Hallway Renovation
The previous owners of our house had a thing for brown. They paired ugly brown tile flooring with brown trim and wood doors. Don’t get me wrong I love natural wood, and I have been known to use white on white, but never even in my wildest dreams would I have thought to use this color combination. We gutted the hallway within a week of moving in, but then it took over a year to put it all back together seeing as it was low on the priority list.
This was the only room on the bottom floor that didn’t flood when the pipes burst during inspections, so new drywall wasn’t required. However, we decided to still tear out the drywall on the ceiling, so that way we could add another light. I felt three pendants had a better visual flow than the two recessed light had, especially on a hallway of this length. We also wanted to install the new recessed fire sprinkler heads, and Rockwool insulation to help with fire safety and sound defining. It’s crazy to me that the previous owners didn’t add insulation between floors, since the sleeping quarters are below the living quarters, it made it nearly impossible to sleep when people or pets were walking around upstairs.
After everything was stubbed out and the new drywall installed, we started on the imperfect smooth texture. Normally we would demo the tile before doing the wall texture, but we didn’t have a jackhammer that day. We took the risk, and it worked out. The walls weren't hurt in the tile removal process, and we kept them clean during the installation of the new black slate natural stone tiles. We added all the updated baseboards, window casings, and doors next. My husband and I debated adding crown molding for weeks, worrying it might be overkill in such a small space. We ended up taking a poll amongst our friends, and it was overwhelmingly decided that the crown molding shouldn't be added.
We used the same Sherwin Williams alabaster white paint we used in our bedrooms, I learned early on paint is one thing you don’t want to cheap out on, it always ends up costing you more in the room run. I ordered the most amazing 22’ rug off of Amazon and hung all my paintings on the walls. I know it’s only a hallway, but I must walk down it a hundred times a day. It makes me beyond happy that its now pretty.