Striped Hallway Tutorial / DIY + Atlanta Art

My husband says I am notorious for volunteering our house for parties and get togethers and at the last minute running around acting 50 shades of crazy.  I think I like torturing myself this way because it motivates me to finish projects around my house.

This last week was no different with my 10 year high school reunion on Saturday. Not only did I have a house full of guest but I also invited about 20 people over to my house beforehand since the reunion took place nearby.

One project that I've been working on since November is striping my hallway.  I literally taped the edges in November and haven't done a darn thing since.  Over memorial day when we visited Ryan's parents we took home a car load of things from their storage units that they were getting rid of.  Most of our hand-me-downs were football memorabilia and this stuff was taking over my basement storage.  Why not get it on the walls to clear some space?

Striping a small 2 story hallway, easy! Yeah right, that's what I thought but I was surprised to find out that striping a room with angled floors and ceilings is quite the challenge, not for the faint of heart! This is how it went down...

Started by painting the edges and then filled it in, Benjamin Moore Cotton Ball was my white.  This white is a bright white but it definitely lightened up this hallway and I love the starkness of it with the stripes.

 

Things got a little weird when I couldn't reach certain parts of the ceiling and our ladder didn't work either.  Clearly this is when you pull out cheerleading moves and do a shoulder sit to paint tall, awkward spots. 

I then taped the stripes 10.5" apart, my main wall with the window there was 105 inches tall so I figured this was a good width, whynot?
*Remember when taping that they will appear uneven.  The original coat of paint will be the smaller space since it is already painted and the larger space will be the 2nd contrasting color.

After this I painted the tape with the Cotton Ball white again. This ensures that if any paint leaks through the tape (which we know happens) it is the white leaking onto white and seals it before the darker color is applied...taa daaa... 

Now it is ready for the contrasting color.  I was planning to use a light grey but had trouble picking a shade of grey... there really are 50 Shades of Grey, pun intended...
I used Porter Paint's Ostrich Feather, we had over half a gallon left over and it's the color that runs through my hallways on my main floor and upstairs. It's a really great tan with a touch of clay-ish grey (I know I'm really good at describing these colors). 

At this point it was 4:30 in the morning, I watched Design Star during dinner (Team Britany) and I think it motivated me to get this thing done!  So next I ripped the tape off and waa-laaa...

Here's a few of the fun pics we have for Ryan's Grandad and FSU.

 Some for his Dad at Clemson....

And Ryan's favorite Auburn picture mixed with a little bit of things from the Clemson v. Tennessee game (UT=my team!).

My mom bought me this sign in Rosemary Beach and it says: "There are four seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, & Football"

 

Ryan has moved 8 times in his life, 6 of those were growing up (Tallahassee, Durham, Lexington, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, New Orleans, and Clemson, phew...) so here's a "hat tribute" to some of the schools his dad has coached at or some of the big games they've played in.

We have a lot more items that still need to be framed and hung but I'm pretty pleased with how this has turned out for now.  I think striping a room full of man-stuff is a great way to prep it up. 

The last project I'll share on today's post is about this awesome print I bought from Sarah Watts, an Atlanta artist.  I bought it a while back and couldn't figure out how to hang, luckily Amazon.com has everything you could ever need, including Barnwood frames. 

This frame was awesome because it's A) cheap and B) comes with glass (a lot of barnwood frames online do not). 

I really love how it turned out so far.  I'm hoping to get her print "Atlanta, from Belles to Thugs and everything in between" next.  I think it might be the perfect addition sitting next to my Coca Cola crate and Atlanta books on my bookshelves.  I'm not a themey person but I love some good quirky conversation pieces thrown into a home.

I fully intended to post more pictures and updates of the house but this post is long enough so I'll save that for tomorrow... Ya'll stay tuned!...