- Posted:
- 04/08/2009
- By:
- Kellie
- Comments:
- 36 »
The Curse of the Dreaded Long Hallway and What I Did About It
Yes, I am one of those lucky people that have a really long boring hallway in my house and couldn’t figure out what to do about it. This week, however, I had enough of it and I decided to try something, not sure if I would like it or not.
We have been living in our house for 3 years now and I have been going through the house painting pretty much everything but I haven’t gotten to the hallway yet even though it is on my list of things to do. I always thought that it would be fun to wallpaper, but it wasn’t in my budget. So I did nothing. It is currently a light beige color which makes it seem even more boring (if that is possible) and so something must be done! Which brings me to what happened this past week.
I was paging through some old magazines and came across this page from a fossil catalog that had my favorite pattern of theirs drawn on the wall (actually on the side wall):
I thought, why can’t I do that?! So I did. At 7 o’clock that night, I got out a gold paint pen that I had lying around the house and my step stool and began to draw on my walls. Can you believe it?! Let me tell you, it was fun! And easy! And fast! Oh the joys of a simple, cheap, fast house project. Here are a few pictures…
What do you think? Thankfully my husband is familiar with my crazy ways and didn’t even bat an eye that I was drawing on our walls with a gold marker. He just said, “good job, I like it.” What a great guy! But if you decide to tackle a project like this and your husband isn’t as easy going as mine, you may want to warn him first so he doesn’t have a heart attack when he sees you drawing on the walls! Or, if you have kids, do it when they aren’t around so they don’t think it’s okay to color on the walls with their magic markers (like my husband did one time at his aunt’s new house when he was a little guy).
For those who are interested in knowing, it took about 2 fat paint pens and 2-3 hours. I didn’t measure anything, I just started drawing. It’s not perfect and I like it that way. Here are a couple more images also from fossil of other patterns you could try:
If you have a boring wall or hallway, go give it a shot! Just tell yourself that you can always paint over it if you don’t like it!
Hello, and welcome to my little blog! What started out as a blog to show some of my scrapbook pages ended up being a blog that shows all of my projects, ranging from scrapbooking to decorating to sewing to photography. I also run a little online shop called
Comments
Hey great idea I can stick in my pocket for someday. Maybe my media room.
I got my order! Yay, thanks. I will snap some pics when I get my ribbon.
I love fossil and I love your hallway! You are very brave and talented; I just don’t think I’d have the courage to do this!! It looks great and I’m sure it really perks up the space.
dang! You’ve been busy! I wish I would have seen this last night when I was bragging about you to the Santa Barbara fam! Can’t wait to see it in person!!
I LOVE it! Did you get all of that done in one night?
Great fun!!!! I love it that I won’t have to make my way down that boring hallway anymore!!! You got guts – and I love it that you do.
Ab.so.lute.ly. gorgeous!
I may wait for my husband to go on his next trio and “SuRPrisE” him when he gets home ;)
GREAT job! You should totally post this on AT or something.
kellie
That is awesome! I like it even better than the original.
ya, you stink. I don’t like you at all and I don’t like your amazing, creative new wall.
:) love you, and love the photos! you seriously photographed it SO well…great job!
ok, i think that this is the most wonderful coolest thing ever. It just makes me so happy that you decided at 7 at night to just started drawing on your walls with a marker. And it looks amazing. really very cool, people should pay you to draw on their walls. love it. you are cool. i will tell Heather that she must invite me to hangout with you guys more so that i can claim you as my cool friend too. seriously. you rock.
That is really cool. Oh to have the creativity and time that you do. I love reading your blog. Gives me inspiration.
this is beautiful! did you bring in a big ladder to reach that space above your stairs?
I just followed the link here from design*sponge, and I am totally in love. What a fabulous and creative idea! I can’t wait to browse your site to see what other awesome things you’ve done. :)
this is amazing. i love impulsive, poorly planned, brilliantly executed and spontaneous designs! what a good idea. you must feel so pleased!
to clarify: i didn’t mean to indicate your design was poorly planned; rather, it was not planned at all, which is sometimes (often?) much better!
great, great, great! these types of projects are the best. i love the challenge of recreating something i love with supplies i already have at the house. it is so rewarding! keep up the great work.
p.s. i bought some of your gift tags a few months ago and love them!
I love this. First of all I love the pattern. Second, I love that just on a whim you started drawing on the walls. Third, I love that it’s great for a budget.
