Small hallway ideas: How to make the most of tiny hallways
When you come through the small hallways and front doors, what you really want is a place to sit down, take off your shoes, store your umbrella, and hang your coat. But how to fit all of this in when your hallway is the size of a shoebox itself? These narrow dark spaces are inevitably challenging, but we've gathered some bright ideas for lightening them up with colour and pattern (or alternatively, embracing the darkness, in which case you should also scroll the paint colours that work well in a dark hallway), and making a stylish entrance to come home to.
“The walls are also an opportunity to be seized [in a hallway],” says interior designer Rita Konig. “Anywhere that you pass through fleetingly is somewhere you can be more exuberant or unexpected. John Fowler did a wonderful hall once, with old hexagonal stone floors and quite serious-looking antiques set against ‘Madras Violet’ wallpaper by Cole & Son (cole-and-son.com). Entrance halls are a great opportunity for a dramatic, large-scale wallpaper that draws you up the stairs.” We have gathered some excellent small hallway ideas to help you to make the most of this often challenging space.
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Small hallway ideas from the House & Garden archive
Christopher Horwood1/17This tiny hallway in a London flat by Carlos Garcia is simply delightful. The panelling, painted in Fenwick & Tilbrook's ‘Red Squirrel’, lends it bags of character, and we love the little shelf high up on the wall for bags and other paraphernalia.
Paul Whitbread2/17In this Georgian flat in Marylebone by Anna Haines, the designer has created a calm backdrop in Atelier Ellis’s ‘Canopy’ that allows the striped stair runner – ‘Peacock Coir’ from Peter Page – to stand out. A small floating shelf above the dado rail rather than a larger console is an excellent space-saving option.
Paul Massey3/17The entrance to this north London villa by Brandon Schubert features two clever ways to make a hallway feel bigger and brighter: mirror and glass. Together, the stained glass panels in the door and the wall of antique mirror increase the sense of light and space considerably. The John Cherrington painting above The Lacquer Company console and the Collier Webb lantern create elegant focal points.
Paul Massey4/17Anyone with a large collection of books will know that space is always at a premium, so adding shelving to a hallway can be a very good idea – with the added benefit that books always look good and can help to furnish a room.
In this Bloomsbury mansion flat decorated by David Bentheim, the bookshelves lead the eye down the narrow hallway, where Morris & Co’s ‘Fruit’ wallpaper in wine/manilla showcases pieces from the owners’ art collection. Jamb lanterns complete with atmospheric space that sets the scene for the rooms to come.
Boz Gagovski5/17If you have the smallest of alcoves or niches, try incorporating this classic boot room formula: bench to sit on, shoe storage beneath it, hooks for coats behind and a shelf for hats above. This stylish example at an 18th-century gatehouse and hotel in Wiltshire welcomes guests with the fresh forest green of Farrow & Ball's ‘Beverly'.
Christopher Horwood6/17The hallway of Lucy Williams' house is a study in pink, with Myland's Soho House on the walls and reclaimed quarry tiles on the floor. In a complementary tone, the stairs are painted in Paper & Paints Porphyry Red. The ceiling light is a Beata Heuman piece, whilst the pine wall light – one of Lucy's “absolute faves" – is a vintage find. Providing a stylish focal point is a side table found at Alfie's Antiques, which displays a ceramic vase by Bettina Ceramica.
7/17Sézane-founder Morgane Sézalory stores her collection of leather handbags and paintings waiting to be hung on the walls in a hallway closet in her small Paris home.
Chris Horwood8/17Patrick O'Donnell – Farrow & Ball's brand ambassador – painted the entrance hall in his Worcestershire house (fittingly) in F&B's archive colour ‘Entrance Hall Pink’, and added the Charleston-esque ball motifs around the mirror. The radiator cover is from Scumble Goosie.
Chris Horwood9/17Patrick replaced the tired carpet throughout the halls upstairs with a sisal from Alternative Flooring. The walls are painted in ‘Pink Ground’ and the stair rail is in ‘Sutcliffe Green’. The contrast between the pink and green helps his mother to see the rail better. A picture of a stag by Kate Boxer hangs on the stairs.
Owen Gale10/17"I didn't want a staircase straight ahead of me when I came through the front door," says Angelica Squire of her London house, “so we had the stairs turn the corner and used the gap for a cupboard. We put a Christopher Farr cloth in the panels and used and a mirrored panel to open the space up.” This is an ingenious approach to the typical urban problem of having a house open right on to the staircase.
Michael Sinclair11/17The hallway in designer Pandora Taylor's London house also goes for a dark shade to embrace the lack of light – in this case Farrow & Ball's ‘De Nimes’ – with brass sconces from TAT London to add a touch of glamour and a floating shelf for low-key storage.
Davide Lovatti12/17Gloss paint is a brilliant way to bounce light around and add a sophisticated look to a small space. Interior designer Tara Craig has used a bespoke khaki gloss by Papers and Paints to establish a Georgian feel in the hallway of her Chelsea flat.
Paul Massey13/17The artist Bridie Hall added panelling to the walls of the hall in her Victorian house in north London painted in ‘Spanish Brown’ gloss paint by Little Greene. Plaster casts of classical architectural features by Peter Hone cover the walls.
Alicia Waite14/17A bold wallpaper can be transformative in a small space. At Emma Ainscough's London flat, the hallway is papered in Common Room's reprint of Charles Voysey's famous 'Lioness & Palms', a wallpaper she came across on a project and knew she had to use herself. 'I added a dado rail and papered just the top half of the room. I thought it would be overpowering to do the whole wall. It’s my favourite area because it’s such a statement, but because you’re passing through it isn't overwhelming.' The radiator has a cover painted in the same colour as the panelling, which allows for a handy shelf for keys.
Alexander James15/17Bespoke joinery is always helpful when it comes to making the most of small rooms. If you have the resources to build in a bench to a hallway, it can take up less visual and actual space than a freestanding piece of furniture. Oak panelling flows seamlessly into a bench in this cloakroom area at an Edwardian house designed by William Smalley.
Simon Brown16/17Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler Design Director Emma Burns' London flat is the ideal pied-à-terre – richly decorated yet smart, efficient and full of clever solutions for small spaces.
The entrance hall is painted in Papers & Paints' 'Du Cane', for a dramatic effect, while the woodwork is crisply picked out in Farrow & Ball's 'All White'. The pot cupboard was a gift from Roger Banks-Pye, with a Belgian Fossil stone top added by Emma. Pot cupboards with their slim round profile are a great choice for hallway storage.
Read McKendree17/17If there is a formula for decorating a tiny hallway, we'd probably say ‘mirror, console table, lamp’ is it. Make them all as stylish as you can and the rest will take care of itself. When it comes to painting a hallway, we love what designer Lilse McKenna has done at this Manhattan apartment, painting the door and woodwork in the same colour as the walls, which creates the sense of a seamless space.
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