I love paint. It can totally change the look of a room or area with just a (relatively) little bit of effort.
Our front entry was blah. It needed a pop of color to liven things up. Also, as I mentioned before, we are hosting Thanksgiving this year, and we needed a bench and some hooks in our entry for our guests’ coats, hats, etc.
Here’s what it looked like before:
That picture is really before the before – it’s from when I first painted the hallway, after pulling up the nasty carpet on the stairs.
This is what the entry looked like on Saturday morning:
Brighter than the beige, but still, well, blah. Yawn. It needed a pop of color – just in that little triangle under the stairs. Time to liven things up in the hallway.
I had a coupon for a buy one, get one free sample pint of Benjamin Moore paint from Ace Hardware and figured that would be enough paint to cover this area. In fact, I only needed the one pint. The color is Wolf Gray.
I painted two coats, so that the dark paint fully covered the bright white paint.
I bought the bench at Marshalls – it was $99, but had a ding in the leg (which you can’t see), so they took 10% off. Quite a deal.
To complete the entry to make it welcoming and functional for guests, I added hooks and a mirror.
The mirror was at my six-year-old daughter’s height, but I rehung it with burlap to make it normal grown-up height:
The burlap is threaded through the D-hooks on the back of the mirror. When tying it to the banister, I wrapped the burlap around the banister first for extra support before tying a knot.
So, to review, before:
After:
My son took this picture – he was very proud of it, so I wanted to include it here (even though it was before I raised the mirror to normal height!).
Which brings me to Day 18 & 19 of Thirty Days of Gratitude: I am grateful for paint and for small projects that make a big impact.
As you might see in the background, there is a new runner on the stairs. I did that this weekend, too, and I’m writing a tutorial for that today. Stay tuned!
Thanks for stopping by,
Makes a huge difference–sometimes I forget how a little change can make a big impact! Marshalls and Home Goods are my favorite place to shop! Loooove that mirror and tell your son he did a great job with the photo!
Thanks, Karen! I’ve heard a rumor that they’re building a Home Goods about 5 minutes from our house – very, very dangerous!!
Oh boy, I dont know whether to do the dance of joy for you or to find you the number for a good bankruptcy lawyer! LOL You may want to start a support group–its addictive!
Wow – what a difference!!! And your son is quite the photographer!
Kelly
Thanks, Kelly! I’ll tell him you said so – he’ll be so proud!
That colour looks great on there – perfect!
Thanks, Heather! It’s amazing what a difference a little color there made!
Little project, huge improvement. The best. Looks great.
Thank you! High praise. Thanks, friend.
Hi Karen,
Looks great! I just asked my readers today about which wall I should paint in my house. I’ve been thinking of doing just what you did. Now I’m inspired to get out the paint brush!
Awesome, Jessica! I can’t wait to see your paint project!!
Ooh, it looks so nice. Your company is going to feel so welcomed with your new entry! We worked on our cabinet doors this weekend, using a lighter gray and it’s coming along nicely. I did a big BOO BOO though and forgot to clean out my brush. It was a good brush too … lesson learned!
I am thankful for my husband’s amazing talents AND his patience with my mediocre ones. He’s always so encouraging and together we come up with some pretty good stuff!
Thanks, Cheryl. I can’t wait to see your cabinets! I love how you and your husband are such a great DIY team!
I love the pop of color, beautiful!
XO
Kristin
Thanks, Kristin!
I love it, what a difference Karen! I especially liked the picture of you 🙂
Thanks, Julie!
Love the makeover…the entry is both functional and pretty. The wolf gray was a great color choice..I love it!
Thanks, Sharon!