The hallway right off the entry of our house is long, white and boring. I found a canvas painting I liked that sparked a mini makeover to add a bit of color to the white hallway.

I failed to remember there was an ugly thermostat right in the middle of the wall. I so badly wanted to cover it up with the painting. But my husband…and Google because I needed a second opinion…told me covering up the thermostat could cause the furnace to run more since it couldn’t regulate the temperature correctly behind the painting. My entire vision began with that painting so I took matters into my own hands by removing the frame and taking the canvas off the wooden frame. My husband cut the frame down and rebuilt it to fit the wall without covering the thermostat and I re-stapled the canvas to the smaller frame.

I found a hallway runner with similar colors in the painting. The best part? It’s washable!

Since I was forced against my will to reduce the size of the painting, I filled in the rest of the space around the thermostat with inexpensive art prints I’ve had but never knew where to use them. The ugly thermostat is still there but it still works efficiently and the art fills the boring white walls.

I’ve had this horse canvas wall hanging for quite awhile but I added a small grapevine wreath and coordinating ribbon to a bit more color.

And here is the hallway after its mini makeover. The mirror at the end of the hall was left by the previous owners. Our family likes it there to admire themselves as they walk down the hall so I’m leaving it for now. It needs something else to the left of the mirror where we filled in a door to a bedroom that is now our master closet. I tried a faux tree and a plant on a stand but didn’t like either. There is absolutely no natural light in the hallway so realistically a plant wouldn’t be able to live there and even faux didn’t feel right. Maybe something over the mirror? A taller mirror? We’ll see. For now I’m happy with the little makeover until we can go all out and add molding and color to the walls, maybe wallpaper behind the mirror and cute light fixtures in place of the can lights. In the meantime, I hope this simple makeover shows you it takes just a few inexpensive items to add character to any boring space.

Shop This Post