Hallway Renovations

The DIY is back! I finally got a chance to start painting again today when I decided to get started on the revamp of our entryway that I'd been dying to get around to. (I also get to type one-handed again since Ethan's preferred handhold when he cruises around the house is my hands...rather than the more abundant and convenient furniture.)

The thing is, the only update I'd made to our hallway was to hang a few pictures and a plaque, and that space needs a bit of love since it's otherwise a bit dingy and cramped and houses the Husband's bike. When you consider that it's the first thing you see as you come into our house, I figured it ought to look nice. First impressions and all that.

Can I help?

So, with a cooperative baby, I spent Monday cleaning a few grimy marks off the walls after picking up the paint at B&Q. My colour of choice? Number 10 by Valspar. It's a gorgeous light grey with a slightly periwinkle hint to it. This is where I give the disclaimer that none of the photos will do it justice. My camera just doesn't seem to capture how this colour actually reads in person.

Cleaning done and paint supplies at the ready, I took down all the pictures...and the coat hanger you can see in this next picture. It was only held on with two screws in rawl plugs, so it seemed worth the time to take it down rather than painting around it. Plus...if I could find something more visually interesting, I'd replace it in a heartbeat. Just sayin'.

Another appearance from my trusty friend Frog Tape.

I was only planning to do the four walls that make up the thin corridor part of our hallway. There's a big square space off of which all the rooms open up, but that has some awkward corners tucked behind door moulding that would just be too much hassle to try and paint. Plus, whenever I get around to adding the stencil on top of my new paint job, there is no way I'm trying to work around some of the half-baked construction work that went into this place.

With one nap's worth of grace, I was able to do all the cutting in and put the first coat of paint on three of my four walls. I could have done the fourth, more than likely, but we have another project to get to before I can paint that, and it's more functional than decorative. Basically, when moving our couch into the flat, we manage to rip out half of the wall mounting for the radiator...yeah, we need to fix that. The Husband did a temporary fix involving a twopenny piece, if you can imagine, but that's not holding up any more, so we've decided to do things correctly this time around.

In the midst of coat numero uno

There isn't much contrast at the moment. To be honest, when I was done with the first coat of paint, from the wrong angle it simply looked like the shadow around a corner...as if I hadn't done any painting at all. But some drying time and coat number two fixed that problem. We're in love with this colour! If I can't make the stencil work, I can at least rest assured knowing that the subtle pop of colour I've given the walls makes the place look just a little snazzier.

I'll have to try getting more pictures on a sunny day.

Of course, that said, the next step of the project is to find a nice tester pot of a bright and sunny yellow and go to town with that and a nice shade of grey called Name In Lights that Valspar does. Personally, I think this pattern in that colour scheme would be awesome-sauce...