Home Decor: Hallway

So hallways shouldn't be a big deal to decorate. They're small and you basically have to hang something on the wall, right? Well, I have this thing about hanging things on my walls that have no personal meaning to our family. I can't just buy something random from the store and put it up. It has to have a story behind it. Therefore, my hallway remained pretty bare for way. too. long.

I obviously have way too much patience for bare walls. I'm pretty sure it's an outward manifestation of how crazy I am inside my head because looking at this calms my mind...

So how happy was I when we received a gift from Rob's grandma? VERY! She gave us 3 beautiful frames full of butterflies that SHE caught in Indonesia and mounted. They are stunning. And perfect for our nature-loving family (even if it did require a little murdering of innocent, brightly colored insects).

 

The medallion on the wall is also from her collection from her Pakistan (?) days. It's so beautiful and I love how all the light bounces around the textured surface.

(Someday I'll have my carpet re-stretched.)

Now, it also took me way. too. long. to decide how I actually wanted the hallway painted. I knew I wanted something minimal since it's surrounded by busier walls. I mocked up about 20 versions but in the end decided to leave the side walls and the walls around the corner as-is. Around the corner are 4 doors...the kids bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and the linen closet. It's too small and dark for more dark paint and it would've had a striped effect with the small strips of wall in between all the doors.

As far as the paint color goes, it was leftover from our downstairs bathroom and I knew it would look beautiful behind the gold frames. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's a deep navy.

I'm not sure why it took me so long to finish this little space but I'm glad it's finally done!