| Hallway |
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But then we got the idea to hang our large (38" high x 50" wide) wall map on the hallway's one open wall, between the two bedroom doors. And that lead to this becoming an entirely travel-themed room.
Paint chips, truest colors (esp. on a Mac).     
Door from hallway to living room, closeup of wall and linen closet (closeup colors are the most true to life).
We were inspired by this wallpaper border. We pulled all the colors for the hallway from it -- the deep burgundy on the edge is the color for the baseboards, doorway trim, linen closet trim, and the frame of the world map; the dark green on Canada in the border map is the linen closet base color and a lighter shade of that green is the faux-finish color on the linen closet; and the gold shades in North America on the border map are the colors of the parchment faux-finish. 
Hallway wall and map border, closeup of wall treatment (closeup colors are the most true to life).
First, Thomas painted the ceiling and the walls in a light golden shade. Next, my mom and I faux-finished the walls. We dipped crumpled plastic bags in a darker gold color (mixed with glaze) and "pounced" the wadded-up plastic onto the walls. This created the look of old parchment. Our parents were quite impressed with this wall technique, making it the most popular room in the house. I love how the walls bring out the colors of the hardwood floor so the space looks like it's bathed in honey and warmth. 
Linen closet, closeup of faux finish (colors are a dark jade green and a shade lighter, not as pale as the full picture may show).
After the walls were done, Thomas and his dad painted the linen closet dark green. Later, I faux-finished a lighter green (with glaze) over the front of the drawers and the doors. After a few false starts, I settled on a dry-sponging technique that resulted in a mottled effect that looks a whole lot like green marble. We swapped the boring hardware that came on the linen closet with elegant silver handles with flair. 
It took several nights and at least three coats to cover all the room's trim with that dark burgundy shade. That was probably the single most annoying part of the whole house-decorating so far! But the effect is great. We installed the wallpaper border right at the ceiling-wall joint, and it totally ties together the whole room. Thomas cut fancy wood molding into a picture frame and painted it the same burgundy as the room's trim. He then measured sheets of cork to go behind the map -- in our last two rentals, we had pins in the map, but the pins didn't always stay in the wall; cork would fix this problem. We stapled the cork on the wall, mounted the map over that, and then nailed the molding frame around everything.
This really is the crowning glory of the room! On the map are pins for places we've visited, both together and separately, plus places we plan to go in the next few years. At some point, we'll put up a list of our travel plans and frame it. Travel is very important to us!
Lastly, we bought a low, three-shelf mahogany bookcase to place below the big map. All of our travel books and folded maps go there, and we're always acquiring more. On top of it, our atlas is propped open on a black iron bookstand, and we open the atlas to a different country every so often. Beside the atlas is a wine glass from Berkeley Castle in England that Thomas got on his first U.K. trip. The glass holds a collection of foreign coins, including ones from the U.K. and India, plus now-outdated coins from Ireland, the Netherlands, and Italy. On the wall leading towards the laundry room, I hung a framed map of Thomas Hardy's Wessex. I'd like to add a framed map of Middle-Earth and maybe one of Narnia too, for a Wall of Fictional Places. In contrast, we plan to frame the map of Rhode Island that dear friends gave us before they moved to there from the Bay Area.
 back to the Dining Room ... ... on to the Master Bedroom |
