Spooky Halloween Hallway Makeover

"Spooky entryway" before

So here it is folks. Behold the ever so stylish entryway. If only I wasn't joking. Eventually the popcorn ceilings will be scraped throughout the whole house, can lights installed & this gosh awful flooring replaced. Don't even get me started on the cheep textured wallpaper. Gag. But for now it will have to do. 

Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas are my most favorite holidays. I love decorating for these holidays but Halloween most of all. There is something fun about being able to decorate with orange, black, green, & purple and no one gives you funny looks.

I know this wreath is too tiny for my door but I still love it. I plan on making something bigger for next year. I really wanted to make a fun entryway on a dime. This year I bought a table runner for $9, a cute plate for $4, & a fancy bowl dish for $4. I figure if I just buy a few favorite things each year eventually I will have a nice collection of holiday items I love. I also try to buy items that can work for both Halloween & Thanksgiving. 

"Spooky Entryway" after

Please don't mind that pile of laundry in the background. Or that hideous fireplace for that matter.

Our little Halloween tree I got on clearance from Pottery Barn a few years back. The kitty basket is from Target & the Halloween lolly I won last year from the talented Sweet B! Gingham mini runner I whipped up the night before out of some fabric I bought from an interior designer that was cleaning out her stash. I bought it years ago so I can't remember the exact price but I want to say for around $2. I finished the edges off with a strip of vintage sewing measuring tape to add a pop of yellow.

I made the flag garland with the same black & white gingham & added a vintage orange fabric with witches to the top. 

My kitty I bought years ago at Target. She's probably one of my favorites.

On the other side of the hallway we have the gallery of "Spooky things"!

I wanted to make the kids a big part of the decorating process this year. Dean bought all these frames at a yard sale a few years back for $1 each thinking that I might be able to use them someday. Sadly they have sat in our garage ever since. I thought wouldn't it be fun to create a gallery wall where the girls can draw "spooky bones" as the girls like to call ghosts, and I can hang their drawings inside these frames. We will add drawings as often as they feel. 

"Spooky bones" by Zoe

My hope is that by Halloween we will have quite the frightening gallery!

& just for fun I thought I'd share this little gaggle of dress up birdies I'm working on. I hope to have them in my shop next week. What are some of your Halloween traditions? Do you love the holidays as much as I do?

Swing on by tomorrow. I'll be sharing my pillow project I'm finishing up tonight.

::I'm linking to::

The Shabby Nest

There's A Seal in my Living Room!

The Hallway

It's amazing the difference a little paint can make. I've never had the courage to go this dark before. Remember the color? I mentioned it in a previous post. It's from Martha Stewarts paint line & it's the color "Seal". I love it! I'm so glad that I was brave enough to try it. Original artwork at end of our hall is by my friend Kevin Llewellyn (Please be warned his website does contain graphic nudity). I attended Ringling School of Art & Design years ago. Although I never finished I was lucky enough to meet the most amazingly talented friends.

I seriously had that little paint chip up on the wall for over a month. There were a few more like it all over the house. I have to admit I was a little nervous. I wanted to see what light would do to change the color throughout the day. I learned this trick when working for my old boss as an interior design assistant. Sometimes you can think a color will look a certain way only to have it change when the sun goes down. As I watched the swatch I always liked the deep dark charcoal grey. I felt it would really accent all the wonderful art I have collected from friends over the years.

This is the wall right outside the girls room. Kind of a wasted space for any larger artwork due to the thermostat. I decided to add an original painting from my friend Chris Ryniak on the top (can you guess who the painting is of) & some found art underneath. It's a piece of a broken skateboard I found in a parking lot a few years ago.

Before the room felt so cold and stark. Now that the long wall is painted it's warm & inviting. A perfect background for my painting from my friend Shawn Barber. It is one of my favorites. His work is just amazing. He was the catalyst for me to start painting again. When I was pregnant with Aris he came into town for a tattoo convention. He encouraged me to keep working on art even if it was for a few minutes a day. He said there are no excuses & that hard work is the only way I will become the artist I want to be. 

If you have one continuous wall I have always felt you should have continuous color. I don't know what they were thinking when painting this wall. It looked horrible. I'm all for green paint but the green paint in here is a little on the split pea soup side. I love split pea soup, don't get me wrong, but it's not the feel I'm going for. I moved my little sign from over the entryway door to over the laundry room door. It looks perfect there now that the wall is all one color.

I'm sure it's hard to really tell a big difference in these two photos but the wall looks amazing. The pea green adds a funky glow to the newly painted wall. I will be painting the other walls very soon & then it won't look so strange. This wall will eventually be a photo wall for all of the family photos I have.

It took me most of Sunday to edge the hallway. We have 4 doors and a closet in there, but once the edging was done the rest was easy peasy. Monday I rolled out the main parts of the wall in less than an hour. There is something to be said for nice paint. I paid a little more for the Martha Stewart line. I can't even tell you how much nicer it went on than other paints I have used. What you see on all the walls is one coat of paint. Most dark colors take two-three coats depending on the texture of the wall. I couldn't be happier with the results & will use her line of paints again.

All in all this project cost a whopping $26! However I think it looks like a million bucks. My only complaint is now I realize how badly the other walls need to be painted, lol :)

Please drop by tomorrow. I'll be sharing our Halloween Hall decorations that the girls & I worked on for Family Home Evening. Hope you all are having a great week.

::I'm linking to::

Blue cricket design

Stories of a House

Domestically Speaking

Weekend Projects

Old Door

I can't get enough of the lovely colors on this old door I just acquired from a friend. I know the paint is old & is lead based. So I plan on clear coating it this weekend. Once I seal it, the lead will no longer be an issue. Don't want to lose all those beautiful details that only years of weathering can produce. It will eventually go in Sloans room. I plan on using it as the back of a daybed for her. I'm trying to make her room kid friendly but something that will grow with her over the next few years. She will be a teenager very soon so I'm trying to give her a timeless look that will hopefully make her happy up until she leaves the nest.

My first reupholstering project???

I found this little beauty at the Goodwill Bargain Bin last night. I paid a whopping $5 for it. Can you believe it! I've been looking for something like this for a couple of years now. It has the shape & lines that I love. I plan on recovering it in an oilcloth, adding a few more buttons, & painting the wood. This will end up right where you see it. On our back deck. I've never reupholstered anything before so I'm looking forward to this project. 

Seal

After weeks of little paper samples speckling my walls, I finally made the leap & bought a gallon of this beautiful paint. I will be painting my hallway and one wall along the front part of our living room this weekend. Before & after pictures to come.

Birds in costumes series

& last but not least I accomplished my goal of sketching 4 new paintings out. It started out as a Halloween series but I have too many fun ideas swimming in my head & changed the name. All but one will be for sale in my shop. The Little Red Riding Hoot is going to a friend.

What are you working on this weekend?

The Sketchbook Project

Just signed up for

::THIS::

eeeeeekkkkkk!

Won't you join me?

Queen of Candycorn

What I'm working on right now

A fun little Halloween series of birds. 3 will be in the shop. One is for a blogging friend. What are you working on?

P.S. Thank you for all of your sweet comments on my photo's. It made my day :)