Project Hallway

My latest target for beautification is the hallway at the top of my stairs.  The only thing in the hallway (besides the occasional basket full of clean clothes waiting to be folded) is a tall jewelry box that I bought a few years ago from JCPenney.  It’s not the most beautiful thing, but at the time I really needed a place to store all my necklaces, earrings and scarves and I needed it NOW.  Add to that the fact that I didn’t have much to spend, so what I ended up with was something that matched the cherry furniture in the rest of my house, had lines that weren’t too fussy and was relatively inoffensive.  This picture is a little dark, but you get the idea of what my hallway looks like from it:

I’ve always thought it would look great if I added some sort of art above the jewelry box.  Then, this past winter, I realized that it wouldn’t take much to transform this plain jewelry box into something I could love…all I’d need is a little paint and some new hardware.  I added the task to my list for the spring and have gotten a start on it.  So far, all I’ve done is add some art to the wall.  I’m waiting for life to settle down a bit so I have some time to make over the jewelry box!  It may be another month or two, but I’ll share the transformation with you when it happens.

For now, here’s the artwork I’ve added above the jewelry box:

Now for the how-to.  I came across a little book of paper (I think it was for scrapbooking) at Michael’s one day that was on sale for about $8.  I had no idea what I would do with it, but I loved so many of the patterns that I just had to buy it.  When I got home, I realized it could mount it somehow and then hang it in my hallway.  I first thought of just buying white frames, then I thought about adding fabric to the back and hanging them from hooks, then I settled on just mounting them on a thick board and using 3M foam tape to stick them to the wall.  Easy, cheap and fast.  So I got to work.  I picked out my favorite patterns from the book, bought some Crescent Perfect Mount adhesive board, grabbed a cutting mat, a straight edge and a knife.

If you are not familiar with this Crescent product, it is a board that is sticky on one side.  You just pull of that paper with all the text on it to reveal the adhesive.  Then you simply put the paper onto the board and trim away.

After I had all my prints cut out, I laid them on the floor to figure out how I wanted to hang them.  I had about 12 prints that I liked, but only needed 9, so I tried a number of layouts and decided this is the one I liked the best:

Once that was done, it was a matter of buying some 3M foam tape and sticking them to the wall.  Super easy!  I’ve decided that this artwork may actually be a work in progress…I have some ideas for adding more detail and layers to the composition (old black and white pictures, vintage letters, etc.), but for now I’m pleased with the results!

I’m really excited to have gotten a start on this hallway makeover…I’ll keep you posted as I make more changes!

-Sara

(The blurrier photos were taken on my iPhone. I’m trying to get better about using my actual camera as it takes crisper images, I just usually have to track it down and then charge it, so I still often take the more convenient route. But I’m trying!)