Banishing the Boring Narrow Hallway

The door at the end was left blank for a long time. I finally found the right piece for it. See it at the end of this post.

Through the magic of stenciling and paint, it became a lot more interesting. Here is the link to the original post which gives a little more detail on how we did the faux panels: http://www.hometalk.com/diy/decorate/walls/pa...

My hall is narrow, so it is difficult to get a good shot, but you can see the three pieces that now decorate the hall. I wanted open and airy metal pieces so that I did not block the stencil--(because I worked so dang hard on it!) Please notice the builder grade light that was in the original post and see the new fixture (at the end of this updated post) that we made from a flea market find.

Now for the fun part. I found my first metal piece at an outdoor junk stand while we were traveling. It is gorgeous and is one of my favorite pieces in our entire house. I live in a split level and this is the first thing you see as you get to the top of the stairs. (You can see my kitchen to the left.)

This is the view from the other direction.

Next, I found this fireplace screen-again while traveling. We removed the screening from the back using a Dremel saw to cut all the soldered tack points. Then we removed the feet and painted it.

Here is the painted screen now -- it reminds me of grasses that might grow beside a pond.

Finally found the third piece--another fireplace screen. Again, Hubs removed the screening and we painted it.

I use this screen to disply Christmas Cards, birthday cards, and seasonal pictures of my grown children and grandchildren. For example, I will clip pictures of my (now grown) children in their Halloween costumes from 30 years ago along with their children (now) in their costumes; or Easter outfits, or snow pictures. Even when it is left plain, it is still interesting since it has a bowed shape and doesn't just lie flat on the wall.

Many, many wonderful Hometalkers suggested we get rid of the builder grade light fixture. We found this (very heavy) metal lampshade at a flea market. I loved the patina and Hubs said he could convert it into a ceiling fixture. Score!!

We took a black plastic ceiling medallion and sprayed multiple coats of paint until it matched the metal shade. Hubs figured out a way to attach the shade through the medallion (You can tell which one of us is the engineer in the family!) and we added an Edison bulb.

The Edison Bulb gives a beautiful sparkle. (Yes we have popcorn ceilings, but such is life. They have been painted over and contain asbestos, so there will be no scraping them off.)

Well, friends, what do you think?? I now love my "new" (40 year old) hall and the one-of-a-kind light fixture that my brilliant Hubs helped me create. Improvement over the before fixture, yes?

After a lot of indecision, I finally decided to add one more touch-a metal basket mounted on the door at the end of the hall. That blank door really bugged me and now my hall is complete!