Sarabeth-Can you upload some photos here?

Yes, bubbasgma - here are some "before"
Next comment section below, will post the "after"

"After"

Looks GREAT, sarabeth!

Wow is that sharp, nice job!

It looks great! After all that oak- overload, I'm surprised to see it on the floors! Are those new?

Zimhome, the red oak floors had been covered with wall to wall carpeting for about 45 years! Wood floors are 'just enough' wood and it has been fun seeing again what these original floors were like when we first bought this house. We had them refinished professionally last month. Oh, and we have put a runner down that hallway, so only the edges are showing now. The runner makes it less noisy, and warmer in the cold winters, when walking on the wood flooring. Other than the oak floors, only the baseboards, door trim, and window trim were oak throughout the house; that end-of-the-hall cabinet, and broom closet is birch plywood, and I painted it with the BM Advance, satin, Finnie Gray. I'm still working on painting the trim in the bedrooms. I have the living room, dining area, and this hallway finished.

What a great find under the carpet! Do you have a picture of your runner? I'm on the hunt for one myself!

Sarabeth...you sure are ambitious!!!

zmhome - I found a super, super deal by chance, one day when I walked into Lowe's. There was a 42 foot remnant roll of runner carpeting marked 64 Cents/ft. I couldn't believe it. What a steal. It was originally $6.49/ft. And it was really thick, wool and bound on the long edges. It is a Persian style pattern. I needed 16'. But for that low price I purchased the whole roll! For $.64 (cents) a foot I figured what the hey, couldn't pass up such a deal for about $26 for the entire 42'. I used a utility knife and cut my 16' for the hallway. I still need to drop it off at a carpet or upholstery store and have the ends bound. However just the other day I found at Menard's a roll of DIY binding, in a matching red like the long edges of the runner. I'll try it first and see how it looks. Another option I was going to do was when I was in a carpet store and looking through some of the carpet samples and saw some lovely carpets that were 15' in width. I was going to buy just the width I needed ( 24", just 2 feet). So I would end up with a 15' long X 24" wide 'runner'. Tons of carpet comes in 12' widths and if that works for your length, you have many more carpet samples to choose from. Another thing that I am doing is ordering a rug pad for under it. It will keep it from sliding around, and protect the wood flooring too. I found a great site with a lot of good information on the types and reasons for getting a quality carpet pad. They will cut the pad exactly to your specifications. In the living room I have a new 8' X 10' wool tufted area rug on my newly finished wood floors. I went to this site and I bought their Ultra Premium (natural rubber and felt). I am ordering their Super Hold for the hallway runner. Check it out here: www.rugpadcorner.com

Great job!

Thanks, bungalowmo! I needed to hear that 'a touch of black' quote. I have for the longest time felt bad that I didn't do the hardware in this hallway in brushed nickle or pewter finish. But now I will look at these dark/black, oil-rubbed bronze, knobs/hinges as a GOOD THING in this decorating re-do. Yes, a little black in every room is a good choice.