Unsung Spaces

As part of our Unsung Spaces series, we’ll be writing guides to elevate the spaces we use and love, but don’t necessarily prioritise. Our second article in this series addresses the hallway.
Every house has a hallway, no matter how small. This space is a high traffic area, and can often be demoted to a thoroughfare between spaces as opposed to a space in and of itself. Here are some small interior steps to make your hallway a happy start, and end, to your day.

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play with light

Hallways can be one of the darkest corners in a home. As our time in the hallway often punctuates our day it needs to work in both natural light and darkness: you don’t want to be left fumbling around for your keys at the end of a long day.

The best way to bring light into this space is through your front door, but if you don’t want to change the door you have, or add glass to it, you can use artificial light or mirrors to brighten your space. Pendant lights are beautiful, but only light the immediate surrounding area.So you could, for example, pair your pendant light with wall mounted lights to draw the eye along the hallway, or add a lamp to a console table to bring focus to a specific zone within the space. In short: don’t rely on a single light and use lighting to focus people’s attention within your hallway.

focus on the details

The most impactful spaces are often made up of lots of little details; and it’s the combination of these details that set the tone. See everything that might go unnoticed in your hallway as an opportunity to add your own flair. That way you’ll appreciate this extra consideration every time you use it, whether you’re wiping your feet on a fun doormat or hanging your coat on a colourful set of hooks.

balance your space with colour

Most hallways are narrow by nature, but you can use colour to add shape to your space. Want to widen your hallway? Paint up to chair rail height (this is approximately one-third of the wall). Want to elongate your hallway? Paint every wall a darker colour to your ceiling. Want to make your space feel larger? Paint everything - including your ceiling in the same colour (this is called colour drenching and blurs the line between where your wall ends and your ceiling starts). Colour drenching in a hallway tends to work better with lighter colours, if it’s a dark space. If that much colour feels too scary, or you’re looking to spend less on paint, you could paint your trim in an accent colour to add impact instead.

Green Staircase [Photo by Anna Stathaki and interior design by Indie & Co]; Green Accent Trim [Interiors by Sam Grigg Interiors].

dedicate ‘places’ to your things

A hallway often plays the role of thoroughfare in a home. We’re all guilty of getting in the front door and proceeding to ‘dump’ our stuff as soon as we’ve closed the front door. To stop yourself from losing things, and to reduce the time needed to tidy up after yourself, make clear spaces for the stuff you want to dump. This could be a bowl for your keys, a rack for your shoes or a stand for your umbrella. And, if you have the space, add seating. That way you can be comfortable while you’re transitioning from ‘outside’ you to ‘inside’ you, or vice versa.