Sunday, April 10, 2011

Update: The Foyer

I've been working on the front hallway since late January. This is what things looked like then:



It all started with an impulsive decision to take down the popcorn ceiling.

That was fun. (Um, not.)

After quite a bit of hemming and hawing, I decided to paint the walls.

But blue was not the answer.


I decided I wanted to try grey. Grey is the up and coming colour for the decade, after all. I settled on Benjamin Moore's Edgecomb Grey. I absolutely love it.

This was taken before I painted the trim and ceiling. It really came alive then.

Memories of scraping that ceiling stayed with me a long time, however, and I took my time getting to painting it. I filled the cracks. A few days later, I sanded them.

Fill, then sand.

Then I washed the ceiling.

I waited.

At long last I decided it just had to be done, so I asked my husband to tape it for me one evening. He did--and I promptly got very, very sick. The green tape stayed up for about two more weeks.

Meanwhile, I had decided that I wanted to change the hallway light fixture. Ideally, I wanted something trendy, like this:

from Home Depot.


At the time I was looking, the bills from Christmas were piled high and hubby was working overtime to pay them off. The $90.00 price tag just seemed like too much of a splurge. Two little "candelabra" type fixtures didn't seem like enough light--and I really wasn't sure a pendant fixture would work in the space, anyway.

I saw this while searching, though, and I had a brainstorm courtesy of a blogger in love with oil rubbed bronze spray paint. I'm sorry, I can't remember exactly who it was.

From Home Depot. About $75.00

For about $8 I could simply spray paint the ugly brass fixture I already had. And so I did.

We went from this:

you can still see the bit of "popcorn" dangling from the ceiling, here.

to this:

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of all that glass taped off. It was quite the job. I used an eXacto knife to get it all taped just so.

Last week, I decided to do a hybrid Spring Clean and Cure. In preparation for it, I knew I wanted the hallway finished.

So, two coats of Benjamin Moore's Ceiling paint in Cloud White went up last week, and I finished up the light fixture and reinstalled it today.

This is the After--at least as far as painting goes. The trim is BM Cloud White in Semi-gloss. Please ignore the stuff on the stairs!


I'm not sure if I am moving the yellow cabinet back in or not. Hubby and I have been remarking on how much we like having the space.

Linking to Met Monday at Between Naps on the Porch

7 comments :

Handy Man, Crafty Woman said...

Oh, popcorn ceilings are evil! this looks great!

scb said...

I love the way the light fixture looks now -- and I love the patterns it casts on the walls and ceilings.

This looks gorgeous. (You know I've been in love with your foyer and that little alcove thingie ever since I first saw it.)

And good for you for getting rid of the evil popcorn!

Stephanie said...

Looks great--the gray was a perfect choice!

Anne At Large said...

You did an amazing job! That After photo is suitable for framing!

onshore said...

Amazing! I love your "new" light fixture. It is now exactly like the one from home depot.

The colour of your walls are very serene and inviting, good choises!

thefarmersdaughter said...

super nice job.... the grey looks great and the paint job really makes that lamp look nice...

Unknown said...

I hate popcorn ceilings, too! Love what you have done with the light fixture! I have one in brass just like it that I have been hating might give this a try.
Paula ~ Mise en scène

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