Yay! The hallway is DONE! I took a ton of really redundant photos. It’s just so hard to get the right perspective in a 33-inch-wide space, particularly one that’s lacking in natural light.
We just used standard, off-the-shelf pine molding for the chair rail. It’s attached to the wall with construction adhesive and a few nails, and I caulked the top edge. If the wallpaper looks like it’s rippling, that’s just because our walls are plaster…and old.
I’m really, really happy with how everything turned out. The hallway used to just feel like a pass-through from one place to another (which, um, I guess is the whole point of a hallway), but now it feels like a room. Like a real place. It feels connected to the rest of the house. Most of all, I’m totally in love with Julia Rothman’s beautiful wallpaper!
Finally putting that Cornershop poster into a frame (something I’ve been meaning to do for at least 13 years…yikes) felt like an accomplishment. Since I think the breakdown of reaction to the poster is probably something like 75% “Cornershop?? WHO?!”, 20% “Cornershop?? They SUCKED!”, and 5% “Oh yeah, Cornershop!! Tjinder Singh!! I wonder when their new album is out!*”, I thought I’d stick a video on the end of this post. It’s pretty awesome. *New Cornershop out soon! Go here to help fund it.
74 Comments
i really love the wallpaper!!
‘everybody needs a bosom for a pillow’ – words to live by.
love the hallway!!
looks super awesome!
Wow! The hallway looks amazing you have done a fantastic job. I love the framed prints, especially the ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ one – you always surprise me and I like it!
I’ve always thought that album cover is hilarious!
I LOVE “Brimful of Asha!” I thought I was the only person who ever listened to that song. 🙂
Double Yay! It looks fantastic. Congratulations on getting this project crossed off your list. A great way to go in to the New Year. All the best for 2011!
Beautiful! What a difference from when I saw it this summer! That wallpaper is divine and the framed posters really make an impact. It looks like you’ve added an art gallery to your house!
It looks great Anna and I totally get what you mean about it feeling like a room now. I can’t wait to do our hallway sometime soon.
Ps thanks for the image showing the chair rail, you learn something new everyday, especially when you DIY!!!
You are the master. Watched it all unfold on Twitter and can’t believe you did all that in such a seemingly short few days. Pat on the back!
Also, Cornershop…surprised! But I have to admit Brimful of Asha brings me back…
I love it. I totally “get” it. Hallways are usually entirely functional, but this is one I would want to hang out in.
It’s perfect! Would we expect anything less from you? 😉
It looks great. I so want to use that wallpaper on something.
I am totally jealous of that Three Imaginary Boys poster!!
gorgeous. am loving this end of year project completion thing. great job. it’s truly a room lovely enough to dawdle in.
Everybody needs a bosom for a pillow, everybody needs a bosom.
Look so good! And I’m soo slacking in comparison with my projects!!
Wow! It looks fantastic! I’m not sure which I like more, the wallpaper or the artwork!
Oh, YAY!! The paper is gorgeous, Anna… wow. Love the whole look – awesome!! I can’t wait to get our stuff re-hung since all the painting… soon.
That looked like just enough natural light to me!! Nice shots.
Anna, the hallway looks fantastic!
Wow, it looks fantastic!! We’re moving back to New Zealand soon and your blog has been totally inspiring me/getting me excited about looking for a new place and making it our own. That wallpaper is amazing, by the way.
ahh I love that song, one of my favourites from my formative years that I still love listening to.
Also thanks for the link to the Rap Names poster (in your other post), my husband thinks it’s awesome so I bought one for him =)
I’m wondering if I could try the wallpaper and chair rail thing in our hallway… Might need to add it to the list!
seriously amazing! I bet you’ve convinced at least a dozen people to buy wallpaper that never would have otherwise. *I might be one of them*. As far as a hallway being a room… it completely is or at least a hallway should be decorated. My favorite thing to do is wander around in people’s homes during get togethers and often get caught in the hallway with frames of -who knows what-. It’s good 🙂
YAY, Anna! I LOVE how it turned out! I knew you’d do something amazing.
I actually love Cornershop. One of my best friends gave me that album in law school, so it always reminds me of him (good) and being in school (bad)!
Happy New Year!
