Hallway Makeover - Part 3 - After

Well, the painting, the cleaning and staging are done.

And when I say "done", let's face it, I mean "for now".

The ceiling still needs painting - once I've used up enough of the wall colour and can lighten it. And, of course, the hallway continues all the way down the stairs. But that is a project for another, hopefully much cooler, day!

So here are the pics, with a few explanations.

Down the hallway, from the living room - same angle as one of the "before" shots.

And from the top of the stairs, looking towards the living room.

This table at the top of the stairs is our "staging area", where we keep the library books to be returned, printer cartridges to be recycled, etc... all tucked into a vintage suitcase.

Which, when closed, hides the clutter admirably so that, during parties and such, the table can live the life it really loves as a drinks counter.

I feel like I cheated a bit with the "not buying any new furniture" rule. The table is a gorgeous old library table that came out of my Aunt's convent. And the dresser is the one I wrote about here. Two hugely gorgeous pieces of furniture that I'm very lucky to have.

But anyone can hang some nice pictures, right? And mirrors are an amazing help in a renovation. They bring light and lovely views into the darkest of corners.

Just be sure you know what they'll be reflecting before you hang them. I was going to put the small one over the dresser, but it reflected what is eventually going to be our bedroom. And since I rarely make the bed....

So our lovely photo of Valerie driving in Philly went up there instead, which set the tone for the rest of the photo wall.

And if you look at this mirror, you can see that I didn't exactly follow my own advice. The wall heading downstairs is on the list for "later". But then I hung the mirror and - oooog! - you can see how badly it needs doing.

Still it's a temporary - oooog! - so I'll live with it. If it had been reflecting something permanent, I'd've had to move the mirror.

So there you have it.

The basics for turning a space you hate into a space you love are: keep it as clean as possible, deal with the clutter, have something pretty to look at.

I feel much better about coming home these days. It's really got me motivated to do the rest of the space!