Just when we thought we’d had our fill of painting, I’m back with another update. With our baby due in five weeks, I’ve been in full-on nesting mode — trying to finish a few projects before the C-section means I’ll be stuck on the sidelines. One of the places we prioritized was the upstairs hallway.
The hallway links many key rooms — the nursery, our bedroom, the hall bath, Clara’s room, the guest room, and the laundry nook — so a fresh coat of paint there gives you a lot of impact for the effort. We walk through that space dozens of times a day, so updating it felt like an easy way to make the whole upstairs feel cleaner and brighter.
Previously, the hallway still showed the overspray from when we painted the trim last May. It also connects visually to the stairwell we painted last November and the foyer we refreshed last July. When we picked the foyer color — Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray — we chose it knowing it would carry up the stairs into this hallway. In our home, Edgecomb Gray reads as a soft greige; it’s a warm, light neutral that keeps transitional spaces feeling open and lets us use bolder colors in adjacent rooms without worrying about clashes.
To give a sense of how that works, Clara’s room includes coral, blue, red, and soft pink on the walls and ceiling, while our bedroom is a deep moody blue. The hall color needed to be flexible enough to complement all of that, especially because the guest room, laundry nook, and hall bathroom are still undecorated and could take a range of hues.
The hallway itself is long — about 33 feet from the laundry nook to our bedroom — and filled with doorways and three light fixtures. That meant a lot of cutting in around edges and trim. Cutting in can be tedious, but I actually enjoy the sense of progress it gives: “three doorways done, five to go.” While working, my mind wandered through pregnancy-brain territory — from food cravings to hypothetical cheat-day scenarios — so painting turned out to be a good distraction.
Clara helped too, not by painting but by offering encouragement: dancing around with ribbon and singing Frozen songs. Her energy made the job more fun.
Overall, cutting in took about five hours over two days and required two coats. John handled the rolling, which also took two coats and a few hours total. Along the way I kept a few practical tips in mind, so here are a few painting pointers that worked well for this project:
- Use an extension pole for the high parts — even if you can reach them without one, it saves your back.
- Painting the ceiling the same color as the walls creates a seamless, airy look when using a light neutral.
- Play music, news, or an audiobook while you work to make time go faster and keep your energy up.
- A short-handled 2″ angled brush makes cutting in much quicker and more precise — it’s become my go-to tool.
- We don’t usually use a full drop cloth over hardwood floors; in our experience, a few small drips are easy to wipe up when wet or peel off when dry.
- And yes, try not to think about food too much while you’re working.
We also recorded a short video demonstrating rolling technique:
And here’s the finished hallway. The update is dramatic compared with how the hallway looked when we bought the house — cleaner lines, a cohesive ceiling-to-wall look, and a neutral backdrop that brightens the whole upstairs.
From the other side of the hallway (standing with my back to the bedroom), the fresh paint makes the entire upstairs feel more organized. I’m looking forward to re-hanging a few doors to better conceal the laundry nook, but even before that, the space already feels miles improved.
For anyone interested in related projects: John created a thorough infographic about changing outlets, and we also have a video showing how we cut in without extensive taping when we painted our guest room.
Before I go, here’s a handy list of the paint colors we’ve used around our home so far — and a few colors we’re considering next. This helps us maintain a cohesive palette while allowing personality and color in each room:
- Our Bedroom (Black Pepper)
- Kitchen (Nelson Blue)
- Foyer/Hall (Edgecomb Gray)
- Possible Nursery Accent (Grassy Fields)
- Nursery Built-Ins (Senora Gray)
- Nursery Walls (Going To The Chapel)
- Clara’s Door (Cinco De Mayo)
- Clara’s Ceiling (Pink Cadillac)
- Clara’s Walls & Half Bath (Simply White)
- Clara’s Raindrop Color #1 (Tranquil Blue)
- Clara’s Raindrop Color #2 (Milano Red)
- Clara’s Raindrop Color #3 (Pink Cadillac)
- Front Door (Blue Lake)
- Closet & Sink Nook (Revere Pewter)
- Sunroom Ceiling (In Your Eyes)
- Possible Dining Room (Knoxville Gray)
- Possible Guest Room (Sparrow)
- Possible Office (Polar Lights)
Not pictured: possible colors for the hall bathroom, laundry nook, and an unfinished storage space, which we haven’t chosen yet.
Other Favorite Paint Colors
If you’re deciding on colors, we’ve written in-depth posts about some of our favorite choices that can help guide you:
- The 12 Best White Paint Colors
- Benjamin Moore Edgecomb Gray
- Benjamin Moore Simply White
- Sherwin-Williams Pure White
- Sherwin-Williams Extra White