You say, “hallway,” I say, “library.”
This area a master suite was woefully underused. It’s too wide to be considered a true hallway, but it’s too narrow to be treated like a room.


Since this client is a GENIUS with photographs and has roughly a gazillion, we thought it might be handy to have some shelves where she could store completed albums as well as unframed pictures in boxes. Open shelves and closed storage, in other words.
First, we met with the carpenter to talk about the design.

Then we added a wool flatweave rug from Rugman.com.

And THEN we painted the walls Benjamin Moore’s AC-34 Cape Hatteras Sand in a matte finish. Aura paint, of course. It’s a lovely warm gray. (Hmmm, should have tried THAT for my dining room. Ah, well.)
The trim is OC-18 Dove Wing, semi-gloss, and the ceiling is OC-17 White Dove, matte finish.
And finally, the built-ins were installed.

Don’t they look beautiful? We’ll put a wall-mounted swing-arm reading lamp over by that little chair eventually, but this is where we are right now. (You know I don’t have the patience to wait until it’s ALL finished to show you the pictures!)
Annie Elliott – aka bossy color – is an interior decorator and design blogger in Washington, D.C. She has been quoted in publications from The Washington Post to Real Simple and is considered an expert on color, residential space planning, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.