I’m truly inspired.
Stephanie,
We didn’t have a ladder that would reach that high so we sort of scrounged around the house to find something that would work. What we ended up doing is I had my husband drag our kitchen island (which is not attached) from around the corner to the bottom of the stairs and then we set a solid core door on top of the island and across to the top step to create a level surface. Then I put my step stool on top of that. At first I was a bit unsure but it ended up being really solid. So basically you just need something as tall as your top step and then something solid that reaches from the base to the top step to stand on. Hopefully that helps!
Did you use an oil based or water based paint marker/pen? or does it matter? I love this idea! I think this technique would look so cool in my daughter’s room.
Hi Kellie,
So glad you found inspiration in our pattern, and we love your version. One of the designers found you on design sponge and we are passing the link around the office. Very cool.
Thanks,
Betsy
Please tell me you used some sort of guide somewhere?! It’s great. And given me inspiration for a small wall that I’ve been eying.
Awesome! I want to stencil my entry way too but freehand, that takes guts!!!
this looks fantastic. great job!
Wow, what a great project! Thanks so much for the inspiration! ;)
Wow! Awesome job! Such a steady hand.
AMAZING!! Why, oh god why, do I have to live in a rental?? This really is inspiring.
Kellie, This is amazing! I was recently tempted to draw on my walls with a metallic paint pen as well, but I was a hesitant to actually commit to a design. You have truly inspired me to tackle this project over the weekend. The fact that you decided to start this at 7pm is so like me!
Also, I really like the script/handwritten typeface you are using for your site. Could you let us know the name?
Thanks!
Hi Kellie,
I found your DIY project of the hallway in Design Sponge. I like it very much, I am trying to find insoiration as I have a yellow painted huge clothes closet I don’t like in my room. Thank you for this great idea.
Love this!!! So wonderful – what brand of paint pen did you use? What was the paint finish on your wall? Flat , satin, etc…
Okay, I will attempt to answer everyone’s questions :)
For those of you wondering, the pen I used is from here:
http://www.marvy.com/product_details.aspx?ProductID=37
I used the jumbo size in gold. They have lots of other colors to choose from which might be fun as well. These pens are actually for terra cotta but they are great because they are odorless and waterproof among other things. The reason I used it is because I happen to have two of them around the house that I had gotten free with a purchase at one point :)
Also, my walls are nice and flat. It might be more difficult to attempt this if you have textured walls. The paint that is already on the walls is flat but I’m pretty sure these markers will adhere to any sheen.
No, I didn’t use a guide anywhere. It probably would have been smart but I really hate to measure so I just skipped it. If you don’t mind a little bit of variation, it works well. Plus, that is how I was able to finish so quickly! If I had measured or tried to keep things straight with a ruler, I would still be working on it!
And to Michele, the script font on my site is called Susie’s hand and you can get it here:http://www.searchfreefonts.com/free/susies-hand.htm
I hope that’s everything! Thanks for all the super comments!
Love this idea! That guy who drew on his walls with Sharpie markers and created all those scenes was cool in a clever, kitschy way, but this is actually stylish. Plus, I hate wallpaper, mainly because of the pain in the butt it is to remove when you tire of it, so the idea of just painting over the walls here when you want to switch it out looks is very enticing.
Fossil always has great modern and quirky patterns. If you like their patterns, you may also like Lotta Jansdotter’s, although hers have a rougher, more hand-drawn quality.
I love the pattern and color you’ve used in your hallway. I can’t believe you drew all those by hand. They’re all so neat and consistent! How did you ever do it!
this looks awesome. You really just drew free hand? The lines look so straight.
Oh, I am literally in love with your walls!
When I am grown up enough to actually afford my own house please come to london and work your magic!
This is amazing. You did such a fantastic job and shockingly in so little time. What an imaginative, creative solution to your little problem. Bravo! Thanks for sharing your stellar results.
I stumbled upon your blog today via a link from Persia Lu. Those walls are magnificent! I guess because our house was built new just three years ago, I don’t feel as comfortable taking a paint pen to them. I think I’d be more free if I lived in a house where everything needed an update no matter what. Alas, I do have a couple bathrooms and a hallway that could use a pick-me-up, so I’m trying to decide between wallpaper, stenciling, or, now, breaking out the paint pen. Thanks for going for it and inspiring the rest of us!
Love…Love…Love! What kind of a pattern/design/plant is that?