House dash Home: Earning Our Stripes

Our to plan to update our interior doors has been delayed. Well, technically, they're about 90% done. Still not done done. But oh my gosh, we almost have new doors!

We ordered custom-sized door slabs with pre-cut hinges from Lowe's to replace all of our interior doors and closet bifolds. So I assumed that all I had to do was paint the doors, square out the routered hinges (the factory cuts rounded hinges and our door jambs have squared hinges), hang the door, and cut the hole for the door knob. Easy peasy... right?

I should know better than to assume a project could be so simple.

I forgot to take into account the unique characterists of our home. Like how nothing is ever square.

Trying to fit a heavy, perfectly squared door into a not-so-squared door way is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. It ain't gonna happen. I'll spare you the gory details for now...

The doors aren't the only item we are replacing. The whole hallway is getting a makeover! We have already updated the trim in the hallway - base molding and door casing. And we're anxious to add crown molding (especially after adding it to the new office space). So that'll be done in the near future. We'll wrap up those doors first before we add the crown.

Anyway, this whole delay has forced my focus to the décor. More specifically, the floor. We haven't had a rug in this hallway since we moved in, and it's looking dangerously more like a cold doctor's office than a cozy home. This space needs some character... stat.

The wiener dog adds some personality to the space. But not so much as an accent color since he blends in with the floors. Besides, the little bugger doesn't keep still so we're looking for more permanent fixtures.

Our small hallway is only about 14' long; which might sound long, but when it's broken up by 6 doorways it really makes the space feel quite cramped.

Now, what design can trick the eye to make a stubby hallway seem longer?

(source)

Stripes!

Our new plan is to paint our walls in long black and white stripes. And that Dash and Albert rug will go perfectly with the new feature on the walls.

Okay, I'm kidding.

The striped space is a little over the top for our home, but it does prove the idea that stripes can draw attention down the room and keep the eye moving.

We can achieve the same effect just by adding a striped rug with lines running parallel to the long walls. There are endless varieties of striped rugs:

Soft colored stripes...