Source: Lonny

Since we moved into our house last year, I've been brainstorming ways to decorate our hallways. Our house was once a duplex, which means the first and second floor plans are identical (minus a second kitchen!). We have not one, but two long, narrow hallways smack dab in the middle of the house. Long term, we have some ideas for how to open up the floor plan but in the meantime we want to pretty up the hallways since we spend so much time walking up and down them! Which leads me to...

How do you decorate a tiny 34" wide hallway?

I would love to do art on both walls, with sconces to add some much needed light. But if I did that, we would have to walk with our heads ducked and arms tucked at our sides or risk bumping into the decor every time we walk through. Plus, we have two hallways to decorate so I had to get creative with my decor choices. I came up with these 4 ideas:

1. Add Pattern with Wallpaper or Stencils

2. Pair Neutral Walls with a Pop of Color on Ceiling

3. Paint the Walls a Bold, Rich Color

4. Install Decorative Moldings and Trim

Sources, from top left: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

Ideally, I would love to do some type of architectural moldings in the downstairs hallway. I'm still thinking we will do that once we remove the carpet and refinish the hardwoods underneath. For the short term, I had 90% sold myself on doing a stencil to mimic wallpaper but scared by the amount of time that will take, I decided to switch gears and focus on the upstairs hallway for now. I need an easy project that can be a quick win for me! Our home improvement efforts were pretty much delayed all summer, so I came up with a simple design to ease us back into DIY. 

The plan:

This weekend, I painted the walls with Foggy Day by Sherwin Williams. I also ordered prints from our annual photoshoot with Savannah Smith Photography, one of which will be making it's way into a little family timeline gallery wall I'm putting together. I'll be sharing more photos from our anniversary shoot next week! We'll be tearing up the carpet and refinishing the original hardwoods underneath, like we did in our master bedroom. The hand knotted runner is a vintage find I picked up in college for all of $15. It's one of my favorite things I own and I'm excited to finally give it a place of importance! And last but not least, I'm working with Sarah from True North Paper Co. on a custom calligraphy piece I've been dreaming up for a while. I can't wait to see how it comes out! I'll save the wording as a surprise for reveal day but suffice it to say that it matches the romantic, sentimental feel of the gallery wall. This hallway design might seem too personal for some people, but since it's upstairs and mostly Anthony and I will be seeing it, I don't mind the mushy-ness one bit!

I'm hoping to reveal the hallway makeover later this month. I'll be posting sneak peaks of my progress on Instagram, so you can follow me over there for updates! 

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