For the past 6 weeks I have been working on finishing installing and painting trim and doors as part of my hall makeover. I have been participating as a guest in the One Room Challenge, hosted by Calling it Home and House Beautiful. The goal of this challenge is to entirely finish one room within six weeks. For me, a deadline was great incentive to work on some lingering projects at our house. My original goal was to finish installing and painting all the trim and interior doors in our house, and showing you my progress through the hallway. As you will see, that was a very unrealistic goal.
Week 1: Upstairs Hallway and Interior Trim | Week 2: Tips to Install Interior Trim | Week 3: The Amazing Power of Caulk |Week 4: Painting Interior Doors and Trim | Week 5: The Makings of a Colorful Gallery Wall
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- Before
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- After
Week 1: The Plan
My plan for the One Room Challenge was to finish installing, caulking, filling nail holes, and painting two coats on all the trim and doors in the whole house, but showing my progress via the main hallway. Sounds reasonable right? I like to set lofty goals for myself, but as you will see these goals were not at all realistic or achievable within the six week time-frame.
Week 2: Install Remaining Trim
In week two we finished installing the rest of the trim and the shoe mold. Things were still going according to plan at this point and we were able to get all the shoe mold installed in the whole house.
Week 3: Caulking
Third week in and I was filling nail holes and caulking all the joints on the trim and doors. This is where I fell behind on my initial plan.
Week 4: Prime Interior Doors
Week four I finished caulking the rest of the trim in the house, and I also primed all the interior doors. This is when I realized that I wasn’t going to complete my whole plan. Painting trim and doors takes a long time, and there was just no way I was going to have time to paint two coats of trim paint on all the doors and trim in the house. So I decided to change direction and just focus on completely finishing at least the hall, and whatever else I got done would be bonus.
Week 5: Gallery Wall
As well as working on trim, I also did a few DIY projects as part of my picture frame gallery wall. I painted mismatched frames that I already had using navy blue chalk paint, lightly distressed, and finished with a dark wax.
I wrapped the picture frame mats with some fabric that I had dyed a pale aqua blue.
And I found an antique gold mirror that I spray painted a high gloss pink. I also made some watercolor word art and displayed them in vintage oval frames.
The peony printable is from Birds and Berry Studio on Etsy. Anne Hockenberry created this artwork for me and it works so well in the gallery wall. It is also available as a digital print in her shop. She is offering a 10% coupon code for her shop from now until May 13. Use coupon code VHOUSE10 for 10% off anything $10+!
And I also happened to crack not one, but two pieces of glass in my picture frames! It’s never a good idea to force glass into a picture frame. I’ll have to find replacements someday, but for now it’s staying how it is.
Week 6: Paint Trim and Doors
Over the last couple weeks I’ve also been painting. I managed to do two coats of paint on the trim and doors in the hallway, but that’s pretty much it! I definitely underestimated how much time it would take to paint all the trim and doors in the whole house. But at least I have a finished hall and can show you pictures of my hall makeover!
It may not seem like a huge change, but the white trim and doors really brightens the space up and makes it feel so much more finished. The doors were almost yellow to begin with, but now they are a crisp white.
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- Before
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- After
Paint Colors
The walls in the hall (and actually most of our house) are painted Benjamin Moore Intense White. It’s a very light warm grey. It’s basically just off-white, yet there is still a slight contrast between the trim and the wall. The trim color is Chantilly Lace, also Benjamin Moore. It’s a very crisp, clean white with a cool undertone.
I love the wall color I chose, I think it’s a perfect neutral for an open concept house. But as it turns out I’ve been craving a little more color. What better way to add some color to any space than with some colorful picture frames. My color scheme includes mostly blues, but with pops of lime green and hot pink.
I wanted the hallway to work as a transition between the living room, which I’ve decorated with blues and greens…
…and the girls’ bedroom, which is shades of pink with pops of blue…
…and also with the boys’ room, which is blues and greens.
