I hope you enjoyed having a look at our living room last weekend and as promised I want to show you the hallway today more than anything to gee me up to get this space looking and feeling a bit more finished and homely as it feels neither of those things right now.
I absolutely adore the colour that I chose for the hallway, which is Inchyra Blue by Farrow & Ball (they kindly gifted us just the paint for the hallway – not the rest of the house) and I love how it emphasises the beautiful original banisters and I chose to install a dado rail, not original to the house, to add even more of the colour (as well as hide mucky hand prints and dog scuffs). I also love the original internal doors that I chose to leave natural and I think the tone of the wood works really well with the blue (actually more green in this space).
However, the stairs are waiting for a carpet that may be a long time coming as it is SO expensive to carpet stairs and this makes the hallway feel and look very unfinished so I think we will paint them in the meantime (probably Railings, the same colour as our kitchen). Another problem is that we have a lot of shoes and boots to contend with so we are desperate for some storage as all we currently have are some hastily mounted pegs and a shelf from the old flat that don’t look great. A lovely 1930s bevelled mirror and maybe a rug like this one and we’ll all be feeling much better about the space, I’m sure. In the meantime I’m going to show you some storage pieces from the Wooden Furniture Store that would work well in a hallway as they are kindly sponsoring this post.
Before and after
Just to give you an idea of what the hallway was like when we bought the house and how it looks today…
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- BEFORE
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- AFTER
The hallway was very, very tired with peeling wallpaper, a horribly dirty green carpet, the woodwork was chipped and battered, the walls were filthy, the plaster was shot and the doors were painted. We completely stripped the place back to brick, replastered, re-wired with spot lights (which I HATE but we’ll talk about that another time) and re-plumbed and installed a new traditional style radiator that we painted the same colour as the walls. We had the picture rail, architrave, skirting and coving replaced as it was but I also added a dado rail, which I love for the style and practical benefits. The doors were dipped and left natural on this side (they’re painted on the other side in the living room) and I bought new handles.
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- BEFORE
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- AFTER
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- BEFORE
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- AFTER
My greatest sadness when we bought the house was that the previous owner had taken out the original front door. All of the other period features in the house were left alone and I was fine with the fact that that windows are uPVC but the front door makes me weep. However, as it is purely aesthetic it got pushed to the bottom of the list when it came to how we spent our renovation budget.
Future plans
This is the only storage we have as it stands – just a cheap peg rail and wall shelf that we brought from our flat and nothing for shoes and boots.
We will be carpeting the stairs in this sisal, which from previous experience is amazingly hard wearing and does not show up the dirt and wear like wool carpets can. We will also replace the front door and its frame with an original 1930s one like this, which will totally transform the feeling of the space as well as letting in more day light. For now though we are going to focus on less expensive and more practical pursuits like figuring out the storage, which I know will make this hallway a very useable and useful space.
Taking inspiration from the hallway furniture at Wooden Furniture Store, I am thinking of a storage bench that we will be able to sit on as well as storing shoes and boots. The other option is a dedicated shoe cupboard, which we may be able to fit alongside a bench as very soon Mimi’s buggy won’t be needed (sob!) so we will have extra space and she will no doubt have more shoes.
I really like having a wall mounted set of cubby holes that can be used to store mail, keys, dog leads etc. Even though this wall shelf with pegs isn’t intended for the hallway it would be perfect or a more conventional wall mounted set of coat hooks is very useful, especially if it has a shelf above.
I had ruled out a console table as I had in my mind that it wouldn’t enough storage for us but looking at this one it could work for shoes below and then all those bits that just need to be shut away in a drawer and forgotten about 😉
We will also be painting and organising the under stairs cupboards as our next job so watch this space for progress on that (our weekends are soooo fun at the moment!).
During
And just to give you an idea of what was involved in getting smooth walls, restored doors, a new radiator and re-wired lights in our hallway here are the ‘during’ pics…
So, there you are. If anyone has an extra couple of thousand pounds floating around fling them my way for some carpet and a new front door – ha!
Katy x
*This post was kindly sponsored by the Wooden Furniture Store.
