Hallways are the pathways of your home. Like a good garden pathway it should get you from one point to another and make you feel something special along the way.
Our home is a long rectangle and the hallway is a focal point from every room so it is particularly important to us that it sets the tone for the whole house.
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Right now, the only tone it’s setting is “crap holder”. It’s where everything in this house that doesn’t have a designated place resides until I create a space for it.
A Modern Victorian Farmhouse
Those of you who follow us on Instagram know we are redoing our home. We have owned our house for almost 10 years. Back in Indiana I had a home that was super modern. All black and white. I loved the clean lines. I didn’t love that it didn’t feel warm and welcoming.
When JJ and I bought this house, I wanted to incorporate the clean black and white lines while making it feel like a place where people felt comfortable leaving their shoes on. We created a modern farmhouse a couple of years before modern farmhouse because a thing. I love the design, but it’s everywhere now and I’m ready for a change.
With all that’s happened over the last few of years I am longing for all things nostalgic. Friend’s reruns, cheese balls, tight skin. I have loved Victorian homes since I was a little girl. There was an area in Indianapolis called Broad Ripple and I was in awe of the old Victorian style homes. I just knew I would grow up and remodel one of those money pits. So far, I haven’t.
We live in San Diego on a couple acres with our boys, dogs and chickens. Farm style is definitely our style. I want to keep that feel in our home and incorporate a little of what I loved about those stately Victorians in each room.
Victorian homes always have beautiful wainscoting and I have longed for that elegant wood detail. I asked JJ if we should call our amazing finish carpenter. He gave me a resounding HELLS NO, I’ve got this. He did amazing work! The video and how to will be in a post coming soon if you are interested in giving it a shot yourself!
I wanted to paint in dark, but my whole family was against me. “White”, they said, “it should be white”. Nah.
When we originally bought the home, we struggled with whether to keep this long bank of built-ins. Ultimately my love of organization and storage won out and we decided to keep it. This gray is representative of the modern farm style of old. Time to go.
I am torn. Should I paint it to match the wainscoting OR should I paint it a super dark green and give it it’s own moment? My gut is telling me to go dark green.
I have one other idea for this piece. Often the kids open it to get something out and the doors are left slightly ajar, or wide open. It drives me crazy. What if, I thought, they were art pieces and instead of being annoyed it brought me joy? Stay tuned for my idea coming soon!
In our last home we started this measuring wall above for the boys. It turned into a measuring wall for all of our friends, family and guests over the years. When we moved, we couldn’t bear to part with it, so we cut out the drywall and brought it with us. I need to spruce it up a bit, but it is pure magic.
I want all of the space above the wainscoting to become an art wall. The art will be a combination of antique art like this 1973 Cardin below I recently found, portrait art (my favorite local artist Kelly Patrick who NEEDS an Instagram account so I can tag her amazing work) will be doing portraits of our grandparents and great grandparents and current day family photos.
Finally, we are staining and painting all the ceilings in our house. When we first bought it they were a bizarre combination of greens, blacks and grays. JJ spent weeks sandblasting every single inch of them. He injured his shoulder in the process. We have for years tried to be good with the color because of all his hard work, but ultimately we just aren’t. By we, I mean I. I can’t handle the yellow. So we will be painting the tongue and groove white and staining the rafters a darker color that gets rid of that awful yellow tone.
Victorian Farmhouse Mood Board
Now for the best part, the mood board. If you are redoing any room in your home, you should first start with a mood board. Always. Placing all your ideas next to each other will help you decide if you actually like them and if they truly belong together. If you don’t have canva or picmonkey, you can just copy and past images into a google doc or print them out and spread them out on a table.
Here is our mood board for the hallway.
Victorian Farmhouse Hallway Mood Board
Sources: Taper Wall Sconce, Wall Sconce with Shade, Verdena Dark Wood Runner, Aged Brass Knobs, Iron Ore Paint, Black Forest Green Paint.
Looking for a fun DIY project that works with both Victorian and farmhouse lifestyle? Check out this porch swing!
What do you Think?