"Craptacular" Hallway Needs Some Tender Loving Care Suggestions (Pics) (mirror, floor)
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I've just done an extensive amount of painting / redecorating on my (once extremely terrible, but oh so cheap) rental apartment. The next challenge is the shared hallway.
I've just given it a touch up coat of white paint, but am looking for some design suggestions or tricks to make it a bit more bearable.
I'm going to clean the floors as best I can, and maybe clean the street level door with some touch up paint, but I'm looking for the force multiplier in making it less "sketchy looking".
Should I add some colour? Is there some inexpensive way of doing this (I don't want to put expensive painting out there as strangers pass through all the time.)
Should I try to do something to the floors other than clean them? It's a rental, so I don't want to invest a lot of money.
I suppose you could put a block of color 4ft by 3ft between each of the landings, well above the handrails. Nice trendy colors like grey, soft teal, lavendar, honeydew green.
I love it when a hallway has some grandeur and it can be done quite cheaply.
These kind of hallways are great for wallpapering the top half, hard I know but I've done it. Get something on sale and you can do it pretty cheap.
Then paint the bottom half a darker color that you choose from the wallpaper and put up a molding trim in between them above the hand railing. Looks like you have a nice demarcation right now between top and bottom you could follow. And put in a nicer hand railing. I don't see one now.
Above the door centered between door and ceiling is nice place for a long mirror or painting that you can actually screw into place so no one takes it and so it doesn't fall on anyone. The screws won't be seen from that far away.
A nice light hanging down from the ceiling would take it to the next level. You can always find a cheap chandelier on craigslist that you can spray paint to match your color.
Some new floor tile would be nice, these look pretty beat.
If allowed, I'd paint the risers in alternating colors. I'v seen that done in several shelter mags recently. If I didn't own the place, I wouldn't do much more.
- Remove the metal pieces on each stair edge.
- Peel off those stick on tiles.
- Rough up each step with a rough-grit sandpaper.
- Mask off the edges on the walls.
- Spray paint the entire staircase with that heavy duty gray, textured paint - like the kind they put on garage floors and in truck bed liners.
-Paint the walls a darker accent color since hallways tend to get all scuffed up.
I actually did this on basement steps in an old house and it turned out nice and lasted forever. It also helps with traction.
Here is a pic of the spray that shows the texture:
Wmns4life: Cleaning up is definitely the first step. Hopefully that helps a lot. Is there an easy way to get foot marks out that you know of? Lots of bleach?
luv4horses: Not quite sure what you mean about a block of color. I like your idea for trendy colours though, incorporated that somewhat.
Kayekaye: I'm not the landlord. It's a bit of a slum landlord, but they're extremely easy going and the rent is 40% cheaper than what it should be in my area. Love the idea for a cheap chandelier and mirror / painting on the door. That stairs artwork looks awesome, but something that stylistic might not be up the alley of the other renters. Gave me an idea to paint that area though.
Silibran: That's a good idea. I've tried incorporating that into a mockup, but it just looks strange. Any tip on colour scheme?
Bmachina: That sounds awesome, but would be more of an investment then I'm willing to do in this case.
Gentlearts: You're right. Hopefully some bleach and elbow grease will go a long way.
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