Hallway Makeover – Heena Gardner

This blog post is sponsored by Dutch Boy® Paints. All opinions are my own.

It’s been almost 4 years in our house and the rooms have gone through many changes so far! There is one space that gets used all the time but felt like afterthought… yes, our teeny tiny hallway. It’s been looking the same and a little “blah” since we painted it white before moving in. Read on to see the small change that made it come alive!

Before

Here is what the hallway looked like before! One option was to paint the walls, but I have a rule that adjacent rooms can’t be painted different bold colors. The purple dining room leads into this hallway, which leads into mauve and blue bedrooms. I like having a neutral buffer between rooms with bolder colors. Plus, I really didn’t want to make this into a huge project but painting all the trim and doors.

The solution I came up with is to paint just the ceiling! It’s not visible from the other rooms unless I’m standing close or directly in the hallway. Normally, I would look at whichever room I’m heading to, but adding color at the top draws my eyes up and create visual interest in an otherwise small, narrow space. To add something a bit extra, we decided to install crown moulding for a custom look. The space between the top of the door and the ceiling is almost awkwardly tall, and this fills in the space nicely.

Choosing the Right Paint

I used Dutch Boy again since it’s worked so well in the past, and the Dutch Boy® Platinum® Plus Interior Ceiling Paint + Primer was perfect for this project. However, picking out the right paint color is a more difficult process as we all know! After many mock ups and deliberation, I landed on Cathedral Spire 423-2DB, a beautifully subtle sage.

Crown Moulding

I’ve heard so many people complain about crown moulding, and now I’m complaining about crown moulding after actually attempting it. I won’t go into the nitty gritty details, but there are plenty of resources you can find online about the process. Our first challenge was finding a bigger miter saw because our 10″ couldn’t handle the cuts in the angled jig. And those weird and backward angles we studied up on still tripped us up when it came down to it. Luckily, we had enough materials to finish the project and it turned out pretty good!

Make sure to label each side to keep track of everything!

Caulking helps hide the imperfections (:

The Reveal

Despite the setbacks, it was 100% worth it! Seeing the earthy Cathedral Spire paired with the gold light fixture every time I walk through the hallway is a treat. Scroll down for the after photos and let me know your thoughts or questions in the comments!