It looks wonderful! The wallpaper is stunning. Who’s the artist behind the yellow apple print??
Elisabeth Dunker! 🙂 There are links to buy the posters in the progress post.
It looks beautiful Anna. I’m so inspired to pare things down in my house!
I have a loosely related question. I know you like to use Simple White. I’m itching to paint my living room white but the room receives little to no natural light and I’m worried white paint will look to stark or cold. Does your whole house have awesome natural light or does Simple White hold up in dark rooms too?
My house is an attached rowhouse, so there are no windows on the sides and the middle is quite dark — particularly the hallways and dining room. I used Moonlight White on ALL of the walls and the ceiling (Simply White is only on the trim), though, and it looks fabulous. The color looks different depending on the light, but it’s very warm and creamy. It’s definitely NOT a cool/stark white.
A-ha. I thought I was missing something. I put some simply white on the walls the other day and thought, hmmm I don’t think this will work. And now because I’m greedy can I ask a question about how you mounted the posters? I have all these irregulary sized prints and I’m never sure the best way to use the IKEA frames. I usually stick them on top of the mats. Is that what you did? They look really nice.
Yep! Double-stick tape, my dirty little secret. 😉
I use double sided tape also and have been successful, sadly though, the last one I did here just about a week ago, I got the tape stuck to the front of the print…I decided I’d done enough print framing for awhile and put the rest of my artwork away! Anna, do you mark on the mat or eye-ball it?
Your hallway looks amazing, as does everything in your house!
I eyeball everything, Sue!
Okay, well, not everything (I did measure the position/level of the frames on the walls verrrry carefully!), but if I can get away with eyeballing, I usually do!
love. as usual.
😉
it looks so freaking beautiful!!!!
happy new year to youse guys.
Oh my, it sure looks great Anna! And what an honor to see my apple man hanging in such a great company, thank you 🙂
Happy new year!
Elisabeth x
looks so great! I am so NOT handy…. (I cry when trying to put up some artwork.) So I’m really impressed with your hallway and how great it looks!
thanks! you just made my day with the cornershop! I know that may not seem like a huge deal but since my brand new car got sideswiped today by a hit and run and then this evening I got a ticket because one of headlights was out due to the hit and run – It’s a huge deal- thanks for making me dance in my kitchen!
thanks!
+ your house looks amazing – congrats on all of your hard work!
Thanks for the post. Anna you are an inspiration. Love the way the hallway looks now.
I love corner shop! esp for the fact they sing about my favorite Bollywood singer Asha bhosle. Happy New year. Looking forward to reading your log in the years ahead
I love the wallpaper. It looks amazing! However, just reading the name of that band got that song in my head. Eek. ; )
it’s beautiful, anna! i really love those frames too, so pretty and light.
Fantastic work. I’m new to the DIY thing, and I have a new house to almost completely furnish and decorate. It’s a 1932 two story Tudor with Moorish archways, detailed cove ceilings, and oak hardwood floors! I’m so overwhelmed… You have inspired me to keep things simple, clean, and well done. I must get rid of my pastel pink bedroom walls!
Simply beautiful! Loved Cornershop – way back when. Remembering a trip to the beach when it was on the radio every 5th song.
oh dear lord. come here immediately and give my home your magic touch. that looks so happy and amazing!!
Love it!
I love it! I also see you picked up a PopChartLabs poster for yourself when you got one for your nephew. That makes me extra happy. 🙂
Wow! I love it! It looks so simple, yet holds so much substance. At first I was skeptical about the chair rail, but it looks really nice. =) Oh, and off-topic, but I borrowed a few books from the library and decided to look at the cover artists on a whim, to find out you had designed one! “Still Alice” by Lisa Genova, the simple cover with faded blue butterflies. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to have borrowed a book you designed. =)
Did you like the book? I thought it was FANTASTIC — one of my favorite books from last year. She has a new one out in February, and it’s also fabulous!
I would love to know some more book recommendations!
The hall, like everything in your, house is lovely.
OOh. That looks really good! Very ‘finished’ indeed, and a nice space to move through.
Oh, will you come to my house and do this to it?
