Hallway Makeover on a Budget

How can you transform a Hallway on a budget? In this article, I am sharing our Hallway makeover, explaining my design process and things I did to keep it under budget.

House renovation can be very stressful and can easily sweep away all your funds. Its always a good idea to plan everything ahead, prepare a budget and spend lavish only on principle living areas of the house. Hallway or passage is a transition space, which connects difference rooms/spaces in your home. Practically, you do not spend much time except to pass through it to get into another room. If there is an area you can have a stingy budget, then this would be the one!

We bought a house and are renovating it room by room. Just recently, we completed transforming our master bedroom into a gorgeous suite. Next on our list is this hallway with a series of oak door leading to different rooms, closet and bathroom.

First, you should see the before pictures of the hallway.

To start with any Interior design, I would list down everything I like and do not like in the space. This hallway has white walls which I like, but its got a bluish white tint that I don’t prefer. Otherwise, the space is dark with wood baseboards, trims and doors. Those globe lights may be a trendy fixture for a 90’s home, but not in line with my design style. Instead, I prefer something modern and stylish. Without spending much, we can easily transform this pace with simple a paintjob and hardware swap. Based on my vision, I prepared the below design board for this Hallway Makeover.

DESIGN

The idea is to turn the woody hallway into a Bright and Airy hallway with some paint job, modern & stylish hardware, lights and simple wall decors. At the same time keep us and our pockets happy!

COLOR SCHEME:

I picked Whisper white from Behr for the walls and Light gray called Platinum from Behr for the doors. This a very subtle warm grey that will look like white when seen in bright day light. But when you have the Ultra pure white around the doors for the trims and baseboards, this grey pops out giving the required color contrast.

TIP: Whenever you pick a paint, do a sample test with multiple colors of your choice on the surface you want to paint. Look at the painted sample at different times in a day and night. As days go by, the color will seem a little darker than when you applied. Also, it will look different in different lighting conditions. So, keep that in mind and choose your paint color.

First time when I opened the Platinum color paint can, I thought actually thought it was white and a mistake was made when missing the color. But after applying and let it dry, the actual shade showed up. I was super happy with the selection though.

I have step by step detail tutorial on how to paint wood doors and how to paint baseboards and trims. In those article, I cover details about the products I used, which sheen to use and useful tips, tricks to follow for getting a professional finish.

Here is a video for the Makeover

HARDWARE & LIGHT FIXTURE:

In addition to painting the doors and wall, I swapped the door handles to Black privacy lever handles from Kwikset.

Globe lights were replaced with a modern Light fixture in black and gold. I like the fact that this light comes with the diffuser and the bulb inside is not visible.

Additionally, I replaced the wall socket and switches from beige to white and screwless cover plates.

To keep the decor simple, I bought three Art frames from our local craft store for a good deal and made some simple abstract art to mounted on the frame.