Hallway Makeover

It's time for another before and after!

Today, I'm excited to show you my upstairs hallway.

First, I'll show you what it looks like now...

                     

For those of you who are new to this blog, this a 100-year old farmhouse that we purchased almost seven years ago. We've been fixing it up ever since. When we first moved in the hallway looked like this:

                   

It's a long and skinny hallway that has a window on each end. As you can see, it used to be very dark. In fact, we used to call it the Tunnel Of Darkness, haha! 

The ceiling was oak beadboard, and the walls were painted yellow with a landscape wallpaper underneath the chair rail. You can see what I'm describing in this picture:

                  

If you look closely at the walls to the far left of the picture, you can see that they were cracking. We had a lot of work to do on this hallway! 

I'll show a few during pictures in this post, but since before and afters are so much fun, this next picture is of the same view today:

               

I won't get overly detailed in this post, but I will point out a few things that we did in this makeover that I think helps make our hallway extra special. First, in the before picture above, you can see a bump-out in the wall. It was disguising a brick chimney. When we found that out we knew we wanted to expose it. We thought 100-year old brick was pretty special, so Micah tore the plaster off and cleaned it up. I've loved it ever since!

Here's a during picture of the same view:

For this end of the hallway, I chose an ornate, antique pedestal with a plant, and an upholstered chair.

                 

I had Micah install a wall sconce on each end of the hallway. There was no lighting except for two overhead lights right in the middle of the hallway, so at night both ends of the hallway were really dark. 

I love these lights. I chose them because I thought they were classic and timeless. 

              

This is a close-up of the chair and antique pedestal:

             

I bought the chair at a rummage sale for $10. It looked like this when I first brought it home:

Backing up to the top of the staircase, and looking down the same direction:

Three white plates flank an old etched and beveled mirror:

               

And a set of botanical prints in wood frames are on the wall opposite the mirror:

(I have a thing for botanicals, and I love how their antique white background looks against the crisp white walls!)

I'll take you to the other end of the hallway soon, but first I have to show you what used to be next to these botanicals. When we bought the house there was an old staircase that lead to nothing:

             

There wasn't a door here so it was always open and in plain sight. We put a baby gate up and lived with it like this for the first couple of years. I hated it :(

I've often said that moving out here has been an ongoing lesson in contentment. Buying a fixer-upper is a commitment, and not for the faint of heart. 

I'm proud of what Micah and I have accomplished so far in this house. We've literally put our blood, sweat, and tears into it. This house will forever be in our hearts. 

The useless staircase was turned into a closet with a door, and a (shhhhh) secret passage way:

             

The closets and bathrooms in this house are tiny. Those were two rooms that no one put much emphasis on 100-years ago. Houses are built much different today;) Micah gave me the closet in our bedroom and he uses this one. 

In this next picture you can see the progress on this side of the hallway and of the closet:

The same view today:

             

Walking down to the other end of the hallway, you'll pass this sweet baby owl print:

I have a little trick I like to do when I want to use an antique frame for a print or painting, but the sizes don't match up. I like to "marry" the two by simply having a matte custom cut. I've done this several times in my home with various artwork, and I find it to be a great and inexpensive solution.

This is what the other end of the hallway looked like during our renovation:

And what it looks like today:

            

I had Micah make this little built-in bench. I covered it with a foam pad that I wrapped in fabric, and made a skirt for the bottom. It's held up by a small tension rod.

           

This watercolor is one of only a few original watercolors in my home. My parents gave it to me. When it was given to me the matte and frame needed to be replaced. This is another example of a piece of art in my home that I was able to reframe by having a new matte cut. The antique frame was given to me by my grandmother.

The wall opposite the watercolor looks like this:

             

Micah refinishes the floors and replaces the windows in every room we re-do:

Our hallway before:

             

Our hallway during:

(We've been known to blast music and get goofy when we're up to our eyeballs in a messy project...)

             

Ha! :)

Our hallway after:

Thanks for letting me show you our upstairs hallway! I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Until next time,

~ Courtney