The Happy Hallway Gets Happier

If you have been following this blog for a while, you know that I went through MANY different thoughts and ideas for the upstairs hallway.  In fact, I think that darn hallway has gotten more dedicated posts on the blog than any other single subject!  A year ago I finally settled on a plan--and I never really showed you the results.

This weekend, the stairwell got some attention, and the "happy hallway" got even happier.

Here is where I posted about the long process to get to the plan of 100 silly or sentimental family photos.  And here is where I blogged about possibilities for the overall treatment.

Way Before:

Before:

And now:

Striped grasscloth, red frames with white mats.

photos Melissa Oholendt

photo by me, obviously, because it's terrible.

And here's what's new:

I bought a vintage brass chandelier for a steal oh, about FOUR years ago.  I waited patiently until my husband decided he was ready to tackle electric projects.  We thought about using it in the laundry room or an upstairs bedroom, but there wasn't enough clearance.  I finally realized that the stairwell was the perfect spot for it--but then we had to figure out how to get UP there.

Looks like a terrible plan, right?  Obviously the installed chandelier is a bit of a spoiler: it worked!

Action shots:

Putting in the 24 (!!) light bulbs.  Dave thought I should "have some of the fun."  (I am still in yoga clothes from a class earlier, and my arms were not happy about the lightbulbs after a million high planks.)  Not looking forward to the first bulb that burns out.

Meanwhile, I was at Ikea recently and they had a "last chance" on the red Ribba frames in the 5x7 size, so I panicked and bought them all.  Naturally.  I taped up some 8x10 paper to mock up the arrangement.

For these, I used color photos, all from our recent trip to Louisville so there is a color palette and theme.

Hooray!  Happy, happy hallway.

Of course, all of this was supposed to make me want a stair runner less.  But it makes me want one more.

Now, about that flushmount.....

Decision Time

The Happy Hallway needs polish, wouldn't you say?

It's go time.  Do I:

A.  Go for colorful frames, a la Steven Gambrel's now-famous hallway:

or B: Create the effect of a giant bulletin board, hanging grasscloth and trimming it out with ribbon and nailhead, kind of like this

meets this

?

I have to order the grasscloth today, if I go that route.  I was playing around with a sample I had on hand for someone else, with some vintage trim, just to get the idea.

As for the frames, well, after a search turned up colorful frames only at too-high prices, and quantity will be a problem most places, I realized I would need to pick them up from Ikea and spraypaint them.  There are only 130 or so, so not that big of a deal to paint, load, and hang, right?  (And my husband may not be thrilled about the 130 holes in the wall.....)

Thoughts?  Votes?

One more decision question, coming up next!

The Happy Hallway

I have long been tortured by our long, plain, windowless, featureless upstairs hallway.  After "finishing" the space once with unhappy results, I have had MANY ideas for the space, most of which were either prohibitivly expensive, relied on DIY work beyond my ability, or fought desperately with the rooms attached at either end.  I was also trying to avoid the obvious.  It almost did me in.

But then, I had a great conversation with a client who said she is trying to put her resources primarily to things that will make her family happy or improve their relationships and general well being.  A pretty solid plan, but one that too many of us forget to follow.

Lately things have felt a bit heavy.  Like we all are just a little crabby most of the time.  I decided that we all need some lightness, to be reminded of the silly side we all have, so I went through some old photos and printed out the ones that made me smile.  People making crazy faces, being silly, or doing something we don't normally associate with them--like my husband surfing.  I want us all to remember that we have many sides, that we have wonderful people in our lives, and that we are loved.

$12 in photo prints at Walgreens and one hour later, I had this.

All four of my kids' grandparents were here this weekend, and my, oh my, did my girls LOVE to look at these pictures with them!  I do a big photo book each year that tells a chronological and somewhat event-based story of our lives, but this one?  This one is purely emotional, and we all just love it.

To make it easy on myself, I printed the photos in black and white so I didn't have to worry about a color story.  To put them up, I grouped the loose prints by people--each of the girls, the girls together, the girls with parents, with grandparents, great grandparents, etc--then just sort of distributed them on the wall.  It was fun to make some connections between pictures, too, like having someone look out of the frame in one photo at something silly happening in another.

Now, of course, I want it to all feel a little more "finished."  I'll be back with ideas for that!

Tell me: are you a family-photos-in-the-house type?  Or do you just keep them in your phone, like I used to?

Striped Wallpaper: Hallway (Two Ways)

Yesterday I showed you plans for a striped powder room, based on my impulse wallpaper purchase in a bold brown and white stripe.  Truth be told, I bought it for the upstairs hallway (but made sure I had enough for the powder room, if it came to that.)

When I put my original vision to paper, I wasn't so sure:

The striped paper, my grandmother's gold tole sconces (which I have mentioned many times but have thus far failed to photograph), all to set off my idea for a strong yellow and white abstract work, divided into a grid of white frames.  I threw in the boucherite rug for good measure.

Only problem?  When I saw my vision in something other than my own brain, it did't look like me.

So I tweaked.

MUCH better!  (For me).  I ADORE those yellow Paul Marrot prints.  And I had to get my leopard rug in somewhere, right?  The idea of the big abstract in the first scenario is to give a lot of movement against the stripe, but I think the hand-drawn quality of the prints does it in a way that is a little more ladylike, if less cool.  A little more me.  And of course, that's what matters most.

It's funny, when I saw it mocked up I realized that the grid of prints on the stripes reminds me of a tearsheet from many moons ago, from a Sheila Bridges project:

So good.  In fact, I like the way hers meander off-center from the stripes, don't you?

