Hall Make-Over Part 1: Inspiration Board & Stripes

Guten Tag! Hello dear friends! I am loving settling into my new home and new life here in Europe. Everything is so wonderful and exciting for my little family right now! I am so blessed to have a great modern, with a rustic twist home to be living in for the next few years. I am even more blessed to have landlords that will let me paint and change the light fixtures...I can't tell you how many hours I spend dreaming about how I am going to make this place over. If you are renting a house for an extended period of time, try to find landlords that will let you make your space a home....Many landlords will negotiate paint if it's a neutral color or, if you offer to paint it back. Paint makes a place seem much cleaner and is the most inexpensive way to make your house a home.

The home is in pretty good shape however, it is in need of some serious TLC. It's been painted a lot, there are major gaps around the doors because there are no door frames (on the doors in the house that is) and there are some European quirks about the house that is going to take some getting used to (and I am not talking about the pretty, shabby chic kind of stuff). You can't tell by my pictures but this home needed a fresh coat of paint.......I have been painting for a couple days and have finally finished the downstairs! Woo Hoo! 

I went with neutral colors in my home simply because I like to change my color scheme every season. Well, let's be real, it's more like once a month. I use pops of color in my flower arrangements, pillows, drapes and other accents. 

I decided I was going to paint our hall with stripes because, it was a small area that I wouldn't get sick of having a pattern in. I like stripes that are pretty subtle so I went with a very soft greige (aka: a grey beige), and creamy white. 

I am repainting the doors so you won't see the wood on the edges, like in the photo above. 

The color you pick WILL come out darker once the white stripes are next to it so, go softer than you think you will need to. If you are in the states the greige this color is closest to is Jute by Kelly Moore. In Germany, this color was found at Hornbach, a giant, American friendly hardware store (if you are military they accept the VAT form).

The number of this color is F6.05.70

 Because I am so stoked about these stripes, I decided to put my focus on this room. I created the inspiration board above so I had a direction to go in when I am out shopping and for when my furniture finally arrives from the states. Right now, we have the ugliest loaner military furniture ever! We are fortunate to have it though. This is just an inspiration board to gather my ideas but, I know I am going to change it a ton. When painting stripes, measure the area you want to paint and divide it by the amount of stripes you want to get the size you should make your stripes. We made ours 9" and it's really the perfect size. Make sure to exclude moulding when doing this. Also if your walls are crooked like ours, just make the lines straight with a level, don't try to match the floor. 

 Tape your lines off and paint away! I recommend painting the lighter color as the base color, then painting the darker stripes over that. I didn't do this because I decided on painting the stripes at the last minute. 

Make sure to take the tape off when the paint is still wet or the paint may peel (especially with the "thick as plastic" German paint) when you take your tape off. 

Once all the tape is removed, touch up the lines with a small brush where the paint may have bled through.

I can't wait to finish decorating this area! I love that deep, pastels, warm, and cool colors will go with these rad stripes! 

 

I am so excited for my things to come, so I can get this area completed!!

If you are having a problem finding a solution to a space in your home, e-mail me for a quote and I can virtually design your space for ya!

designsbymollyhannah@yahoo.com

Do any of you have stripes or any other patterns in your home? I would love to hear any tips or advice you may have!

Decorated pics to come soon!