Hi Katy, love your hallway reveal, may I ask if you will be carpeting your hallway with sisal as well as using it on the stairs?
Thanks Tess
Author
Hi Tess. We will just carpet the stairs, not the hallway – we’ll leave the floorboards in the hallway as our dog is way too muddy every morning after his walk to have a carpeted hallway. C
Hi Katy, what a gorgeous colour! I love the transformation so far especially the doors. I wondered about your radiator; how did you paint it? With a primer then paint, eggshell? I have to source a tall rad for our living room which I want to paint the wall colour so it doesn’t become a feature. Drawing a blank so far though, ergh.
DM
Author
Hi Donna. Our decorator did the radiator but I have painted radiators before and yes,
I used Farrow & Ball’s metal primer and then Estate Eggshell x
Hi Katy,
Well done in your home improvements so far, it looks gorge! I have the exact same staircase/layout as yours with the only difference being that I have an extra storage section to the left of my staircase as well as underneath. I too like the sisa carpet as a runner for my stairs. Have you managed to carpet your top landing yet? If not do you have any ideas of any carpets that could match/compliment the stair carpet please?
Author
Sadly we still haven’t done the carpeting yet! It’s still very much on the to do list but it’s a costly business so has slipped down the priority list x
This looks so great! I spent the day umming and ahhing about whether to paint our bathroom a dark green but wasn’t sure how it would look against the contrast of the wooden floor, oak door and white tiles. But this photo has convinced me it’ll work as this paint looks very green in this light?!
Author
Yes! It is very green in our hallway (although more blue or grey in other rooms with different light apparently). Fingers crossed your bathroom works out well x
Love that wall colour and the console table ? we are almost ready to do the hallway here too! Xx
That wall shelf with the cubby holes is a great idea – I’d never thought of something like that for the hallway but it makes a lot of sense. I look forward to seeing how your hallway develops as our house is a very similar layout so I’m basically going to copy what you do 😉 (please take that as nothing but flattery!) x
Hello, love the look of this and the dado rail – where does it stop? Does it go all the way around the landing as well? We won’t have one either but wondering whether adding one might be a practical solution. Thanks!
Well done, love what you’ve done in your hallway. May I ask what the colour is above the dado rail please?
Can you tell me where you bought the replacement door handles please, we have the same doors, but the handles need replacing.
Thanks
Elaine
Author
Hi Elaine. I bought them from vintagedoorknobs.co.uk x
Hi Kate
Can I ask how you got the doors back to the original wood… I’ve been battling with our 1904 house as the doors, skirts and stairs have so many layers of paint!
How did you get them looking brand new?
Cheers
Jac
Author
We got them dipped by a local door stripper. They collect the doors, dip them in chemicals to remove all the paint and then deliver them back to you . Costs about £20 per door and £25 for the collection/delivery. Once they are dipped you can either paint them or leave them as natural wood xx
We are doing similar refurb work at the moment and want to keep the floor boards as in your pictures! May I ask what you used to keep this natural and not glossy finish? We were recommended to use oils rather than varnish / stain but I’m not convinced oil will leave a matt finish. Would love to know what/how you did there, as this is the exact look we are going for and can’t seem to find a solution! Many thanks 🙂
Author
Yes, we used Osmo oil – the ‘Raw’ colour. It is definitely a matt finish x
Love the paint colour, what is it?
Author
It’s Inchyra Blue by Farrow & Ball x
Hi Katy,
This is beautiful. What is the colour above the dado rail, the white colour?
Thanks,
Hattie
Author
Hi Hattie. It is just brilliant white as that is all we could afford at the time. One day I hope to use wallpaper or a warmer off white like Slipper Satin, School House White or Shaded White x
Hi Katy,
Nice job! I can see this is a bit of an old post but hopefully you’re still answering questions about it.
Love this, I’m looking for wooden details as our house has also been devoided of any nice old details by previous owners… I’m especially curious about where you got the dado rail, also the skirting boards and architraves from?
