Your hallway is a hardworking part of your house for many reasons. It’s the first impression into your home, but it also needs to be a very practical space with lots of storage.

Not only that, but hallways tend to be the darkest and narrowest part of your home, so they come with a number of design challenges. Here’s some tips and tricks to help you get your hallway right.

Nail the storage

*Narrow hallway storage, from* *DIY Mommy*

First things first, you’ll need your hallway to give you as much storage as you can fit. I split these into categories:

Surfaces and drawers, for things like keys, letters, sunglasses
Hanging storage, for coats, scarfs and bags
Floor storage (baskets, shoe racks) for things like umbrellas and shoes

If your hallway is particularly narrow, you’ll want all your storage off the floor - so furniture without legs (i.e. wall mounted units, ledges and hooks) are your friend.

If you can, using space underneath stairs for coats will keep your hallway feeling uncluttered.

Get the lighting right

*Wall sconces in a narrow hallway, from* *Our French Modern Home*

*Statement chandelier, by* *Melanie Lissack Interiors*

Hallways often don’t have any windows, making them the darkest part of the home. Therefore, lighting them properly takes a bit of consideration.

First, I always suggest adding a really big mirror to a hallway because; 1) it helps make a narrow space feel wider, 2) it will bounce round what natural light there is, 3) it’s useful to have a mirror to check before you go out.

For lighting fixtures, think about the ceiling, the walls, and the surfaces. If you have a tall ceiling, this is the perfect opportunity for a great big statement light. Wall lights are a great option for if your hallway is particularly narrow. If there’s a console table, I like to add a table lamp on a timer switch - it’s nice being greeted with a little mood lighting in the evenings.

Add wallpaper or panelling

*Panelled hallway, from* *Malmo and Moss*

*Wallpapered entrance hall, by* *Sims Hilditch*

Because hallways are often quite narrow, it means there’s less opportunity for design features, like furniture or decorative objects. This is an opportunity to make more of a design statement on the walls instead - so a hallway is a great place to add a bit of statement panelling, or even some wallpaper if you fancy.

Use colour blocking to modify the shape

*Colour blocked hallway, from* *Interior Fox*

*Colour-blocked ceiling and far wall, as seen on* *Cote Maison*

I’ve written an entire blog post about how you can change the shape of a room with paint, and the same techniques can be used in a hallway. To summarise though: warm colours make surfaces appear closer, and cool colours make them seem further away.

You can use these techniques to colour block the walls in your hallway to make it feel longer, narrower, wider, or shorter.

Don’t forget the front door, inside and out

*Pink front door, from* *LondonDoor.co.uk*

*Lisa Dawson’s* *amazing turquoise front door (and lovely statement light)*

First impressions will start outside of the house, so don’t forget your front door! I love a colourful front door to show off a bit of personality - make sure you take into account the colour of the exterior of your house (i.e. bricks) and play around with your colour palette.

To add some more interest and some fun into the hallway without taking up any space, you can also paint the inside of your front door a fun colour, like Lisa Dawson’s front door above.

Tie it in with the rest of your home

*Light and airy, mixed with vintage - via* *Homes to Love*

*A cheerful colour palette, via* *Farrow & Ball*

Finally - something to consider is that your hallway leads to all other parts of your home, so ideally there needs to be a common theme between it and the rest of your home design. In interior design we call this the red thread - the design link between all the rooms in a home.

This could be a colour palette, a pattern, and it could also be furniture style or style of lighting. If your home is very modern and airy, you probably want to replicate this in your hallway. Likewise, if you favour vintage or antique furniture, you can nod to this in the hallway with the furniture that you choose.

If you’d like my help with your next project, check out my services to see how we can work together. If you’ve enjoyed this blog, don’t forget to subscribe below to receive my new post in your inbox every Sunday.