Area Rug
I bought the Bungalow Rose Brennen Blue 8.5′ hall runner from Wayfair to add some more color and softness to the hall (aff link). It is the perfect mix of blues, lime green and teal.
I really enjoyed participating in the One Room Challenge this year. It provided me motivation and a deadline to finish off some work. I tend to set very high goals for myself thinking that I can do everything. But by week four I had to rework my plan and set a more realistic goal that I could actually achieve. I still have a lot of trim to paint in the house but I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far. Check back with me in a year or two and I may be finished painting by then.
Do you set your goals and deadlines for your renovations? Do you have high goals, or are you pretty realistic with your expectations? I’d love to know your thoughts on our hall makeover!
And if you haven’t already, check out Anne Hockenberry’s work in her shop, on Facebook, and on Instagram.
Looks great Jess! The runner is gorgeous!
Aw thanks Lindsey!
The runner is gorgeous and the gallery wall looks great. Love that pop of pink in that frame in the middle!
Thanks! That pink mirror is my favorite
I love how the gallery wall turned out Jessica! I especially like the view from inside of the bedroom. It’s like waking up to warm hug from your family! You did an awesome job with the trim too. What a meticulous job!
What a great way to put it, “waking up to a warm hug”
this looks awesome! i love the rug, and i know what a PITA doors and trim are, so kudos!
haha definitely a PITA!
I adore that rug! And the white definitely brightened things up! I’m typically not a fan of pink but really, I love what you did with just a touch of pink in the hallway gallery wall. This looks really great! I’m sure you’re loving the change!
I generally don’t decorate with pink (mostly to be sensitive to my husband), but I love pink. The great thing about paint though is it’s so easy to change it I get sick of it!
Definitely looks more finished and professional now. Way to go
Thank you so much!
Thanks!
Looks so pretty, Jessica! Love it.
Thanks!
Looks great! Such a good job making sure the hallway elements coordinated with the adjacent bedrooms.
These are my favorite colors, so it seems like every room ends up having similar colors!
These are my favorite colors, so it’s not too have to have everything match! I seem to choose similar colors for every room
What a great transformation! I’m sure you love walking down that hallway now after all of your hard work! Love the peony print! And also love the idea of wrapping your mats in fabric! I might need to try that!
Thanks! It does make me happy every time I walk down the hall
Aww this turned out SUPER cute! I love the pink color!
Thanks Janalyn!
Turned out great, love your runner.
Thanks so much!
The gallery wall is great and so is the rug! We have Intense White in our main floor hallway. I really like it. Painting doors and trim is so much work!
It looks beautiful, I love your rug ❤️
You did a great job!!! That rug is fabulous and your attention to detail is fantastic!!
Thanks so much!
Looks great!! I love the pops of the pink with the frames and the blue of the runner 🙂 Great Job!!
Painting all the doors and trim sounds like a ton of work that will totally pay off in the end, but 6 (really 5) weeks isn’t a lot of time. You have a gorgeous hallway to inspire you to get the rest done though. Love the paint colors you chose for both the walls and trim. I’m actually pinning this to remember those colors because I really want to redo the doors and trim in our house as well.
Such a great rug choice!
It looks great! I love how much paint can change a space, even white! Love the runner!
The pinks on the wall and the blue on that rug are just perfection together!!
Thanks for your kind words
I really love the rug in your hallway! You did a great job on putting everything together to look finished.
Thanks so much!
Fabulous rug! Love the pink and blue and how it ties the rooms together! Love your style.
Thanks so much Gina! I love your style too
Looks great, Jess! I love that you fixed all of the trim and painted the doors in the house. That is a big project that pays off. I still have trim to finish in the house after 3 years, lol. I love the color you chose and the rug and gallery wall are beautiful additions!
Great job! It looks beautiful 🙂
It looks great! The trim and doors look so bright and new with fresh paint, love the gallery wall!
Everything takes a thousand times longer than you’d think – which stinks big time. What you accomplished is still great! Those details are what take all the work!! Hallway and doors look clean and crisp and the runner is the perfect addition!
Looks so lovely..you have great talent