Hallway Transformation

Our short hallway was ugly.  Really, really ugly.  Orangey-wood hollow core doors and orangey-wood trim, and brass doorknobs.  Oh, and yellow walls.  It was a non-discussion - it all had to be painted white.

This is basically what it looked like.  It was so terribly uninspiring that I forgot to take a "before" picture!  I just dove right in.  Regrettably, I forget where I borrowed the above image from.  I think I Googled "ugly hallways" though, if that helps.  It was a non-discussion - it all had to be painted white.  

With a few coats of white paint, everything started to look... plain.  Better looking, but the doors looked  really cheap and plain.  I went to Home Depot and bought a few sticks of trim.  A lot of DIY websites said that trying to add trim to hollow-core doors was a mistake ("Just cut your losses and buy new doors!").  But that just didn't make sense - it was too wasteful and unimaginative, so I tried it anyway... and I'm so glad that I did!  I measured 10 centimetres in from each edge of the door and then cut my trim pieces to length.  I put a healthy bead of "No Nails" construction adhesive on the back and held them in place with tiny finishing nails.  Once that was dry, I caulked any gaps and filled the nail holes.  The trim was primed and painted the same colour (Decorator's White by Benjamin Moore) as the rest of the doors.  Honestly, it has made all the difference!  They look like brand new, high end doors... and all it cost me were a few pieces of trim and some experimentation.

Before and After!  (Sorry about the low image quality)

The one thing we had to toss out were the doorknobs.  I spray painted all the knobs, strikeplates, hinges, etc. in hopes of reusing all of them.  The hinges have held up really well so far but the door knobs really didn't.  Honestly, it wasn't that much of a loss though - they were really lightweight and felt inexpensive.  I bit the bullet and sprung for the oversized doorknobs I really wanted.  I do think that they really help "up" the whole look of the hallway.  And who door knobs were something a person could really get excited about?!  The things you learn!

 The walls and ceiling still need a coat of paint... but what an improvement!