Hallway Gallery and Repaint

Why does even the smallest painting project seem to take over the house and take so LONG? I've been in my house for almost 9 years and the hallway is the only spot left that I have never painted (mostly because I didn't have the right kind of ladder to get up to the top of the stairwell). Well, I've had the right ladder for at least 3 years, so I can't use that as an excuse anymore.

Before:


The prep for painting takes so long! I re-textured the ceiling first and painted the ceiling. Then I got the walls painted in Sugar Wafer by Kilz (sadly, Walmart no longer carries this brand of paint, so I had it color matched at Lowe's). Of course, I had to repaint all the trim and door casings (I resisted the "while you're at it...." temptation to replace the casings to match the ones I did last year in my living and family rooms...but its on the list now). The hinges on the cupboard doors had been painted too many times to really work right, so I used a spray on paint stripper and cleaned them up. I then sprayed them with primer and some black spray paint and they look brand new and cost me nothing.



Most folks probably wouldn't notice much difference in the before/after, but I sure do! And, after a couple weeks I started working on my photo gallery wall that I've been wanting to do forever!


For the photo gallery I didn't want to put nail holes in my newly painted walls, so I used the Command Picture Hanging Strips--and that was slick! The strips say one will handle up to .5, so I used just one on the smaller pictures and 2 on the larger ones.



I uploaded some of my favorite vacation photos to Costco and printed them in black and white. I also spent WAY too much time weeding and placing vinyl on my knock off of a Ballard Design sign. Check out Infarrantly Creative's laundry version at http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2010/09/ballard-inspired-laundry-sign.html . I think I spent about $7 in photos and the frames were .95-3.95 each, so less than $15. The canvas was a DI find that I repainted. The good news is that there is still space for more photos, so I guess I better get traveling.