Week 2: Entryway and Hallway Facelift

Well I am already starting the year out running a little behind with my blog posts!  January has been a crazy month for me.  I started the month out with a nasty cold and a work trip back to Minneapolis.  I joined a new gym near my house which I've been trying to spend time at.  Then about a week ago I got some bad news that my aunt passed away, so I was out of town to Springfield, IL for the visitation and funeral.  And to top off a busy travel month I spent this past work week in Houston, TX for some work meetings.  Despite my busy schedule, I have managed to keep up with my New Year's goal of doing a weekly project or home improvement update.  I just haven't had the time to document all of them!

So, on to my week 2 project! From pretty much the first day we looked at our house we decided that the bright yellow hallway that goes the length of downstairs, up the stairs, and on the 2nd floor needed to be repainted.

Here are some before pictures of the hallway downstairs:

And the hallway upstairs (taken after I taped the trim and ceiling off):

Side note: I went a little crazy with repainting things this fall right when we moved into our house.  I repainted the kitchen a light tan (was orange), the dining room ceiling white (was orange), the hallway ceiling white (was yellow), and the living room trim white (was unpainted woodwork), living room walls tan (were a greenish color), and living room ceiling white (was a darker ivory).  So, as one might imagine, I was WAY burnt out on painting so I gave myself November-December a break from painting and tackled some sewing projects instead.

After much research (via pinterest of course!) and consideration of a good hallway color I came across this "greige" color, shown in comparable shades of Benjamin Moore and Behr paint:

Some people have different paint preferences, but I usually go with Behr and have had decent luck with Behr Ultra with the paint and primer in one.  Plus my 10% military discount from Home Depot helps keep the costs down when you are like me and have been buying paint and supplies to repaint your whole house!

So to start things out I taped all the trim.  I know some people don't like to tape and are just very careful, but for me when I've tried to do that before I struggled a little to keep lines straight, so it's worth the extra time and effort to tape everything.   I attempted to patch any holes prior to starting to paint, but missed a few so I ended up patching and sanding down some some paint chunks left from the yellow coat of paint that were not even with the wall.  Here are some pictures of my progress:

When all was said and done I spent 3 nights from basically 5:30 pm to 11:30 pm prepping, painting, and cleaning up.  Not to mention the several hours I spent taking down tape and touching up the ceilings and trim.  I will say all of the time spent was well worth it as I am really happy with how it turned out! 

Now I just need to start getting some things up on the walls and I'll be good to go! 

Rachel