Tuesday, October 19, 2010

an odd little space...

The first time I saw my house I fell in love with a couple of features.  One of those features was the hallway.  Weird. I know. But I'd never seen a hallway like this one.  It's square, for one thing, sort of like a very small room with lots of doors.  And no windows.  And it has floor to ceiling bookshelves!  Who has bookshelves in the hallway?  But I'm a sucker for bookshelves, wherever they may be.

The bookshelves!

The floor is hideous.  I love the rug, but because of the heating grate in the floor, it can't be any bigger.  Boo.

A portion of the solid wall.  That. Is. Red.  And yes, I do know that there is some baseboard and door molding missing.

Not just red.  High gloss red.

The hallway was painted blood red, and I kind of liked it, so it's still there.  And coincidentally, I love red.  There are small amounts of red in almost every room of my house, so it kind of fits.  But back then the opposite wall from the bookshelves (the "picture gallery" wall - sorry, I know some people hate that, but I happen to like it)  had a doorway into the former dining area of the kitchen, leaving not so much wall space.  That doorway was closed off when we remodeled the kitchen, so now it is a solid blood red wall, and it seems sort of over powering, not to mention a tad dark for a "room" with no window.  In my continuing attempt to neutralize, I'm thinking about a natural color grasscloth...what do you think?

Obviously there is some work that needs to be done here.  We will be replacing that god-awful tile on the floor, which is why we don't have baseboards and some of the molding in there yet.  Since there is hardwood in the entire house, we're thinking it probably has hardwood under it, but obviously it won't be in good shape, so that will be an undertaking we're kind of not ready for at this point.  Another someday job.  This house will keep us busy for years!

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for dropping by Hf,K. I'm really enjoying your blog. We are in a old house as well and it's a never ending job, I can relate. North Carolina is my top ten list of beautiful places. Lucky girl! I will be following your little chunks of life.

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  2. hi karin,

    glad to see kev found you or vice versa.

    i kinda like the red but if you want to neutralize like you say then grasscloth would be awesome. i've never hung it so let me know how it comes out.

    ~janet

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  3. Hey Kevin - Thanks for coming by. I've been following Hf,K for almost as long as I've been following Janet! I'm actually originally a southern California girl (Orange County!) but have been in NC for almost 20 years now. My family is all still there, so I'm in Cali regularly. But my kids grew up here and don't want to leave, so I stay where they are!

    Janet - I've never hung grasscloth either! If I do it I'll def let you know how it goes. Have you ever thought about it for your cottage?

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  4. Just found your blog while on another, I look forward to following you. I love the bookcase between the doors and the red wall.

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  5. I can see why you love it- that's a great Hallway! I think the red is fun(sans the high gloss) but also love seagrass- so I bet that would look wonderful!
    Little Jack and Sadie Mae are too precious! And Ella would love Louise! She is quite the cat-whisperer! Several neighborhood cats who do not like other dogs walk right up to Ella- nose to nose!

    joan

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