Hallway Paint Makeover in Galapagos

If you are someone who wants to try something new with paint in your home, I’m going to convince you that you need to paint something fun in your hallway this week. It’s the perfect place to try a new  color!

The hallway can be one place in your home that doesn’t get any attention, except for the vacuum every once in a while. But since most hallways aren’t that big, consider them an opportunity to be bold with your decor and enjoy the trip from the stairs to the bedroom a little more each day. I’ve got a fun makeover for you today and stay tuned to the end of the post where you can get a free printable to keep track of your home’s paint colors.

You might remember that almost 2 years ago I painted the entire upstairs hallway with a stencil. Although it didn’t take very long and came out looking great, I got tired of it very quickly.  It just wasn’t working for me. Kind of like the feeling I had about our living room until its makeover the other week.

So I decided that the upstairs hallway was my next makeover project and set off to select a color to do something fun. But what color would be best?

This month my friends at Behr asked us to use one or more of their 2016 Color Trends in a project at home. Take a look at the options.  How was I supposed to pick my favorite?

Emeror’s Silk?  Coralette?  Pagoda? Galapagos? Blue Vortex?

Photo by Behr

Here’s information on the 2016 Color Trends by Behr.

Our 2016 Trends address the importance of color in constructing stimulating environments. You’ll see how you can use varying hues, intensity and lightness levels, patterns and textures to establish your own sensory-rich space. Though each theme uses a different style and color approach, the end result creates interiors with impact and dimensionality. – Behr Paint

I started out by getting samples of a bunch of them. This is the best way to pick a color for your home, get samples.  The bold colors in the High Contrast collection immediately stood out to me and I spent lots of time trying to decide exactly what to paint and how to do it.

Then I saw this pin and was convinced. My plan was to paint the entire space Ultra Pure White and then do a wide stripe in one of the colors. I even asked what your opinion was on Facebook. Lots of you loved the green on the right, which is Emperor’s Silk.

I decided that Galapagos, the deep blue green, was my favorite. It’s color T16-04.

We painted stripes in Cora’s nursery. Here’s the instructions on how to do that. For this project, I actually sanded the walls to remove the traces of the stencil, then wiped them down with a damp rag to clear off the dust. Then I painted the entire hallway in 2 coats of Ultra Pure White (straight out of the can, not tinted) in Behr Marquee Interior Matte.

For this project, all I needed was a quart of the Galapagos. It’s amazing what you can do with a quart of paint! A little goes a long way. I measured and taped off the stripe, then primed the stripe in a medium gray primer and gave it 2 coats of Galapagos.

We have 9 foot ceilings in our house, so this stripe is 24 inches wide. The top of it is at 43″ from the floor, and the bottom of it is 19″ from the floor. The baseboards are about 8″.

This original 115-year old wood in our house is Chestnut. You can read more about that here. While I love the paint the walls, I’ll never paint that wood.

This is a view from our bedroom, which is in Flint Smoke by Behr. Now that we got new rugs a few months back and this painting is done, the hallway is complete. And I love it modern look of the stripe against the old wood.

I told my tiny assistant since she helped me so much with this project that I’d give her a cameo in the post 🙂 Clearly she is a girl on the move and is too fast for my slow shutter speed, hence the blurry face.

I created this DIY brushstroke art quickly (which is super easy and fun), but the other two pieces were drawn by my husband. Both are from when we were in Paris.

I really love the look of this color. It’s the perfect compliment to the rest of our home’s color palette and is kind of unexpected in our otherwise neutral home. Now I just have to finish hanging more art up and we can enjoy the new space.

Here’s what the hallway looked like before we painted the stencil, and then with it. The now-bold color is very fresh and modern. It’s amazing what paint can do right?

And here is is now in white with a wide stripe in Galapagos by Behr. What do you think? Think you might try Galapagos in your home?

 

Here are all of the projects by the Behr DIY Experts. Come see all of the inspiration with the 2016 Behr Color Trends. And scroll down for a free printable to keep track of your home’s paint colors.

A Pop of Pretty / All Things Heart and Home / Be Crafty / Clean and Scentsible / Decor Adventures / Frugal Mom Eh! / Just a Girl and Her Blog / Life at Cloverhill / Made To Be A Momma / Maison de Pax / Marty’s Musings / My Little Secrets / Newly Woodwards / Poofy Cheeks / Someday I’ll Learn / Sugar Bee Crafts / The DIY Dreamer / The Frugal Homemaker / Upcycled Treasures

 

Disclosure: I am a Behr Paint DIY Expert and this post is sponsored by Behr. All opinions are my own.