Which eyesores? The wicked ones in our hallway of course. Because if we were going through all of the trouble to install board and batten, we didn’t want a blah light fixture, a dingy old ceiling vent, and a gaudy doorbell stinking up the view. So here’s an overdue rundown of those other little updates that you might have noticed in last week’s big board & batten reveal (while we steadily add crown molding to the playroom, guest room, and this very hallway – which we can’t wait to share!).
Although updating the light fixture, the doorbell, and the ceiling vent sound small-ish in size, they definitely were detracting from the view. So those little switches are definitely worth doing right along with the big ones (you know what they say about the devil being in the details). And dare I say that thanks to those updates the hallway is now befitting of all the fancy board & batten that’s going on down below.
Let’s start with the light fixture, which was actually a transplant from our laundry room since the original fixture was too much on the eyes. Whereas the former laundry room light may best be described as “not really enough on the eyes.” But it worked for over a year and you know we love to use what we have – at least while we hold out for something that’s more our style.
While we were holding out we also contemplating freshening it up with some new spray paint on the base and maybe a painted stripe on the glass cover. But then we came across this deeply-discounted fixture at our favorite local lighting outlet. And since it reminded us of the industrial, outdoor-ish fixtures that we installed in the guest and hall bathrooms, we were sold. And for $18 (marked down from $99) how could we not be?
So I switched off the power and got busy with a good ol’ fashioned light fixture switch-up.
Not too shabby, eh? Forgive the incandescent bulb – it was the only one I had around at the time.
So with that little upgrade made, it was time to turn our attention to its ugly neighbor: the doorbell.
I’m convinced this thing is straight out of a Brady Bunch episode. And when it dings I half expect an old-timey milkman to be dropping off some fresh bottles on our doorstep.
I shouldn’t really complain, considering our last house didn’t even have a doorbell (we eventually installed a wireless one). But I’ll admit that having a wired doorbell presented a somewhat new challenge to us… in that we didn’t know much about them. So off we went doorbell shopping, hoping to find something that was still wired but far less scene-stealing. I believe it was one of Clara’s favorite DIY shopping trips to date. I’m not sure all of the the Home Depot shoppers who had to listen to us test each sound over and over again would agree.
We came home with this guy. He was $20, wired, and wonderfully nondescript.
With the electricity still off, I nervously popped off the cover of the old bell, half expecting to find some elaborate contraption run by a tiny cartoon dinosaur a la The Flintstones. But to my surprise, the dated (and quite dusty) fixture had the exact same connections that the new one did. Hallelujah.
That meant I could rely on my old “just redo what you undo” technique for swapping out anything electrical (with the power off of course – important detail!). To elaborate on that method: if the red wire went somewhere on the old fixture, I put it there on the new one. Replication theory.
So I disconnected the old connections and unscrewed it from the wall…
…which was oh-so-attractive underneath.
The new doorbell had a slightly smaller footprint when attached, but since we knew we’d be painting the wall as part of the board and batten project we didn’t mind living with the now-visible ugliness for a few days.
With all of the wires reconnected in the same way that they were configured for the old doorbell, I added the cover and marveled at what a small but helpful improvement it was. It’s one of those easy changes that makes the whole house feel a lot more updated (great for resale since the entire “system” now appears new). Update: Every time we mention resale (which we do pretty often as DIYers) we get a bunch of “are you moving?!” questions, so here’s our response for you guys!
And as is the case as soon as you complete one project, it just makes something nearby look terrible by comparison. Like that dingy yellowed grate behind these before & after photos (it’s a vent for the whole house fan). In a word: ew.
Thankfully my paint-happy wife hopped right up on a stepladder and tackled it with some ceiling paint from the basement (it was left for us by the previous owners). She just used a paint brush to apply extra thin coats (it took her three, but the fan still opens/works/looks great thanks to the thin application).
So. Much. Better.
Oh yeah, and if you were wondering if the doorbell still works? It does. And so does our back-up “doorbell” that goes off every time the real one sounds. He’s also known as Burger.
And more recently, in our current home, we went fully wireless with our doorbell because the house didn’t have one to begin with! We installed a Ring video doorbell instead. It was super easy and took only 5 simple steps to add.
Are there any upgrades that you tend to tackle in a domino-effect-ish row? Do you ever notice how one little update can lead to a few more nearby? It’s like ugly things get incrementally uglier with the presence of new things nearby…
Ashley says
Love your blog! I’ve thought about doing board and batten in our hallway upstairs, but have worries it might be too busy (our hallway width is 39 inches and we have almost 8 foot ceilings). Thoughts? How wide is your hallway? Thanks – keep up the awesome!
YoungHouseLove says
Our hallway is only 40 inches wide and we have 8 foot ceilings, so it sounds like a similar situation. Our tip would be not to install them too high (ours are 40″ from the floor) because it almost helps the ceilings look higher because it feels like all this space above the molding. Hope that helps!
-John
Jennifer says
I have the twin to your nutone doorbell! Yes, the thing is hideous :)
Meleah says
Yep, I just replaced a huge fluorescent light with a homemade orb light. The yellow ceiling where the old light was is awful. I now want to tackle smoothing the ceiling. (Probably won’t happen right now since we have too many other projects going on.)
