosis Monday fun. Many thanks to Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ for sponsoring the program. Please visit Susan and check out the others who are also participating. I am sure you will enjoy their posts.

I got a little ambitious today and I decided to join Blue Monday also so please check out Smiling Sally at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/. Sally was very nice to invite me to join. My contribution is right after my MM post.

This used to be a boring hallway leading to the home office and a powder room to the left and to 3 guest rooms straight ahead to the right. At the end of the hall is also a built in gun cabinet but since we are not hunters, I used it to store books and other collectibles for a while. There were no shelves so I just stuck whatever I could fit at the bottom. By the way, you can enlarge any of these pics by clicking on them.

The first thing I did was move the hall cabinet into one of the guest rooms.
This hallway is wider than most hallways so I decided to convert it to a mini hall library. I painted the walls a yellowish green color and added a narrow cane settee.
My husband found two massive monkeypod columns at 50% off at an Asian import store that was closing and we installed them on either side of the doorway into the office.
I found a Greco-Roman cherub & griffin plaque from an architectural salvage company on the web and placed it above the doorway. How do you like it so far? We varnished the monkeypod lightly.
Here is the view from the family room.
I replaced the mirror with 2 bird pictures. If you click on the picture, you will see that the birds are framed in alligator and leopard skin prints, which is an ongoing theme in our family room and home office.
We had glass shelves added so I could display my doll and Lladro collections. Here are some of them. The Lladro cherub playing the flute was personally signed by one of the Lladro brothers.

and more doll and Lladro collections. The Lladro Asian girl is also personally signed by Lladro.

I hung a wooden book pedestal which I found in an antique shop.

I searched and searched on Ebay until I found a small and narrow vintage bookcase to fit in the wall between the hall entry and the column.

And this is how it looks now.A little more interesting, don't you think?

Russian Vodka Anyone?

Just as I said, I am also participating in Blue Monday, hosted by Smiling Sal at http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/ Please visit Sally's blog and check out her neat post and the others' who are showing off their blue goodies!

I bought these Russian Czar and Queen jars filled with Vodka when I visited St. Petersburg, Russia last May.

Aren't the containers pretty? They're made out of porcelain. I packed them very well and luckily, they got home without any damage or I would have cried.

Thanks Susan and Sally, for hosting Metamorphosis Monday and Blue Monday. And I would also like to thank everyone who visited.