Rez-de-Chaussé (Entrance Hallway)
Rez-duh-shaw-say. It sounds more sophisticated in French, non? So, there we were, 2.5 years into the renovation. Winter of 2025, we decided to go big & we had 5 projects on our list:
Paint the entrance hallway (oof, & all that ceiling molding)
Paint the stairs to the 2nd floor
Paint the 2nd floor landing (oh, did I mention moulding? Yep, there too)
Remodel the entire kitchen (sure, why not?)
Paint & upholster some walls in the owners’ suite
Big dreams. I’ll detail projects 2-4 in other blog posts, but needless to say we didn’t make it to #5. Did someone say November 2025? Sounds more like it to me.
For this illustrious hallway, we’d pondered a lot about what to do with color. The tile is absolutely GORGEOUS, & original. Surely, we’re not messing about with that. The colors we’d inherited were dirty, creamy white on the walls & sort of a pale, butter yellow on the molding. This set up did not do this grand hallway justice. One day, out of the blue really, it hit me. Hard……
Black.
It’s a pretty bold choice & I knew it would be hard to visualize, so I went on Pinterest to find pics to confirm my bright idea & to provide some visuals to Marlon. It didn’t take to long, & we were off to the races.
I started painting in November. Black, not-quite-full-gloss, on all the molding & trim. There are 4 sections to the front hallway - picture looking a cross from above. So, slowly but surely (& quite meticulously, I might add), I painted away. Tarps, scaffolding, endless rinsing of brushes. I did not, could not, paint every day. But it took me until April (let’s say our visitors were a good motivation to finish!). Marlon did the walls & ceilings with our pistol sprayer. Tape, suit up (white haz-mat-ish suit) & in one day he could get a whole section done. It is really so fast with that tool, but unfortunately it wouldn’t work on the intricate molding.
Oh yikes, I haven’t yet even mentioned the light fixture. Big division about the entrance light - some people were on board, others (like Marlon & I) thought it could be better. Check out the pictures. It was tres tres modern. Our goal is to bring the house a bit closer to its roots, sprinkling in the modern. We were not fans of this sprinkle, so we used the Googles & searched away. We found the absolute perfect art deco fixture & it was delivered by a lovely British man (~3 hr trip) who is fanatical about art deco. We also purchased a smaller fixture from him to put near the stairs, & I think it now does the grand hallway justice. Black, white, art deco & original tiles. We think we nailed it. We hope you like.
