Up the stairs: Hallway reveal

So having had a week off my decorating marathon, mostly due to having had a stinking cold, I have finally "finished" decorating our hallway....I showed you my downstairs hallway here, but today I want to show you the upstairs..

BEFORE:

Keeping it crisp and white, I had gotten as far as to the top of the stairs...The previously dirty beige landing was next: A few coats of brilliant white later and it was starting to look better already...

I deliberately chose to do it all white coming up the stairs as I didn't want the struggle of having to cut in a different colour in those hard to reach areas....Practical or lazy - you be the judge!

I ripped off the stained old carpet on the landing, and replaced it with these pretty rugs from H&M.

My macramé wall hanging got a nice spot on the wall....

 ....and I have placed our big mirror on the landing opposite our bedroom ...to reflect the light coming through our bedroom windows...

Now, I will just have to nag Mr until he gets his finger out and hang the mirror properly...

THE STAIRS:

Once I got started on ripping out the old carpet, there was no stopping me...

Off it came on the stairs as well...

It was quite a job, I will not lie, and once I had chucked out all that dirty old carpet and got rid of all those dangerous nails and tacks, it revealed that the wood underneath is in quite poor nick...

My hopes of just painting the stairs were dashed!

Undeterred I dug out my sand paper, and got rid of the most offending lumps and bumps, as well as any dangerous splinters then gave the sides of the stairs a couple of coats of white gloss paint...

.Mr and I decided that a new carpet would be the way to go....

...But being the impatient soul that I am... I came up with another solution:

When faced with the prospect of a new carpet on our stairs, my heart sank...I am not a big fan of carpets, and after some research I realised that my options would be quite limited in terms of design...

Then I spotted these long minty green zig zag runners at Urban outfitters, and thought why not?

Until we get around to getting proper carpets fitted: Why not make a statement?

So I whipped out my measuring tape, and luckily I realised that 2 of these runners would "perfectly" cover the stairs...And even more luckily: I had a discount voucher making the total cost of the two runners £30,- ...Bargain!

I simply stapled the runners to the stairs.

I love the way the minty green brings a fresh burst of colour to our otherwise white and grey hallway.... It looks fun and playful!

 In fact I like it so much that there is no rush for the carpets now....and if they get dirty, I can just whip them off and chuck them in the washing machine, then staple them back on...it only took about 1/2 hour...

I still need to whip out my gloss paint again and touch up some of the unpainted wood...

....and I want to get a new doormat!

(If you like my folk art 3D wall stars, see how I made them here)

I am getting really in to mixing up patterns now, and I love the way the minty green zig zags in my stairs runner juxtaposes the silvery birch wood stencil on the opposite wall downstairs..

Our entrance area is quite small, and the issue of shoe storage has always been a problem...But we had this tall and narrow IKEA bookshelf that no longer fitted in Little Miss Moo's room....We were going to chuck it out, but it turned out to be perfect for shoe storage by the front door...and it hides away nicely behind the curtains...

I am still looking for a new coat rack, although I am not sure I want one, as I quite like how clean and tidy it looks now...But I guess we need somewhere to hang our coats...??

I am loving my new look hallway and stairs, and to think that so far it has only cost me £80 to do....and that is mostly for my new rugs!

Never underestimate the power of improvement!! (Or the determination of a woman...)

And I am now eager to get cracking with our bedroom make over...

I have already started clearing it out....And shopping(?) for it!!

(I never "shop" anymore, but decorating has brought out the urge again...Anybody else get this??)

So over the next couple of weeks, I will be focusing on THE BEDROOM!

(YAY!!)

What do you think of my hallway makeover then?

Would you consider using rugs on your stairs as a quick fix?

I love to hear what you think, so please leave a comment below!

xxx

June