Every year my mil takes my kids for a week and I try to accomplish one of my home projects. This year, I was so busy with work, that I almost didn't get one done. However, come Friday I decided to get supplies to paint our upstairs hallway. I've put it off since the drywall is in poor shape, plus it needs cut out from around the doors so we can put up moulding. Makes total sense, right? Why fix it up just to have it ruined?

The problem is that I've lived with it this way for about 15 years. And it still doesn't look like it's a top priority. So...I decided to at least make it feel clean and to have some fun with it. Our main bathroom, laundry room and bedrooms are upstairs so no one but family (or kids' friends) go up there. I decided to play around a bit.

The before shots actually look a bit better than the hall  really looked. They don't show how dingy the carpeting was or how grungy the walls were. There's also a big hole in the wall behind the laundry hampers where the circuit breakers are. (Covered with a piece of fabric). AND this shot was after I cleaned it out several weeks ago. There was large industrial shelving on the left that was always full of junk (tools and such). The hall seemed so roomy (nearly 8' wide) that I decided to perk it up a bit more.

Here are the Before shots.

From Master Bedroom looking toward stairs.

Looking from stairs down hall

Coming up the stairs

Things didn't move along nearly as quickly as I'd hoped. By the end of Day 1 I'd only painted the dresser and bench (dresser took a lot of sanding and many coats of paint) and mudded/sanded a bit on the walls. I had to slap some blue up to keep me inspired for Day 2.