I’m starting a new little series called Heardmont History. I’ve been wanting to dig back through our archives and highlight some projects we did before “Welcome to Heardmont” and now’s the time to do it!
Writing about our hallway yesterday is what sparked the idea, so the first space I’m highlighting is the one currently on my mind.
You’ll remember this is where we started.
Within a few months of moving in, we scraped the popcorn off the ceilings in our main living areas. This is what I like to call the “Prepping for Popcorn” stage. Alternate names include Dust Bowl Dropcloths, Plastic Paradise, and This is Gonna Get Messy.
Scraping popcorn ceilings can be quite rewarding, but it’s backbreaking work. We were lucky to have popcorn that hadn’t been painted over. All we had to do to remove it was get a section damp (with a squirt bottle of water) and scrape it off (I used a 4″ putty knife). Still, it probably took me 6 hours to do this much by myself.
And another 6 to do our entryway.
Once the dust settled and we cleaned everything up, we painted the ceiling white and installed new light fixtures.
Then one night after dinner, my friend Cara and I got a wild hair and decided to kidnap these boys to Lowe’s.
The plan was to paint the hallway the same color as our kitchen. All I had to do to bribe Cara into helping was say the word “Beer.” 🙂
Coincidentally I just sold this girl her first home, so I think I might owe her some help painting in the near future!
We started to paint – Cara rolling and me cutting in at the edges. The only problem was this paint looked 100% different (and much more pukey) in the hallway than it did in our kitchen.
I slept on it and decided I didn’t want a baby-poo hallway. So I got out the primer…
After another trip to Lowe’s I came home with a sweet light gray color and started painting again.
This photo (taken that night) is a great representation of how the gray looks in person.
After a few other tasks like changing out light switches, hanging photos, and painting the concrete floors, here’s where we stand today. Much better without the popcorn and tan walls, but there’s still so much to do!
Yesterday I mentioned we were starting the long process of painting the doors and trim in the hall. Once that’s done, we’ll hopefully be adding new flooring (tax return = fingers crossed!) and baseboards. I can’t wait to see how this hall looks when we’re done!
Just for fun, here’s a little photo record of what we’ve accomplished (white), what we’re doing now (yellow), and what is on horizon (red).
When I’m out showing houses and see completely move-in ready homes, the amount of work we have left to do at Heardmont can be a little overwhelming. Renovating is usually fun for me, but it IS hard work, and every once in awhile I think how nice it would be just picking out paint colors! 🙂 Anybody with me?
Anyway, now you know where we’ve been and where we’re going with our little ole hallway. I’m thinking about writing up a little history of our kitchen next – anybody interested?
Thanks for reading!
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