Good Things Are Going to Happen. In our hall. We hope.

I’ve shown you photos of our remodelled kitchen and living room over the past couple of weeks, so today I figured I may as well show you the third part of the trinity – the hall. Er, even although it hasn’t actually changed that much – apologies in advance.

So, the main changes here were the re-painted walls, which went from Builder’s Magnolia to Inexpertly-Applied White (and which, you might recall, were the bane of my life for that seemingly-endless time I spent panting them. And then re-painting them. And then re-re-painting them. And then looking at them and thinking, “You know what, these walls look like ass, but I”m never picking up another paintbrush again, so, er, done is better than perfect. Or something.”). I WAS about to say that I’m not sure you can call a switch from one super-neutral shade to another a “change”, really, but actually, I honestly think painting everything white made a big difference – not just in the hall, but in the rest of the house, too. I actually didn’t hate the magnolia – I mean it wouldn’t be what I’d choose, but at least it was inoffensive – but I was surprised by how much lighter and brighter it made our rather dark and gloomy hall: a change that was also helped along by the replacement of the dark wood laminate for my beloved QuickStep. (Still loving it, by the way – and still not having to mop it nearly as much as the old stuff!)

Once we’d painted the walls and changed the flooring, though, the hallway might have looked lighter and brighter, but it also looked barer, somehow, which instantly made me want to find things to fill it with. We already had the IKEA Hemnes shoe cabinet which stands just next to the front door (I don’t actually keep many shoes in this: Terry has filled two of the drawers with his shoes, but I mostly use the other two for things like hats, gloves, umbrellas, and various other ‘outdoor’ things that I might need on my way out of the house, plus the odd pair of running shoes or whatever…), but other than that, and the large mirror (Also IKEA, because, obviously…), the rest of the hallway was pretty much empty.

Luckily, my parents came to the rescue with the metal sign above the cabinet. They’d actually seen this during a trip to the Lake District a few weeks ago, and my mum had taken a photo of it, but hadn’t bought it. When she showed me the photo, I loved it so much that she called up the shop and had it sent up: isn’t that amazing? (It originally didn’t have an apostrophe in the word ‘it’s’, so I got Terry to make one out of wood, which he spray-painted gold. Because ya gotta have grammatically correct signage, folks, don’t you?)

Finally, last week we were just about to leave the house one day, when I happened to glance at the wall next to the stairs (Er, I feel I have to point out here that the stair carpet doesn’t look nearly as bad in real life as it always does in photos: we will hopefully be replacing it soon, but it’s honestly not as bad as it looks!) and thought, “What that wall needs is a giant canvas of some description!” When we got home, I did a quick Google search, and found this one from Photowall, which does some of the largest sized canvases I was able to find. (There’s actually an even larger size than this one available, but it would’ve been too big for the space!) Much to my surprise, Terry really liked it as well, so, a couple of days later, it was hanging on our wall, having travelled all the way from Sweden in less time that it normally takes my mail to arrive from other parts of the UK: impressive!

As much as I like the image on this canvas, one of the best things about it for us was the fact that the frame and canvas are supplied separately: it only takes a few minutes to fit them together, but it means that, when you get bored of the print, you can just order a different one, and hang it on the same frame, saving yourself a bit of money. As I mentioned in my living room post, we’re quite keen to keep switching up the artwork on the walls every so often, so it’s good that this will allow us to do that – assuming, of course, that the stars miraculously re-align once more, and we manage to find another print we both like!

More than any of the other rooms I’ve shown you so far, though, I feel like this hallway is still far from being finished. I’d like to add a console table above the radiator you can just see to the left of the second photo – or maybe just a nice radiator cover. (I hate radiators: why do they have to be so ugly?), and I also really want some kind of statement light (Something like this, maybe?), to add a bit more interest. Unfortunately, lighting is one of the few things Terry and I tend to lock horns on, interiors-wise: his taste is even more minimal than mine is, and he’s convinced that a pendant light/chandelier would inconvenience any extraordinary tall people who happen to visit us, by forcing them to duck their heads to walk under it. I’m not convinced this is a good reason not to buy the pretty, pretty light, but, well, I AM only 5’4″, so what would I know?

(Answer: plenty. And I want that light. Or one like it.)

So, another work-in-progress, basically! But, as people keep on telling us, “It’ll be worth it when it’s done…”