Art-Way

So I don't know what to say about this one, except that this was our first real taste of an "old home project". When I say "old home project", I'm talking about something that starts out as a simple project and then balloons into some sort of monster mutant project with the ability to stop and in some cases reverse time!! This was one of those... 

In the beginning there was an ugly hallway.

The first night we moved in those dirty yellow shelves (pantry?) behind the door were hastily removed via pry bar and pure man strength. We just couldn't bear to look at them. Later, we just wanted a quick fix for the hospital mauve colored wallpaper that covered this hallway, and the flickering shop light that was surrounded by at least 75 pounds of old trim and scrap wood. 

Some pieces of antique wall paper that we found under the other crap painted wallpaper layers.

Wallpaper stripped... check.

Ready for paint... check.

Take off all fixtures... "Oh hey look!"

So, while we were prepping for painting we discovered that there was old clapboard under the main wall. Someone (an idiot) had covered over this awesome feature when the porch (area that we're working in) was enclosed. We got the bright idea to expose the 100 year old wood and clean it up! Yay! 

Everything is going good..

All excited about the hidden potential...

Notice the hanging doorbell that started it all...

Ugly hallway stripped of its mauve wallpaper glory

First coat of stripper...

New lighting...

Lead paint dust.... brain damage : (

After I wrestled with the idiotic wiring scheme (note all the holes), we really began to put some elbow grease into the wall. We had to apply stripper twice, fill all the holes from drywall nails, and sand the whole wall down just to get the wall to look nice enough to paint. They had some interesting color choices way back when... I think the most odd were the neons, aquatic, and baby food inspired colors. This is where we realized something funny... Weren't we just going to paint the hallway?

Second coat of stripper...

Old paint is wicked resilient...

15+ layers of resilient...

Lead paint dust... drooling : (

Thanks for the help priming from Sandra and Carol!!

First color choice... camo green wasn't a good look.

It didn't look green in the store..

Inside angle... camo green spot.

We were trying to match one of the oldest colors on the wall.

This color is just right! 

Paint Color on Clap: Behr #720F-6 Paramount

Paint Color on Adjacent: Behr #780C-3 Ocean Pearl 

Rollers really get the job done... too bad we couldn't use any.

Oldschool baby!!! 

Finished!! (ignore light switch)

Perfect place to showcase art!

...gotta buy some art..

Ambiance!

Sadly, we're not sure about the ultimate fate of this hallway. We haven't completely fleshed out the final floor plans for the remodel on the back of the house... or gotten approval from the Historic Commission. We are definitely going to try and keep this look even if we have to move things around. It needs new tile anyway... something period appropriate. For now though.. we love it!