If you’ve read this blog for a while, you’ve seen parts of my parent’s house before and know how much I like talking about all the reclaimed and environmentally friendly features they’ve crammed into it. I’ve shared their living room, dining room, and den, and so today I want to share the piece that connects all of these – the hallway.
Why share a hallway, of all places? I think that you’ll be pretty impressed at all the eco choices that they were able to make in just this transition space. As consumers, we’re making these choices all the time, and they matter.
But let’s start with some fun. The entryway kicks off with the purple door (purple, you know, was my early favorite color and the color of my childhood bedroom). It is generally sporting some kind of bright and happy wreath.
The hallway itself is more neutral, which I think is great for making transitions between rooms that feature stronger color palettes. Mostly, it is this nice, warm brown. Brown has never been one of my favorite colors, but I love this color so much that when my parents said I could repaint my room from it’s previous purple-walls-purple-floor state, I immediately chose this. (I wish I could share the name with you but it is lost to history.)
The tile in here is pretty awesome. It’s got a beautiful stone look, but was made using 40% recycled ceramics from particles captured during water filtration. (I don’t see the particular product listed right now, but it was made by Crossville.)
As you may remember from the dining room, my mom found a handful of old stained or leaded glass windows to work into her renovation, which really helps give the newish house a feeling of history. She found the perfect one for this entryway but had no place to put it, and so built it into a wall feature that doubles as a light with a panel of LEDs behind it. This would also be a great DIY!
The entry and hallway have a lot of dark wood – in particular, oak – which ground the rooms. My Mom loves the grain of old oak and so this space is a bit of a tribute to that.
I also love how they use this little thrifted rolltop desk for mail. It is convenient to drop there, and the top can be easily rolled down to hide the papers if people are coming over (or your daughter is invading your house to take pictures for her blog).
The space also features restored antique lighting (from Rejuvenation) which also helps with the homey-and-not-new-construction vibe.
As you head upstairs, the brown switches to a mint green, which is really airy and allows the high windows to flood the space with light.
This is a hard wall to decorate (those angles!) but she used a round mirror to prevent it from looking wonky while still getting in some decoration. This tip could apply in so many places! Some walls were just not made for rectangular art.
Overall, this was a pretty standard stairway that could easily be bland and ignored, but she made a bunch of small swaps which make it feel special. She added an old oak board that she found at Long Leaf Lumber – our local reclaimed wood/flooring source – to bring in some natural wood and tie into the rest of the space.
The grain is really beautiful.
The railing and brackets are also reclaimed, from Noreast Architectural Salvage. My mom describes the brackets as her only DIY project in the renovation, because she removed the old finish and repainted them herself!
The carpet on these stairs is also eco, of course. It is made by Tandus, and uses recycled content for backing, and also replaces toxic stain repellents with better alternatives. It is extremely durable (used in commercial applications) and the company takes it back for recycling at end of life.
I told you that was a lot for a little hallway! And I am sure I didn’t even cover it all.
Thanks for checking it out, and let me know what you think! What sorts of unexpected eco choices have you been able to make in your home?
Here’s my unexpected eco choice:
A few years ago, I tore the tile out of my kitchen to restore the hardwood underneath. It was all in great shape except a section in front of the sink that had rotted. In the meantime, my brother’s home burned to the ground. (Tragic, but everyone was safe). He had been helping me with my kitchen renovation, and realized that the hardwood in his home was a pretty close match to the hardwood in mine. He did a little dumpster diving, retrieved some salvageable pieces, and put them in my kitchen right where I needed them. The wood was slightly lighter in color than mine, but a blow torch evened the tone out and you’d never know. I think it’s pretty cool that I have a piece of his home, which doesn’t even exist anymore, right in my home 🙂
I will look into that tile made with recycled stuff. I am unexpectedly in need of a new kitchen floor after acquiring a new dog. He’s only ten months old; I’ve never had one that young before. I really hated the vinyl in my kitchen when I bought it, but I have not wanted to spend money on this house. (I miss my concrete floors from the last house SO much!) Now that it’s been demo’d for me, I’m going with tile.
Who is the woman who did the fantastic renovation and decorating job you describe in this post. I definitely want to meet her!
Your parents have impeccable design & resourcing skills!