Put a Bow on it, We're Calling it Done

Sadly, not the front yard.  But the hallway.  The hallway is done!  And I love it.  It seems like this is one of the areas we've worked on off and on for the longest.  Maybe it's because I couldn't seem to come up with a clear vision for the hall.  But now that it's done, I love it so much and it's exactly what I wanted.

I had friends over Friday so that was just the motivator I needed to get everything all finished and ready to show off.  Of course I didn't make plans for them to come over until Thursday so I spent Thursday & Friday speed cleaning and speed decorating/painting to get ready.  And cooking.  There was cooking too.

Back to the hallway.  Tomorrow I'll share recipes from the goodies I whipped up.  We're still enjoying the leftovers and they are amazing.

In case you've forgotten, the hallway is the one place that still had original paneling colored walls when we bought our house.  In an already dark hallway, it made the space feel like a cave.

I'm not going to show you all the progress pictures again.  Because I feel like I've talked about this a thousand times and I'm completely sick of looking at my lack of progress.  But, if you want to check out all the hallway progress, go ahead and click and check it out.

But I had a plan for the hallway (eventually).  Tan on the bottom and a light turquoise on top.  With a pretty gallery wall.  I made a mood board.

So I finally got the walls painted with a second coat for great coverage.  And I laid out my pieces for my gallery wall.  Well, I laid it out twice.  Was sure I had the right combination and then still hung it up differently because I under-estimated the size of my wall.  Oops.  

So, not bad for a first layout, right?  The trick, that big "Life is Good" sign needed to go on a stud because it's a solid piece of wood.  But I was pretty sure I could fit everything....

Then I ended up adding two more frames.  I realized if I had a picture of my family, I needed one of my husband's family also.  And then I remembered a cute round turquoise frame I had and could pop a cute picture of our nephews into....

Then I was ready to hang it all on the wall.  There wasn't enough space.  Oops.  So, the floating frame that held the picture of our wedding party got moved to another wall and I just ended up with family pictures and some other little pieces of art.

So, let's break down what's on the wall....  On the top row, a Life is Good piece of art I made with a leftover scrap of wood from building my living room entertainment center/dresser.  I stenciled the words on with a white Sharpie paint pen and stained it with grey stain.  I sealed it with some poly-urethane.  And I painted the edges of the board a bright turquoise.  To the right is a metal Love sign I picked up at Hobby Lobby the other day.  Love it.  And next door is a picture of me and my husband from when we had family pictures with my family.  In the middle row is a picture of my family with one of my sisters and her boyfriend cut off, the picture is oriented weird.  Annoying.  Then the round frame is a picture of our adorable nephews.  And finally the bottom row has a picture of my husband's family on our wedding day.  Next to that is the Custom Monogram Art I whipped up the other day and the bird wall hanging I grabbed on clearance at Hobby Lobby the beginning of the summer.

What did you guys do this weekend?  Anybody else finish up some lingering projects?  We're tackling the rest of the front yard this week, I'm pretty excited to have things caught up before I go back to school.