The hallway

This is a follow-up to my recent post regarding the "new" art in the hallway. Of course, there's also old art in the hallway too! I took this picture quite some time ago, primarily to practice indoor photography. I'd really like to share more photos of my home with family, friends and others, because I've put a lot of care into decorating it. Unfortunately, it's not always very photogenic! But, I've been doing some online research about how to improve the quality of pictures. And, so far, in blogging, I've found my smart phone's camera to be another good tool if the regular camera just won't cut it.

So, here is the view of the hallway from the front door. Excuse the mess on the little table in the corner. That's my "landing strip."

Just to the right, past the coats that are hanging in the closet, is the hallway that now has the green flowered print described a couple of days ago. To the left, there is an opening to the living room.

The artwork directly ahead is a print by Norman Rockwell that used to hang in my grandfather's law office. The name is "The Golden Rule" and the text reads, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I know the detail is a little hard to grasp, but the people in the painting are all sorts of different people: different ages, races, nationalities, religions, etc. This piece has been at my parents house, though not on display, since my grandfather passed away in 2004. I'm very proud that they let me hang it in my home, and very lucky that my dad helped me install this light fixture above it shortly after I moved in. All that used to be there was a single 60w bulb behind a plain, opaque, bulb. It didn't light the hallway and wouldn't have done anything at all for the Norman Rockwell.

On the table in front of the painting, you'll notice the small Tiffany-style lamp. I love this lamp! It's probably the only thing in my home that could really be described as "Mission" or "prairie" style. I enjoy those styles a lot, but they're difficult to execute when you're in a 1980s apartment building and have a small budget. I also love the story behind this lamp. When I was in graduate school, I had the opportunity to participate in a student organization that had its own office in the school building. Students who were part of the organization had access to a shared workspace in the office. There were also some students who held leadership roles in the organization who had their own private workspaces within the office. At the end of each school year, new leadership was elected as the previous leaders were graduating, and the previous leadership had to vacate their workspaces. Well, the class preceding mine didn't really do a thorough job moving out of their workspaces. Many of those people had to be reminded numerous times to come and vacate their spaces and turn in their keys. One girl, in particular, simply refused to come for her things. The rest of us packed them in a box and put them on a shelf so the new inhabitants of her workspace could get settled and she could come by at her convenience to get these things. She never did. One among them was this darling little lamp, which I took with me when I moved out at the end of that school year. I've had it with me ever since and now use it to light the hallway whenever I have company.

Her loss is my gain! I don't know that I would ever have selected this lamp for myself. The base is a brown metal, and I often am nervous about incorporating brown into my decor because I have so much black. But, it became really the unifying element that brings this entire space together. I love my hallway!