Style Cure: Hallway Makeover Progress Part 5

FYI, I'm attempting to give my hallway a face lift this month by following Apartment Therapy's Style Cure.  Why don't you join and "cure" a room of your own? :)

We've been making a little progress on the hallway.  To give you a brief recap, here's a basic floor plan:



I also collected several inspiration photos:

 



Some helped me to narrow down a colour palette.  I love the blues and greens in these pictures:

Others gave me ideas for floor coverings and textural elements.  I found a fabulous rug (source will come later) and I already have a fluffy sheepskin for added texture:

We needed some new lighting, because I was so sick of looking at that ugly boob light.  I got a picture of Corey fondling... rounding second base with... replacing the old light with the light I painted a few weeks ago. 

 

We created a more functional landing strip:

I also realized that my best chance to add serious colour would be through art, like in the photo below:

 

I'm not an artist, (nor do I pretend to be one) but I figured something personal and colourful would be better than bare walls.  I figured I could waste time deciding on something perfect and saving up for it, or I throw something up there in the meantime so I'm not living with unfinished space.

 

So I sucked it up and sat down with a scary blank canvass.  I propped up a painting I love (on the left) for inspiration.

 



For the sense of humour element that I wanted in the room, I picked up these little dolls at Ikea, painted them white and added censor strips (cardboard I painted black) over their "private" areas.  They make me laugh.

 

And I played around with the paint and found a fun new hobby.  By the way, the picture below was meant to be a random guy... it somehow ended up looking like Corey.  No idea how that happened.

 

 



Obviously, I'm no van Gogh, (that rhymed!) but these will serve as placeholders until we can afford to slowly build our collection of real art!  The water's kind of kicking my bum (It's so hard to paint water!) in that last painting... but I'm working on it and I find it to be very meditative. 

The paintings are okay... definitely not great.  But I'm trying to push myself to be more free with this new/old house: Paintings not great?  Oh well, they're personal and they'll look fine until we can find something we really love!  Wouldn't this be a great philosophy to apply towards every room?

Related articles

• Style Cure: Hallway Makeover Part 3
• Apartment Therapy Style Cure 2013
• Style Cure: Hallway Makeover Part 2
• Style Cure: Hallway Makeover Part 4
• The Junction Flea

Style Cure: Hallway Makeover Part 4

FYI, I'm attempting to give my hallway a face lift this month by following Apartment Therapy's Style Cure.  Why don't you join and "cure" a room of your own? :)

Today's challenge was to learn a little about colour.  You may recall that I already have a working colour palette, but I still have some colour work to do.

For me, I took the opportunity to think about how I will incorporate so much colour into a room that I suspect will have neutral grey walls.  I began by collecting more inspiration pictures... This time, looking for rooms with neutral walls.

 

This picture from House and Home inspired me.  I love the texture on the walls and the way that green vase stands out against the light wall.

 

This picture from The Telegraph shows how art and a window can add colour to a room.

Again from House and Home, this minimal hallways gets a dose of colour from the next room.

The next two are borrowed from Lonna De Anna and I love them both!

 

So far, it's looking like I'll need to rely on my art (along with the odd textile and accessory) to add colour to our hallway.  We have definitely not budgeted for an art shopping spree... I suppose I'll just have to try painting on my own... For the first time since Grade 9 art class.  (Except for this... but I don't really count that as real painting.) Wish me luck!