Alisa says
We have been making almost the exact same changes to our hallway lately (even painted it Moonshine!)! You’re lucky the wiring was done properly…ours was wired with telephone wire. Maybe that’s why it never worked? Who knows. Luckily my dad is a home repairman so he was able to come over and rewire it for fah-reeeee! At least our nasty brown chime is gone! We are currently trying to find a light so we can move the one wall sconce to an overhead. I mean, I think it’s kind of a nice perk to be able to see the entire hallway instead of just a little patch of wall, but that’s just me. Oh and I LOVE that light. All sorts of fabulousness wrapped up in that sweet fixture.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome that your dad fixed it all up for fah-reeee!
xo
s
Emily Hughes says
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never seen that SNL video before!!! Sharing on facebook NOW. P.S. Our doorbell looks like an innocent bicycle bell…but sounds like….I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like you’re playing a game show and you got the wrong answer and you were buzzed in the loudest, ugly-metal-vibrating-together-rattle-buzz, are getting electrocuted and dropping through a trap door at the same time. I hate our doorbell. MUST REPLACE. It scares my guests. lol
YoungHouseLove says
Hahah!
xo
s
Kelly says
Ah, yes. The cascade of changes. We painted the outside of our house which ended up in us sealing the brickwork to get it darker, changing out all the outside outlets, getting a new doorbell button, new light fixtures, a new doorknob….
Angie says
yes! so much better! lave a light in my home that’s begging to be replaced with the same fixture. love it!
Hampshire Furniture says
Great post. The little changes really do make the big differences. I can’t believe how much better the space looks now you’ve made a few edits. It’s kind of the same with buying decor. I didn’t really know what scheme I was going for until I bought a cool turquoise birdcage, now my entire scheme has been planned out, inspired by that one decorative feature…crazy!
Becky says
I really like the overhead light fixture in the picture with Burger. Where is that one from?
YoungHouseLove says
That was original to the house – isnt it pretty? Wish I knew where it was from!
xo
s
marissa says
OMG i love that skit… soooo funny! “router, Netflix, whaaaa???”
Jennifer says
I tried to read through most of the comments to see if this was already asked & answered so if I missed it I’m sorry but I have a question about the light….John did you rewire that to make it a pull string light? This is crazy timing because we have a similar light want to make into a pull string for our hallway too…just not sure how. If you see this comment I’d love some advice! Thank you!
Jen
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no, that’s the string for the attic pull-down you’re probably seeing. Our light is still operated by a switch on the wall. They do sell fixtures with a pull-string base (like the ones you see in closests, for instance) but they’re typically not very attractive. Sorry that our situation doesn’t match yours!
-John
heather says
hey guys! you inspired me to switch out our old doorbell, however, you made it look to easy! ours look almost identical! i bought a new chime from lowe’s and hooked it up, but the doorbell doesn’t sound the same and almost clicks before it dings. did you replace the doorbell buttons on the outside as well? any other thoughts as to what might be going on?
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! We didn’t change the doorbell button by the door, but the wiring just made it so that button hooked up to the new chime (which does sound different – the button on the door just activates it). Maybe there’s a defect with your chime if it clicks though? I would try rewiring it once more (and checking the manual to be sure you’re connecting them right) and if you are I’d return it and see if you can get another one that sounds better to you (they let you listen to all of them in the display before buying them, so hopefully that helps) :)
xo
s
Seaweed & Raine says
Don’t. Ever. Apologise. For incandecent bulbs that is. I love them. I hate the new energy efficient ones. They are put your shades on glarey, unflattering to your skin (and wrinkles)and just plain ugly. We can no longer buy them here in NSW (Aust), so I have been hoarding the ones that we managed to procure before they changed over. I love even BETTER the super huge ones you can get – totally has that industrial thing down pat. :)
Helen Williams says
Hey guys, thanks for sharing about the decorators outlet where you got your hall light. I have the same light on my list but I actually need to get 5 of them for our renovation. We are only about 50 minutes from the Outlet so my husband and I are gonna head over there on Sat. Did they happen to have a lot of them? Crossing my fingers, Helen
YoungHouseLove says
Eeks, I would give them a call. We got that a little while ago (and I think they might have only had one or two more). But they get new things all the time, so I’d call before the big drive!
xo
s
Kim says
The hallway looks fantastic but I have to say I love this post for the SNL skit – it’s one of my favorites and my husband and I quote it all the time! I also love Car Horns and more (with JLo as her cousin).
Religious:
Honk honk, I’m coming to your house Jesus!
Elderly:
I remember when this was all farmland, honk honk!
hee hee hee hee…
Tall Tee says
Oh-ho-hoooo: for me, it was the light fixture hanging above the front foyer at our old house–and by “old house” I mean OLD. We painted the walls, the front door, updated the doorknobs, painted the hand rail–and boy did that ugly light stick out like a sore thumb. It was el grosso.
That fixture made me tackle my fear of heights. Since my husband never met a home project that he didn’t like to pass to his handywife (lol), I copped a super-updateable light from the Habitat ReStore, grabbed some tape and a can of ORB spray paint, and one terrifying trip 18 feet up and 2 sore arms later, I was done. It really, REALLY is the little eyesores that pull everything together.
Tall Tee says
Shoot–I meant to type “It really, REALLY is fixing the little eyesores that pull everything together,” not “It really, REALLY is the little eyesores that pull everything together”. Sheesh. Since when did eyesores pull anything together but your last good nerve?
YoungHouseLove says
Hahahaha! So funny! I knew what you meant :)
xo
s
Best Wireless Doorbell says
Love the “rearrangement” sequence.And the doorbell looks great.
Stacie says
Searching out info about attic fans and their usefulness. Getting ready to make an offer on a 1978 ranch with a lovely, silver vent system in the hallway. We are in South Carolina. Mild winters, humid, hot summers! Is it really helpful? Cuz it’s really ugly!
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, a whole house fan can really cool off the house fast. We hardly used ours but the realtor said it was a real selling feature when we sold our house!
xo
s