S-T-R-I-P-E-S

She's done.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  First, to remind you, we started with this: 

First step was to give the entire hallway, doors included,  a coat of fresh white paint.  This step made a HUGE difference.  I can't capture it in photos, but as I painted it felt like I was literally cleaning the walls and doors in the hallway.

Next, we taped. And taped. And taped.  It was so tedious!  I give you no illusions; this project was not fun.  I decided I wanted 5 inch stripes, which for 95 inch walls meant we had to tape off 19 stripes.  And the thing about stripes is that they need to be straight. And the thing about old apartments is the walls aren't straight.  Like I said, it was tedious.

Then we painted.  (And by we I mean me and Matt and my friends Avery and Erin.  Thanks for the help guys!)  I realized within second that it was going to take three coats of gold paint (Martha Stewart metallic paints, Color: Kiwi Peel) to cover the walls.  So again, tedious.

But finally, she was DONE.  And she is a beauty!  You'll see that the cabinet doors remained white.  On our poll there was a tie between stripes and white.  I'm glad I kept it white for now, we'll see if I want to get creative with them later.  (I've thought an antiqued mirror inset on each door could be cool!)

You'll see in this picture that the stripes are indeed gold and reflect the light.  It's subtle but it makes a big difference.

One of the best parts of this project is the view into the hallway from other rooms, it adds interest to all the connecting rooms when the doors are open.  So much better than a plain off-white wall.

In other news, Matt didn't know I was taking a picture, and right as the shutter snapped he walked into frame.

Remind you of anything?