Room Painting! The Hallway + Stairwell

Sunday, February 10, 2019

From the dining room, the hallway takes you past the downstairs bathroom, the den, and turn a corner to the office, the front door, and up the stairs. Here's the first part of the hallway before/after (note the half painted trim at the bottom of the den doorway in the 'before' photo, this is a recurring theme in the house):


When you turn the corner, it takes you to a little hallway that goes past the office and to the front door (where you see that we are yet to replace the peeling linoleum flooring in the entryway - on the TODO list!):

As you look at the stairwell, you turn back around toward the hallway you just took (oh, check out those sweet tan ceilings with peeling paint in the 'Before'):

And here's a gratuitous close-up of the phone nook:

Looking down the stairs, note that the ceiling is not remarkable at all! You can, of course, see where the paint was peeling if you're looking for it. No amount of sanding/spackling/sanding/priming seems to completely hide it. But if you're not looking for it, the eye barely looks at the ceilings at all! Success! On the right is an in-progress shot of slow-going de-papering to re-illustrate the extent of the ceiling peelings.
...and that's saying nothing of the peeling/stained/faded metallic wallpaper made of gingham-esque gold flowers on a teal grid that was formerly on the walls. This wallpaper was also torture to remove. 4x6" pieces coming off, after large amounts of prep and effort. Just the worst. It probably took an entire month of J and I working on weekends + Mondays + Fridays to get this whole space rehabbed.

We filled the stairwell with 6 prints from etsy/PurpleMooseBasics. They're vintage-inspired National Park posters of 6 different parks we've visited. Yosemite, Sequoia National Park, Saguaro National Park, Carlsbad Caverns, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and Petrified Forest. And at the foot of the stairs is a black & gray version of etsy/NasShannon's Rumi artwork, mentioned in the art post.

Looking back into the dining room...all the closet interiors (right photo) are painted a bright aqua, which the trim, office walls, and bathroom vanity were originally painted. That must've been quite the 50s spectacular!

Walls are Benjamin Moore 'Suntan Yellow' (Regal Select) in an eggshell finish. I wanted something a little bolder, but still light enough to brighten up this rather dark area. I had seen Suntan Yellow in a kitchen on Kylie M. Interiors which gave me some hope. During the brightest portions of the day, Suntan Yellow looks like it thought about being a pale yellow for a moment. But there's really too much orange for it to play at being pale yellow for very long. As the hallway gets darker it becomes more of a bold golden color. Lots of oomph, but still decent light reflectance. 'Just what I was looking for.

The trim is Sherwin Williams 'Extra White' (Emerald) in a semi-gloss finish (wait for a 30-40% off sale). Ceilings are Zinsser Stainblock Ceiling Paint in flat bright white (straight out of the can). Light fixtures are West Elm's Sculptural Glass Faceted Flushmount - Small (Milk) (wait for a 25% off + free shipping event).