So now I love my proposed hallway.  But still....I am loving the powder room plans, too.

Do you have a favorite?  Or....do you think the paper should go in my laundry room?  My husband's vintage Smashing Pumpkins tour poster would look pretty good over brown and white....

Weigh in!  I would love to hear what you think.

A plan

While the living room rug continues to confound me, I finally have a plan for the upstairs hallway that is making me very, very happy.

I was (very loosely) inspired by this.

(Muriel Brandolini's old bathroom, published in New York Living, which continues to be one of my all-time favorite design books.)

This wallpaper.

My grandmother's 60s gold leaf sconces 

And black and white candid photography (maybe the party pictures from our wedding?), in a staggered line.

Only problem?  Funds for the wallpaper.

Alas.

You know I am thinking about creating my own stencil or block print, right?  Ugh.

Upholstered Strip/es

So, I'm still toiling away, trying to figure out what to do for almost no money in my long and boring windowless upstairs hallway.  I'm actually not even going to link to all the various and sundry posts about it (there are a lot).  It's embarrassing.  Lots of thought, little action.

For now I'll just let the ideas roll.

How about, for example, creating stripes out of upholstered sections joined by tape trim and upholstery tacks?

Yes: I like it.  And when you break up the square footage across 2 or 3 fabrics, I might even be able to make it happen with supplies on hand.....

Or, you know, not.

Sculptural Wall Install

I am on a major push to finish some things up around here.  Enough that I can just chill out at home.  I'm not going to make a real list like last time, because that's just depressing.  Possibly more because of how much I change my mind as opposed to how much I didn't get done.  (But that, too.)  I'll just continue to share some progress thoughts here, if you don't mind.

Like this new idea for the upstairs hallway: molding that acts as sculpture.

(via Adore Home Magazine)

It seems easy enough to accomplish, though the simple way (installing full sheets of progressively smaller plywood squares) seems a bit heavy for the wall to sustain.  I would also leave space between each large rectangle.  But I love that the interest comes from the dimensionality rather than a color, pattern, or texture.

Still mulling it over.  What do you think of this?

Project Hallway

Confession:  I hate my upstairs hallway.  It is 16 feet long, with a continuous wall on one side and lots of doors and stairs and stuff the rest of the way around.

A while back, I did this to it.  (There was a lot of process first.  Round ups of inspiration here and here, too.)  It was better than before, but still....eh.  This is a lesson in the down side of compromise.  I wanted a magnetic wall somewhere for the girls to hang up their art, my husband wanted that out of sight, and, against my best judgment, the upstairs hallway magnetic strip was born.

Here's the thing, though.  No one uses the magnets.  And while I love chartreuse (do you?), I would prefer either a neutral or a pattern now that the rooms opening off the hallway are navy and pink.

Here's the other thing.  I have to spend the tiniest amount of money possible on this project.

I better get to the options/ pictures. ideas a little faster, huh?

Option 1:  Framed wallpaper panels

First thought, grasscloth:

The Hunted Interior

via My Little Happy Place

But of course a large-scale pattern would be nice, too:

Nate Berkus

via Sadie and Stella

Option 2: Upholstered panels/ ribbon trim

Contemporary Bedroom by Atlanta Interior Designer Phoebe Howard

via Little Green Notebook

Option 3: Chair rail

This strategy is all about dividing and conquering.  By adding the chair rail, I can use a little bit of wallpaper, either above or below, and smaller framed artworks will work (larger framed artworks being too expensive.)

Wallpaper below:

via Door 16

Wallpaper above:

via Martha Stewart

Decorative moldings below, stripes above:

via House to Home

Moldings below, upholstered wall above!

Tory Burch

Now, the down sides/ realities:

Wallpaper panels work best when they have a story going on, like chinoiserie murals, at which point we run in to a money problem.  The examples above work because they all have furniture and art to populate the halls.  With plain old framed wallpaper I am just not as interested.

via Babble

via A Storied Style

Moving on.

Trimmed, upholstered walls would require 12 yards of fabric, dozens of yards of ribbon/trim, and a LOT of nailhead.  That adds up, fast.  Also, I'm not the best with straight lines.  I could skip the trim and go for an amazing pattern, like this.

via Sara Gilbane Interiors

But that means more than 12 yards of fabric that is muchos dineros.

As for the chair rail sitch, well, it's just not that exciting to me, and bring the added problem/project ("opportunity"?) of finding or making 5 large-scale pieces of art.  

In a case like this, I always think it is good to figure out what you REALLY want by asking yourself:

What if money were no object (though it is)?

What if I didn't have to do the work myself (though I do.)

In that case, I'm pretty sure I would have the wall upholstered in a beautiful indian blockprint fabric, with contrast ribbon trim and really big fat nailhead.  I would put my grandmother's gold tole sconces on either end, flanking an enormous, gorgeous painting or mirror.

So......is there an inexpensive way to accomplish that?

Pinterest Challenge: Magnetic Hallway reveal

Well, the upstairs hallway is done.  For now.

There were a few hurdles in this project, I'm not gonna lie.  And it ended up being not super cheap, either.  Tomorrow I'll post my tips (and a few complaints) on using magnetic paint, but for now, let's just say that this:

plus this:

Took this:

To this:

With the added bonus of this:

Night time pictures.  That's what happens when you finish your project round about midnight!

Details, tomorrow.

In the meantime, you can head on over to Young House Love to see the 600 or so projects that people have linked up (actually, I just checked.  I'm 686).  And of course, see the projects of the challenge originators (just "challengers", I guess?) here, here, and here.