The time has finally come to get rid of these white white walls in the hallway. While I do feel that white always looks so crisp and clean, there is something about an entire white wall (combined with white woodwork) that just gives me the impression of it being too “sterile”. The white had to go.
This was a project I had wanted to do for a while. But before I redecorated the hallway, we wanted to add a door through to the garage first. The last thing I wanted to happen was someone taking a sledgehammer to me newly painted room.
When we got the new wooden floors laid and installed the new magnetic door stops (which are amazing by the way!), we also had a garage door put in. Specifically with a cat flap so we could move that filty litter tray out of our utility and to somewhere not directly inside the house. We had a slight issue with the location of our gas pipe on the other side of the wall. There was already a built-in door frame for a garage door, but the home builders had also installed the gas pipe across it, so we had to move the position of it slightly, as you can probably tell by the plastered-over section to the left of the new door.
Here is the before that I was working with. Both when we moved into the house, and when we got our flooring and door installed:
I knew from day one that I wanted to add some wainscotting to this wall. Mainly so that it was a little more durable. 2 kids and a never-ending pile of dirty shoes frequent this room often. Also, this would break up this large open wall, as it's too narrow a space for any furniture.
The Primer of my Nightmares
Once the MDF was screwed into the wall and everything was wood-fillered and caulked, it was time to prime everything. Priming the MDF with standard MDF primer was easy. It took practically no time at all. However, priming the door with wood primer was another story. I have never used anything so gloopy and thick in my life; it was horrible to work with (but it did the job). And clean up was even worse. The only thing I could get to remove the primer from my hands and the brushes was pure dish soap. I honestly thought I was going to be covered in primer up to my elbows for months. Every time I tried to scrub a bit off myself, it just spread further. What a nightmare. Nevertheless, it did the job, and the door was well and truly primed.
Glossing the Woodwork
After the priming, it was time to start the painting. I began with the wainscotting and the garage door. Painting it (and the wall in between the MDF) with gloss skirting paint. I figured this would be very durable and also wipable. It also added some more light into the room as it was reflective. I was a little hesitant about this as I thought it might just look crazy, but it honestly does look great.
Painting with Valspar – “Goose Feathers”
Once the woodwork was painted, it was time to move onto the walls. There are 6 doors in our downstairs hallway. So painting the walls was essentially just doing extremely excessive edging – Frog Tape literally saved my soul here! I powered through though and got it done. I used the colour “Goose Feathers” by Valspar. I do truly believe it is the most perfect greige out there!
I would love to know your thoughts on this, and if you feel glossing the wainscotting and the wall is a good idea. Also, please ignore the stair carpet; it's been destroyed by the cats. I would love to rip it all up, but the husband will need a LOT more convincing before I'm allowed to work on that one.
The next project in the house, the living room unit build. That's going to be a stressful one.
Shop the totally awesome Zebra vase:
