Thursday, June 3, 2010

Hallway Makeover

If you're a fan of This Fresh Fossil on Facebook, you'll know that this past weekend we were busy sprucing up a part of our house.

And while every part of a home is muy importante, this part is not neccessarily the most glamorous or most-seen of the many rooms that reside in a house. But this part of the house is important in that it connects all the many rooms of most houses.

Yes, even a hallway deserves to be glamorous.

Or rather, just not u-g-l-y.

Don't believe me? Check out this photo of our hallway below, taken back when we bought the house (about one little year ago).


 Yikes! And you can't even see the beauuutiful *cough, cough* light fixture or smell the lovely carpet *gag*.

Seriously, that carpet reeked. And the sad part? It wasn't even a year old. Gross.

Fast forward a few months, and here's the hallway after we installed new laminate flooring and painted the trim. Already like 52x better, huh?


Then we started replacing the doors (and no, unfortunately we're not entirely done yet with all the doors... we've got bigger things on our plate at the moment!)



And this past weekend we finally entered the final stages of the Hallway Makeover.

Paint!


We taped off all the trim using our favorite type of Kermit Tape.


Love it. It really does work better than the blue stuff.


So we taped off all the trim with green,  and since we weren't going to paint the doors right then (and we're lazy), I took some plastic bags and tape to protect those beautiful shiny new door handles.


It worked really well.

And so after a weekend of prep and painting (and installing a light removed after our basement remodel), here's our hallway right now:


Let's do a double-take again at what it used to look like:


Ahhh, so much airier and brighter! It's like a breath of fresh air I tell ya (literally!).

Next up we will, well, first finish replacing and painting the doors, and then we can do the fun part - decorating!

So, what do you think? Anything you would've done differently? Any love/hate opinions (maybe about the builder's grade light? I can't complain about the price (FREE!), though!)? Any thoughts on decorating? Personal favorites as far as hallways go? Let's blab about one of the most under-recognized parts of the house in the decorating world.
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14 comments:

  1. One question: how do you like your laminate flooring? I'm still in the middle of my decision-making process. It looks great in the photo, would you mind telling me what kind you used?

    I love decorating hallways with large pieces of artwork. And, if it doesn't take up much walking space, the wall space between the two doorways on the end could have either a table, bench, or tall (and skinny) statue to create some more visual interest.

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  2. It looks so much better! I love the laminate flooring, what a nice shade!! The light fixture really isn't bad at all and the price was right! I'm not great at decorating hallways so I don't have any good words of wisdom but I'm sure you'll come up with something fab!
    One question:
    What is that shelfy-window thing on the left side of the photo? What was that rascal Charlie up to this time?

    heather

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  3. BTW, I added your button to my blog!

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  4. You guys were right, I do love the laminate flooring, and yours looks great. I think you did a great job. It looks very fresh and clean.

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  5. Thanks so much for visiting today from HOH! I love your hallway! What a difference!

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  6. What an improvement! The laminate floor and white trim really brighten the space up, and artwork will look great on the tan walls. Can't wait to see it with decorations! Nice work.

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  7. I'm loving the new hallway! We've been wanting to paint our trim; but haven't taken the plunge yet. Nice work!

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  8. Thanks for all the wonderful comments and for dropping by! It sure does make my day. :)

    @Sarah - I can't remember the exact name at the moment (I'll get back to you on that later, if you want) but we LOVE our laminate and got it for a spectacular price at Costco, of all places! They carry high-quality laminate flooring there for low-quality prices, and you guys know how we love a good bargain. Perhaps this would be a good thing to write a future post on with much more details, in case anyone else out there is considering laminate, as well. :)

    @Heather - Good eye! I can't say what exactly that "shelfy window thing" is yet - stay tuned next week to begin to unravel THAT little mystery! ;)

    Thanks for dropping in, everyone!

    ~Chelsea

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  9. Beautiful!! It looks so much better, and I love the paint color!

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  10. YAY! It turned out beautiful! I have been anxiously waiting to see it all week, and of course, you really inspired me!

    Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!

    xoxo,
    Jen

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  11. You did a great job. So worth all the hard work. So much brighter. Love it!

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  12. Ahh way better! Nice, fresh, and neutral. I think that's the way a hallway should be.

    I can't wait to read more about that little nook thing next week!

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  13. Chelsea, wow, that hallway looks amazing! I love the flooring! Also, I'm a sucker for white molding and doors, so I'm loving your new look so much.

    Also, thank you for visiting my blog and leaving a really nice comment. I appreciate it. You are very sweet.

    I'm loving your blog! I think you've just found a new fan!

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  14. What a transformation! I love the white trim-if you check out my blog (ourhumbleabowed.wordpress.com) you'll see that. I love a bunch of family photos. A hall is a great place for a bunch of photos...

    What paint color is that? Keep up the good work!

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