Narrow Hallway: Designing a new functional Space
Do you have a narrow hallway that needs to be ALL THE THINGS? A place to hold your keys, put your shoes, hang jackets, purse or even keep an umbrella handy?
These are all the things to keep in mind when designing a small space to function how you actually live your life…and not just some instagram **Aesthetic** . I fell into this trap in 2020 when designing the space initially. I added board and batten, a tiny shelf that held nothing but knickknacks, a mirror that sat too high, a weird shaped shoe bench and couple of hooks for my keys. Thats it.
I’ve lived with it all these years but I finally decided it was time to addd some real functionality. Follow along and see how I tackled my problem and the solutions I came up with.
Tools For The Job
- Trim Puller
- Drywall patch
- Drywall mud or All purpose Drywall mix
- Drywall sealer Gardz
- Caulk gun
- Caulk
- 5-1 Scraper
- Paint
- Paint Brush
- Wallpaper
- Shoe Organizer
- Key Hook
- Hooks Utsadd (for purse, jackets )
- Mirror Unexpected Red theory
Lowes Idea Lists
A fresh start (Hallway Demo)
It may be scary to remove something you or maybe even someone else had done. Money and time went into it, but to get your vision realized you need to start fresh. I made a lot of rookie mistakes in 2020, it was important that I fixed them properly.
But Tamarah…you’re perfect. You don’t make mistakes! Actually I do! That’s okay. I’m learning as a go what works for me… and what doesn’t work.
This hallway is a small space so every inch counts. I had to remove everything in this space to be able to work in it
Step 1: Remove everything from your space
I started by removing the mirror, where I used a furring strip to help me hang…it always looked weird.
Step 2: Remove board batten and any moulding or casing
A lot of times trim/casing/moulding will be nailed on, potentially glued with liquid nails or some other adhesive and caulked for a clean gap free look. Working in a small space means you do’t have a lot of area to maneuver.
So this step has an order of operations to cleanly remove what is attached to the wall…with minimal damage.
- Using a utility knife score along sides where the casing/moulding meets the wall.
- This is to separate the caulk from the wall, preventing drywall damage
- Use a trim puller between the trim and wall to gently pull trim out
- When Using a Zenith by Danco trim puller move side to side two help loosen the trim
- There’s a diagram on the tool! Not back and forth!
- Use utility knife to cut any excess caulk or adhesive on the wall
Step 3: Scrape off caulk, adhesive or peeling drywall/paint
To get a nice even wall you want to make sure you scrape off any remain caulk or adhesive from the wall with a 5-1 scraper. Make sure the wall is even and as flat as it can be.
If you have peeling drywall or paint, make sure to scrape it off as its will interfere with you paint or wallpaper in the future. We don’t want any peeling after all the work we do!!!
I did an additional step and remove the old casing from the doors in the hallway also. I wanted to so a craftsman style casing to be consistent with the rest of the house.
Prep for success
Now that you have a nice blank slate in. your small space you want to bake sure it is read for paint or wallpaper. This means the not so fun, but very important prep stage.
Prepping your walls may be different depending if there is damage to your wall or the drywall paper. This is where the drywall patching and sealing comes in!
Do you have holes in your wall?
You need a drywall patch!
- If your hole is small, less than 2in you can get a way with using drywall tape some drywall mud.
- Larger holes up to 8in can be fixed with a store bought drywall mesh patch or a California patch (Updoming blog posts!)
- Much larger pieces will need a large piece of drywall, drywall screws and a piece of wood two make sure you are in a stud
Can you see the brown Drywall Paper?
You need to seal the paper!
Drywall paper is absorbent and will soak up paint/drywall mud then bubble underneath. The solution is to use something like Zinsser Gardz which seals the paper so it doesn’t absorb what you put on top of it while making your patches.
Make sure to sand your patches smooth or add wall texture to match the surrounding wall. Wipe down your wall to make sure there is no dust that will affect your paint
Time to Prime
Now that you’ve fixed your drywall, you need to prime over all your patches. Drywall mud also absorbs paint more quickly than regular drywall does. If you were to paint over without priming you would have something called flashing. This is where the paint in some spots are more dull/reflect light differently Thant surrounding areas.
An even coat of primer over these areas helps the paint dry evenly, to prevent this problem.
Design the new space
Now that you have a blank slate, you a better visualize your plan for a more functional space.
Think about:
- How you currently use the space
- What are the pain points, what’s annoying or missing?
- Make a list of Must haves and nice to haves, prioritize the list
Example:
My hallway is the entry/exit to the garage. It’s the space I use everyday. BUT it is very narrow, there is no space for large items. What I choose will have to be on the walls and thin. The dark gray.blue walls were also very boring, dull and dark. there is not natural light in the space.
I use the space to take off my shoes, dump my keys and hang my purse. I sometimes used the old mirror for a final face check before heading out.
- Must have: Shoe storage: a place for all my shoes
- Must have: Hooks for keys and hooks for purse or jacket
- Must have: Brighten up the walls
- Nice to have: Drop zone for smaller items
- Nice to have: Shelves
Execute your design plan!
This is the fun part! Now that you have an idea of what you want in the space you can buy what you need, install wallpaper or paint. Small space design doesn’t have to mean tiny!
- Primed the whole wall right side wall for better wallpaper adhesion
- Wallpapered the wall. This is peel and stick so it is in my opinion harder to insall
- You can see how I did Pasted Wallpaper here
- Peel and stick goes on like a big sticker but a lot of the same steps
- Painted the other three walls: SW7036 Accessible beige
- Painted Trim, Ceiling and doors : SW 6356 Copper Mountain
- Installed Ikea Shoe cabinets
- Added Octopus Key hook
- Added Cat shaped hooks
- Added a small Mirror
