Happy Monday all.
It's time for a little before and after today at my house. I have been wanting to give our upstairs hallway a bit of a refresh for awhile now. We painted it the taupe brown colour when we moved in 8 years ago and have left it like that since. My original plan was to paint the upstairs a dark hunter green but then as I got to thinking, our lights are vintage dark green enamel shop lights that I have no intention of changing as I love them. Therefore, I got to thinking about more of a sage/olive green and then maybe two tone? We have an existing chair rail up here that neither of us were interested in removing at this time so instead of ignoring it, I put it into play.
We painted the upper half of the walls in
Sherwin Williams Military Green & the lower half in
Sherwin Williams Alabaster.
As we were priming and getting rid of the dark brown tone I was mildly concerned the two tone was making the "vibe" up here much much more country than I had intended.
I am constantly asked to describe my style and I never have the same answer because I think it changes all the time by what is influencing me in the moment. And one word to describe my style? um no that doesn't exist. I was going for vintage modern eclectic up here but I think I got vintage traditional modern eclectic boho lol.
Just as a little recap, the above was the colour before. This wall held a massive black and white gallery wall I still love but I needed/wanted a change.
One of the biggest boosters in this upstairs hallway is that after we had to get our roof done last year we added a sun tunnel right over top of this table. We figure while there were people up there lets do it now. That means I get to grow plants over here successfully with the added light that is thrown around.
The metal fern frond in the top frame is from Terrain.
The antique portraits are just a few of my portrait collection. It's a weird one as we aren't related to any of these people but I just love the artistry of them, wondering who these people were and what they were thinking during these photos/ paintings.
The metal planter holds a huge double philodendron micans [which is one of my new favourite plants]. The huge wood carved pot is made to be a planter but I just loved it empty as a sculpture under this table.
An old lamp base becomes a stand for one of my African helmet masks. A bronze bird pair guards the table and a simple gold stand [available in the store] holds an ostrich egg up.
The colour just makes the whole space feel lighter. It draws you into the bathroom now and the spaces feel joined.
At the other end of the hall I would like to introduce you to Gertrude. Our new ostrich friend. She's a huge modern style bird that I fell in love with and with her antique table lamp picture light and lovely brown frame that ties in the urn, she makes me smile every day I walk out of our bedroom [and into Emma's room].
A little collection of wall plants and curiosities.
The curtains we had up here were never long enough but because of the previously heavy wood table you couldn't see it. I found this vintage brass beauty on Kjijij before Christmas for 30 bucks and I love the lighter look. It did mean I needed to invest in new drapes or make my own. The make my own option got kiboshed from time constraints and a smidge bit of laziness as I don't love making drapes. After a bit of research into custom drapes and what I was looking for I actually found these simple white and black fringe beauties at Restoration Hardware baby. We kept the pipe curtain rod but just painted it in a high gloss enamel white paint.
The gallery wall has now become the simple basket wall. Seagrass baskets line up along the wall and are simple art I am really enjoying right now. You can just catch a glimpse of the African basket collection on the wall in the bathroom. Again tying the two spaces together without being exactly the same.
Baskets are so dual purpose. Great on tables, on floors holding things, on walls as art. As long as you like the look of the basket no matter if you tire of it in one place, you will likely find a use for it somewhere else.
So that's it for our little upstairs hallway renovation. We love it and love how much lighter and brighter it feels. I told you when I shared the office that winter makes all the rooms fair game. What shall I attack next?
Have a great day,
Meg
