Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Hallway Makeover

Yesterday I woke up to an overcast and ugly day, creating an even darker hallway than typical. Our walls are the color of brown-bags, by choice. In other rooms of the house I love it, but in the hallway it's just depressing.

Time for an overhaul.

I spent the day painting it a light cream and will do the baseboards white eventually. I think we'll replace all of the trim upstairs eventually but that can wait - so expensive!

Today I focused on putting together a menagerie of pictures and accoutrements that will take up the longest wall. A trip to the basement storage room to rummage for picture frames, and then to Iron Works, and $100 later I was ready.

I cut paper the size of the wall I wanted to decorate then laid it on the floor and arranged everything the way I wanted, outlined them in pencil and marked where all the nails would go. I then taped it to the wall, pounded holes then tore the paper away. What was left was a clean slate where I could just hang up the stuff!

What a difference! Well, it's actually hard to tell because the before pic was taken in the day, and the after pic was taken in the evening.

Aren't these so cute?

16 backward glances:

Carly said...

Amy, it looks great! You are too ambitious for me.

Unknown said...

good job- i think it made a big difference. you can come decorate my house any day

Anonymous said...

The paint made the hallway so much brighter. Love it! I always like seeing personal touches in houses...pictures, decorations. I love the metal stick figures. :)

Amy said...

Carly: please! you did it first!

Katie: i'd take your decorating over mine any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

Joy: thanks so much! the stick figures were the find of the day. I'm loving how much brighter it is!

Anonymous said...

A dirty great piece of paper first? I don't think I'd have the patience. Whack the hanger in, put the picture up, move on to the next one!

But... I'm a bloke, eh?

Amy said...

Mr. V: lol, just the difference between men & woman. i'm sure yours would have looked better than mine though...my husband's always does in half the time!

Unknown said...

Great idea for hanging pictures, i think I'll take your advice. I'm always afraid to put holes in my walls so most of my walls are blank!

Tami said...

Where did you get those cute metal stick figures? I would love to have some of my own for picture gallery going up the stairs.

The Napiers said...

I want to go to Iron Works, take me with you. I love your wall, ADORABLE!!! I still need to see your house. Lets do lunch again, let me know!! Love ya,

josey said...

i LOVE the paper "stencil" idea for where the holes go on the wall! oyyy that would have saved me so much time in the past, let alone extra unnecessary holes in the wall...!

the paint job definitely brightened it up. love it!

Amy said...

Gina: it worked great. took all the guesswork out of where the nail holes should go. I usually make several holes before I get it right!

Tami: i got those at IronWorks. they have three or four locations here in Utah, but not sure if they're Nationwide. I thought they had a website at one time but i did a search yesterday and couldn't find it. but you could try and do a better search to find them. if not, i could probably be talked into going and getting some for you!

Susan: i know! let's do it!

LizzyT said...

You have done a great job and made a wonderful feature of that wall, well done!

Anonymous said...

WOW!! It looks really terrific!

Amy said...

Lizzyt & Lynne: thank you both! and thanks for stopping by my blog!

Rachel said...

Very cute! Nicely done and SP looks adorable!

Michele said...

That makes a big difference. Great job!! It must be so much nicer to walk down your hall now huh?