First impressions count and your entrance hall is your home’s first reception room for welcoming guests. All too often, however, entrance halls are barely given a moment’s thought in renovation plans. Here are my top tips to making the most of your hall to give the best first impression possible.
Hallways can be dark depending on the natural light they might have, so bring in natural light by opening up stairways to allow for light to come down from upstairs windows.
If you’re changing the front door - consider one that has a window or partial glazing and use mirrors to reflect light and create the illusion of more space.
Keep paintwork light - nothing worse than a dark hallway. Use an accent colour - something light, calm and welcoming
Hallways are well used and can clutter up quickly with shoes, coats, bags etc. Use any alcoves or under-stairs areas for built-in storage to tidy everything away.
Go vertical - Use the walls! If you’ve got a narrow hallway, build your storage, hooks etc upwards. You’ll be amazed what you can get up a fairly standard height wall.
Dual-purpose furniture, use a storage bench to tidy away general hats, scarves, gloves and bags etc.
Many homes have radiators in their hallways, so consider a radiator cover that doubles up as a handy shelf above for post, keys and a plant or two.
Tiled floors give a fabulous, smart and stylish look and can bring in patterns and colour accents. They’re also very easy to clean and great for high traffic areas.
If you’re going for a wooden floor, ensure the length of planks go front to back (rather than side to side which jars the eye line). Ideally, continue the wooden floor through into the reception rooms with no thresholds to give more of a sense of flow and space. The same principle goes for any floor finish or pattern. Think of it as drawing your guest into your home, which, incidentally, is where Drawing Room comes from.
Use a stair runner to create a sense of depth - it looks much smarter and more stylish than fully carpeted or bare stairs.
