So Much More Than a Hallway!

In the last three and a half months, I have learned a lot about what life is like as a married person.  For example, one thing I have learned about being one half of a married couple, or at least a married couple decorating a new home, is that it is the end of romance in terms of gift giving.  This Christmas, my hubby and I did our present buying on lighting company websites and at plumbing stores!

Let me back up.  I recently decorated the foyer in our new apartment.  This "foyer," as I call it, is really just a hallway between the front door and the living room, with the dining room off to one side.  It is probably only ten feet long and three feet wide, but it is a great example of making the most of tiny spaces.  (And it is so much more fun to call it a "foyer"!) 

We started out by refinishing the floors like we did in the rest of the apartment.  We then had the painters work their magic.  (The wall color is Pumice by Restoration Hardware in a subtle velvet finish.)  But even putting a fresh face on the floor and walls did not do enough to make this little space special.  When you live in Manhattan and homes are small, I believe you should make each little space feel like it's very own special room.  So, I turned this ordinary hallway into our wedding photo gallery! 

The New and Improved Foyer

Here is a before and after of what was once an ordinary hallway:

Before

After

When my dad offered to buy us a generous Christmas gift, I decided that a gift for our home was probably the way to go.  The chandelier that was hanging was gold (I prefer silver) with ivory shades (I prefer white) which may or may not have started out ivory, but definitely ended up that way after decades of use.  After months of searching for the perfect chandelier, with a brushed nickel finish and bright white shades, I finally found just what I wanted.  And with my dad footing the bill, my husband couldn't complain that it didn't have a more reasonable Home Depot-type price tag!  Thanks to my handy hubby's vast knowledge of electricity, we were able to install it ourselves, which kept our costs down.  (So did his haggling with the lighting company on the phone.  Do you know that if you just call up and demand free shipping and added discounts, sometimes you will get them??)  Holding a chandelier over my head while balancing on a tiny step stool is certainly not fun, but it made Al so happy to do it ourselves that I guess the pain (literally...  my arms were burning!!) was worth it. 

After the chandelier was picked, we turned the wall with the beautiful (and freshly painted) molding into a black and white photo gallery with some of our favorite black and white wedding pictures.  I thought this was a fun use of the foyer, and allowed us to display a lot of photos without having them all over the apartment.  The frames are all from Pottery Barn, and were generous wedding gifts from our family and friends.  Unfortunately, right in the middle of the "gallery" is our security camera phone, but I tried to arrange the frames in such a way that the phone detracts as little as possible.  To tie it all together I put down a black and white runner from Crate and Barrel, which I bought on sale many years ago! 

Finally, we coordinated the small hallway that separates the living room from the two bedrooms and the bathroom with the front foyer.  We not only matched the paint color, but we bought a miniature version of the same chandelier, this one with three shades instead of five.  Actually, "we" didn't buy this chandelier...  This was Al's Christmas gift to me.  Before you judge him for being unromantic and giving me a light fixture, I should probably tell you that I gave him radiator temperature regulator valves purchased at a plumbing store!  In my defense, he picked them himself, and I have never seen him more excited about any gift I have ever given him!  The heart wants what it wants... and sometimes the heart wants to go to a plumbing store, apparently.

The small hallway, before...

The small hallway, after...

At the end of the day, Al and I couldn't be happier with our unromantic Christmas gifts.  They make our home much more beautiful (and, in the case of his radiator valves, our apartment no longer feels like the inside of an Easy-Bake Oven.)  I am a firm believer that the smallest details can make the biggest difference, and these two little hallways are a great example.  However, men, don't try this at home...  not all the ladies out there will be as excited as I am with a light fixture!