Sigh. I’ve painted half my kitchen. White. Well, Angel White. It’s a bit whiter than I wanted, but not fluoro like Akimo, used for the bathroom in which the walls veritably flare with whiteness. I’m trying to convince myself that the other half of the kitchen isn’t so bad… but how do I get behind the gas stove, and will a neighbour help me move the stoopid temporary ikea trestle and benchtop I’ve had now for six (yes! six!)years? Blah.
Thanks for showing us the end result. It’s something to be proud of, and inspires us mere mortals…
Happy new year to you all.
Oh, Anna, it’s so lovely! I really love the way the posters are working together even though they’re all so different, and that shot of pink at the end is fantastic. Great job, both of you!!!
I LOVED Cornershop so much way back when. Glad to hear I wasn’t alone. Oh, and the hallway looks excellent.
gorgeous!
Hi Anna, I’ve been reading along for a while and guess what I love the most … okay, style and wit drew me to the blog first, but after all, your little confessions of meaning to do something simple like framing a poster and just not getting it done for over a decade: That’s so encouraging!
And while listening to Cornershop I can’t resist surfing for this one too which always makes me smile:
Awful movie (really awful!), glorious cover of “Space Cowboy”. Double neck sitar, ey?!
It looks brilliant Anna…and I love Cornershop too!
Happy New Year, Anna!
Thank you for all the inspiration!
/Emma
Looks SO good! Now onto our hallway… 🙂
Great job, Anna – I was a bit iffy about the chair rail when you first mentioned it but I should have known it would look fantastic!
Wow… i think i was about 10 or 12 when that came out! I remember dancing in front of the tv on “MUSIQUE-PLUS” channel with that song on! 🙂
the wall paper is stunning.
Anna, it looks super-amazing-fabulous-jealously-inspiring. Seriously. You make me want to run out and buy an old house just to make it look as awesome as your home!!
And not only do you have the satisfaction of walking through such a fabulous hallway, but you also get to cross several items off your to do list. How great is that?
I love it!!
in germany, we’d say: fantastische tapete!
me like!
all best from snowy germany
The hallway looks amazing! And I’m glad you added the Cornershop footnote, because I was kind of wondering about the poster. Good memories with that song!
thanks for the link to the song, love it
but then, believe it or not, you also turned me onto Morrissey, love as well
I love it. Looks great.
How would you handle a similar hallway but with a radiator?! They are modern radiators. Very functional but UGLY.
Happy New Year and thanks for all the lovely entertaining posts.
Your hallway looks super! I love the wallpaper….and Cornershop…wow, that’s a blast from the past! Happy New Year.
Looks SO good!!!!!
I love it! C’est magnifique!
Wow, it looks beautiful! Our hallway has almost the exact same layout and it’s such a depressing dead zone in the house. Not wide enough for any sort of furniture, and really dark. I bet something along these lines would make it look like a finished space, instead of a dark corridor of nothingness.
Go for it! I really wish I’d given more attention to the hallway sooner.
Looks great! I am in the 5 % and was so happy to see Cornershop on the wall. (I need to go get my old CDs and load them onto my ipod.)
Wow, I even love your hallway! Are those Ikea frames? I’m so jealous of how straight and well positioned they are. Am I understanding correctly that you just eyeballed it or do you have a trick that you can share. Thanks as always, you are very inspiring!
Yes, they’re from IKEA, but no, I didn’t eyeball the frame-hanging (see comment above: “I did measure the position/level of the frames on the walls verrrry carefully”). I don’t think that’s advisable with a group of frames that have to be level! 😉 The eyeballing remark was about positioning the posters within the frames.
No special tips, really: Mark the center point, measure to the top of the frame and then down to the hanger, mark on the wall, pound in nail. (If you’ve never done this before, see this post on Apartment Therapy!)
Love the wallpaper. Looks great.
Love the clean lines and simplicity here. Well done! Hugs and Happy Friday
Happy New Year Anna! Your hall looks so fab. I love the prints, but I especially love the wallpaper. I never would have thought to do just a portion of the wall, but it’s genius. Did you put the chair rail up too?
P.S. Love, love, love the black wall in your living room.
Yes, we put the chair rail up at the same time. 🙂
YAY! I’m so inspired to wallpaper my hallway. Dead zone indeed!