The World’s Cleanest Hallway
and the award goes to……(drum roll please)
The Penningtons!!!
Please let me enjoy it. With 11 people living here, there’s no way we will be able to keep this prize for long, so I’m going to bask in it while I can.
Our long, narrow hallway had gotten to be so dirty, so grimy with hand prints and marks where the boys drove their hot wheels along the wall that I dreaded the long walk from my bedroom to the living room. The chair rail was coming off, the trim we put up 8 years ago still hadn’t been caulked….shameful, but true.
I don’t have any before pictures of the entire hallway because it was so dark you’d wonder if I was showing you our house or a horror movie. This picture is from the very end before you turn into the dining room. I want you to see the color of the cabinet, because it is no longer pink/burgundy/whatever. It was the last of the remaining burgundy in the house and I was ready to get rid of it.
Grace and Hope very sweetly offered to paint the hallway while I worked on other projects.
Once they finished, I got to work on the freshly painted cabinet. Originally it had doors on the top, but I removed those years ago so I could put a little pizzaz into a dingy, dark space.
With the shelf being white, I needed to add depth and personality. So I decided to paint stripes across the back and down the sides. First I tried to use my algebra skills and figure out the exact measurement each stripe should be to divide equally in the spaces, but that took too much brain power. In the end I just made them the width of the painter’s tape.
I mixed some craft paints together until I liked the color, kind of a green/gray.
Then remove the tape and voila! Loveliness.
Then it was time to add the pretties.
Believe it or not, I had all of this stuff in my craft/sewing room just waiting for me to use. Good thing I’m such a hoarder.
I saw on Pinterest how to make these Anthropologie style letters and I couldn’t wait to try it. I love the way they turned out and it was super easy.
Please don’t ask what the “X” and “O” are for. Everyone in the family has already asked me several times. I have no idea people! I just liked the shape of them.
I love the simplicity of it.
I made the twine knobs. They, along with the plants, add the natural element that the shelf needs for warmth.
And now…when I look down my clean, caulked, white hallway I am not afraid.
And no more burgundy.
I have so many people to thank for this award.
Linking to: New Nostalgia, Today’s Creative Blog, Tip Junkie, All Thingz Related, Blue Cricket Design, Sugar and Dots, A Beach Cottage, Organize and Decorate Everything, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Beyond the Picket Fence, No Minimalist Here, Furniture Feature Friday, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Funky Junk Interiors, Beneath My Heart
X and O is for hugs and kisses! Great job on the hallway!
Great job Lisa, love the colours looks so fresh!
Nice helpers you’ve got there and I also thought that X and O was for a hug and a kiss 🙂 It looks great Lisa! xoxoxoxo
Susan
I was gonna say the same thing Angela! Looks great and very bright and crisp!!!! Congrats on your award 🙂
The stripes are a hit! You deserve the award no doubt about it. Congrats!
Love it XOXO, hehe. It is so pretty, the stripes are my fav. worth are the aing.
Cha Cha
Lovely, lovely!
Don’t you love freshly painted anything?!
Deanna
Wow….these stripes really *do* give depth. I keep telling hubby that these blogs aren’t wasting my time – I’m learning *all* the time… thanks to clever people like you 😉
In my humble opinion,
X could mean Xanthisma aka the Star of Texas flower. Bright, Beautiful, and loves Texas Heat. It is rare but not so rare. Reminds me of a Homeschooling Mama.
O could mean Onomatopoeia. When someone unexpectedly shows up at your home and VROOM it is automatically clean including those dusty ceiling fans.
Okay, I must go – because I have no O in my home. 🙂
Don’t you just love when it all comes together!? Love it! I liked how you did the stripes and the colors look so good in that narrow space. Simple & Clean….Bravo!
see you again soon..susie
Very nice!
Are the built-in shelves the “secret project” you were working on?
I love your shelves! The paint looks amazing and all of your decor is fabulous!
It looks really great!!! I really like the shelves! Very nice!!
You have such a gift for these projects! Inspiring!
I love it all. Looks great. I want to try the Anthropology letters too. Yours look great. The x and o can stand for hugs and kisses.
Ruth
LOVE this! You did a really wonderful job! Such a labor of love! And all your work paid off because the outcome is fabulous!
By the way, I am hosting my first link party, and would love to have you link this up to it–
http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/2011/08/show-share-1.html
Yes, xoxo! You deserve loads of them! What a beautiful transformation – even if I didn’t see the before. It’s light & bright and just lovely!
Looks great! Love the stripes and silver letters.
Looks great, very clean indeed. Love the colours! Thanks for adding your link to Beach Cottage Good Life Wednesdays.
This is the cutest thing I’ve seen today..what a great idea for use of the space. I also love the letters:)
Hugs & Kisses!!! What a great job, it looks FAB!!
Wow! It turned out so well. The striped shelf is beautiful. Thumbs up!
Love those letters, Lisa! And that striped shelf is super fun. 🙂