Category Archives: Hallway

Have you ever been working on something and then a fresh pair of eyes made all the difference? That happened to me with a little phone nook we have in our hallway. Initially, I painted the back wall a deep blue.
Then, I opted to repaint the whole thing white to match the rest of the trim.
When I revealed this pic in a blog post, one of my readers suggested we try to remove the decorative, curved board from the top to make it look more modern. I mentioned this to Ben and he grabbed a hammer and went to town.
We were happy to learn that the curvy piece was only being held there by a few finishing nails. It definitely took some maneuvering to pry it off, but this is what we were left with. Then I simply caulked the gap and painted it white.
Here’s what she looks like today with a bird plate from Pier 1 that landed a new home. This could also be a fun little seasonal staging area in our home.
Here’s a closer view of our little nook with a modern twist. I would have never thought to remove that curvy piece, but it made a big difference! I’ve always loved the character it adds, but now it has nice, clean lines.

Thanks for the suggestion, Levi – keep ‘em coming! What do you all think about the evolution of our phone nook? Any other husbands out there that jump at the chance to demo pretty much anything around the house?

I’ve been on a mission recently to replace every light fixture in our home. It’s one of the simplest and cheapest upgrades besides painting that you can do. Here is my latest victim project:
As cute and grandma looking as this fixture in our hallway was, it HAD to go! It had obviously been there since the house was built judging from the rust situation on the base.
Here’s a wider view of the hallway. It’s easy to miss that there’s even a light there if you aren’t looking. Honestly we don’t use it very much, but it’s all about the details when it comes to staging your home. I also decided to give Ben a break on this one and attempt to install it myself. Is it a coincidence that I choose the tiniest light in our entire house? Nope.
I found the perfect oil rubbed bronze fixture at Home Depot for $10 – woohoo! Here we have the spread of tools that I used for the install. Why are my cute wedges in the pic? I ended up doing most of the project while wearing them after standing on my tiptoes on a chair got really old. I have also been known to make fun of Ben for wearing that ridiculous blue headlight, but it sure came in handy!
The first step was to take the gross, old fixture down which was simple enough, although I did notice that it was only attached with one screw instead of two (this would be foreshadowing like when James Franco couldn’t find his Swiss Army knife in 127 Hours). Oh, and at this point I was wearing shorts, a tank top, cute heels and that nerdy headlight for all of you fashionistas out there.
Next came the install of the new pretty fixture which seemed easy enough. After turning off the electricity, the first problem I ran into was that I couldn’t get the ground screw unscrewed (neither could Ben, so I wasn’t being a wimp). The other issue was that the entire outlet was so lopsided that there was no way to secure it with two screws – hence why the old fixture was installed with one. I ghetto rigged came up with solutions for both and you can’t even tell.
Just look at that beauty that brought our hallway into the 21st century! It turned out better than I thought and it really does make a huge difference.
Here’s a wider view with our beautiful new light source. Now, what to do about that attic pull eye sore? One project definitely leads to another in our house. This project took me forever it seemed since I had to undo and redo several steps. I definitely gained a new found appreciation for Ben who usually always takes the lead on these type of projects. In fact, he was doing a ceiling fan installation in the bedroom at the same time I was working on this and he enjoyed seeing me grunt and whine throughout the ordeal.

In the end, I claimed victory over the light fixture and I am proud to say that I tackled my first electrical project (and the house hasn’t even burned down yet)! Anyone else out there fixated on fixtures like me? What simple improvements have made a big impact in your home? What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever worn while doing a home improvement project?

Last week I received a comment on this post suggesting that I paint our phone nook to make it stand out more. I love getting feedback from readers and couldn’t agree more! I’ve been meaning to highlight this feature of our home since we moved in, but it had gotten overlooked like many other projects. Here’s the pic that inspired it all:The first thing I had to determine was what exactly I was going to paint. I debated back and forth (shocking) about whether to paint the entire nook or just the back of it. Ultimately, I decided to keep it simple rather than being bold which is more my style when it comes to painting.I took a trip to Lowe’s and was super excited to find that I could get a Zero VOC Olympic paint sample for $3 which is all I needed to complete my project. I knew I wanted a bold color to make the phone nook really pop and decided on the Olympic color Castile. I also picked up a $4 battery operated tap light from Target to install underneath the lip for added drama.After that, it was just a matter of taping it off and using my favorite $5 paint brush you can get at Sherwin Williams. I painted the first coat, waited a few hours and then hubby (the expert painter in our home) took care of the second coat. I like to take the tape off as soon as possible once I’m done with it.It was like Christmas morning waking up to my bold new phone nook! I love how it turned out and couldn’t believe what an easy makeover this was. I also went on a shopping mission to find a white ceramic piece of some kind because I knew it would look great with the color. I saw a cute bunny and vase at Pottery Barn outlet, but they were $15 and $25. Then I found this ceramic cow at Target for $6. It looks exactly like this one for $28 at Williams-Sonoma.Here’s a close-up with the light turned on. This gives new meaning to the phrase “Holy Cow.” I feel a little like I’m on Outsourced when the LED light of heaven is shining. I decided to switch it up and decorate with a couple of books on the bottom and a few romantic comedy DVDs on the top. I think it’s fun finding unique items to decorate with that you just have around your house.So this is the new view of our hallway all thanks to a reader like you. I’m excited to switch things out periodically. I think a small vase of bright pink baby roses would also look super cute in the nook. When it was all said and done, I spent less than $15 for this project (I already had the frog tape and paint brush).

So what do you think of my nookie (not to be confused with Snooki) makeover? Anyone else paint the back of your phone nook or built-in bookcases? What’s the most unique item you’ve decorated with?

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