Many thanks,
Author
Hi Madeleine. Our builder supplied the dado, skirting and architraves. I chose the Torus profile, if that helps x
Love the hallway colours. I have just painted my bedroom inchyra blue and might continue it in the hall etc. What is the wall colour above the dado please? X
Author
Oh lovely! The wall colour is just brilliant white. X
Do you have any pictures with carpet, as we just painted our hallway the same colour (inspired by yours) and wanted to see what would look nice.
Love what you have done to your house. Truly Amazing!!!!
Author
I’m so sorry but we still haven’t carpeted – still saving up! Thank you so much for lovely comments about the house x
Beautiful colour, it really pops agains the white. Could you tell me where the narrow column radiator is from? It looks so much better than the one that was there before.
Author
The radiator is this one:https://soak.com/en-gb/radiators/horizontal-column-radiators/white-finish/600x1008mm-white-double-panel-horizontal-colosseum-traditional-radiator/2001932.html#start=5 xx
Hi, I really like the spindles on your staircase, could you please tell me the size of them (width and depth) and the space between them.? the previous owners have ripped our staircase out and we need to replace them 1930s style. Huge thanks in advance if you can help 😊
Author
Each spindle is 3x3cm. There is a 2.8cm gap between each group of three spindles. Then there is a 12.5cm gap between the next group of three spindles. I hope that makes sense! Xx
Hello Katy!
Your hallway is gorgeous! I scoured your blog looking for more information on exactly how you finished your floors (I know your husband HATED doing them, hahahah but I couldn’t find anything else. Please pardon me if I missed something)
They look amazing and very natural (almost like raw wood). Have they been bleached? I am guessing they are oiled, but with what? Any specifies would be so helpful. Also, how are they holding up (hard to keep up?)
We are currently in the midst of it all with sanding all the floors of our 1920’s gem. It’s quite a job. We are also sanding all the doors one by one (dipping is SOOO expensive here!) and doing a break through sitting room to kitchen. It’s kind of insane but reading about others having survived the madness and ending up with such a gorgeous home is giving me hope 🙂
Author
Hi there! Yes, we sanded them and then used Osmo Oil Raw on them. It gives a matt finish and is basically supposed to give the natural colour of the wood rather than making them darker or more orange, which some oils/varnish can do. I really hope that helps! They are holding up perfectly – no problems at all xx Good luck! X
Hello,
Love this look, is the rail painted the same colour as the walls?
Thanks
Author
It is!
Hi Katy,
We are just getting round to decorating our hallway in our victorian house and your pictures have really inspired me after a bit of a slump. Did you use the same type of paint on the walls and woodwork in the Inchrya blue? Previously we’ve used matt on walls and satin on skirting but want to do all the same colour in the hallway and dont want a different effect. My main concern is using matt on the hand rail and it not being very hard wearing or showing up lots of little hands/finger marks that live in this house!
Author
Hi there. I used F&B modern emulsion on the walls and F&B modern Eggshell on the woodwork so they both have some sheen to them which makes them easy to wipe clean x
Hi, are those the original floor boards?
They look so good.
Author
They are – we sanded them and then used Osmo raw oil x
Hi, I am just restoring/refurbishing my Victorian stairs and want to put a runner on them. Having taken up the carpet several if the treds have cracks almost all the way along in the middle which are causing really loud creaks even when carpeted. I can see one of your treds near the bottom was cracked, how did you sort it out, filler? Glue? Has it stayed fixed, did it creak? I can’t get under the stairs they are covered by the original Victorian tongue and groove and I don’t want to pull it out.
Did you wax or oil the doors after they were dipped. My doors look extremely dry and in need of nourishment but I’m not sure what to put on them. I don’t want to varnish them even with a Matt varnish
Author
No, we just left them bare. They are a bit dry but nothing to worry about x
Hi there, please could you tell me what the top colour was in your hallway . Thanks you 😘
Author
It’s just brilliant white. It was a cheap temp solution as I want to wallpaper when I can afford it. X
Hi Katie
Do you have any photos of the sisal on the stairs yet?
I’m loving the carpet and thinking of using the same
I love everything you’ve done and really am inspired to use more colour rather than creams xx
Author
We STILL haven’t carpeted the stairs!! Soon!