The Upstairs Hallway

In the beginning when we got the house, 

there was a wall 

separating the first and second floor apartments.

It surrounding the upstairs railing of the staircase.

We couldn't wait to open the area up.

The original wall color in the downstairs hallway was an off white,

while the upstairs hallway was a rather dark and dreary dark brown paneling.

We painted the downstairs hallway a light blue color.

You can check out that project here

I was not fond of the dark paneling. 

It sucked up all the available light.

And on the triangular wall above the stairs

was a lovely shade of baby poop mustard yellow.

So I decided to paint the paneling.

Painting paneling isn't really that difficult. 

The hardest part is the cutting in, as 

you need to paint down each of the grooves in the paneling.

And you want to make sure you use a good primer 

to help hide any staining, and give your paint a good base to adhere to.

Even with just the primer,

the hallway looked so much better and brighter.

I painted the upstairs hall the same color as the downstairs hall.

Right now I have to live with the ugly wire hanging by the stairs.

It was originally hidden by the wall that used to be at the stop of the stairs.

Once we replace the door with the new construction window,

the wires will be gone.

The curtains on the door and window were curtains my mom made for her dining room years ago.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the hallway.

You can see where I'm working on the floor.

I've only been able to get the section between the steps and the bathroom scraped.

I'm still working on the other area of the floor.

There's still lots of updates coming!

Hallway Reveal

Somehow, I managed to miss posting about the hallway makeover.

Here we have the before photos.

The hallway wasn't really in bad shape,

it just needed some updating and color.

As you can see, 

we decided to go with blue.

I believe the color was Oatlands Pale Flowers

or maybe not, I don't remember

but it is one of the historical paint colors offered by Valspar.

And here is the finished product.

I haven't touched the stairs yet.

I'll need to chemically strip the paint off the steps and the hand rail

because of the lead paint that is sure to be lurking there.

We're also waiting to find someone who can replace the section of railing

that was cut off during the conversion to apartments.

Plus there is the discovery of the ornamental scroll work

that was once on the steps.  

I discovered it on the upstairs edge of the hall,

and I found evidence of it on the steps in the hallway.

I'm hoping to be able to replicate the pattern in paint.

I'm really happy with the color and

with the light that pours in front the front door.

Now to work on finishing the laundry room.