Hallway Inspiration: Using Lighting and Wallpaper to Decorate a Narrow Space

The hallway is a tricky one. On the one hand, it is the first thing anyone sees when they come to visit; it is the definition of ‘first impressions’ and, for that reason, deserves a certain amount of attention when we decorate.

On the other, it’s very easy to be guilty of ‘playing it safe’ with the hallway. Unless your front door opens onto a grand foyer, you likely have relatively limited space to work with (limited, at least, in comparison with the other downstairs rooms). Combine that limited space with the fact that the floor needs to be kept relatively free of furniture, and it’s no surprise that most of us would rather invest our time and creativity into one of the more exciting rooms of the home.

But the hallway doesn’t have to be bland. Here’s a much-needed dose of inspiration.

Embrace the Statement Piece to ‘Grow’ the Space

Small spaces tend to attract small pieces. While we want to make the most of what’s available to us, the most sensible thing to do generally seems to be investing only in slim, lightweight, and non-obtrusive pieces.

In actual fact, one of the best ways to make a space feel more significant and more spacious than it is involves finding a way to incorporate a larger, statement-making piece in. The trick, however, is to go ‘big enough’ to make a strong impression, but not so big that the item is an encumbrance.

You don’t want to spend the rest of your life instructing guests to, ‘Just step over decorative urn’ as they try to kick off their shoes.

Depending on the space available to you, you might be able to slip in a piece of furniture – for instance, an infinitely useful slipper chair for help putting on awkward shoes. Alternatively, in very restrictive spaces, even a statement decorative lamp could do the job. Provided it’s big enough to create a visual ‘anchor’ for an otherwise underutilised space.

It’s always worth remembering that the right lighting can appear to make a structural difference to the room. You can easily use lamps to make a room appear and feel bigger, and the hallway is certainly no exception to the rule.

Use Wallpaper to Zone the Hallway from its branches

This one will be particularly useful if your house follows the traditional ‘Victorian townhouse’ layout, and features a straight staircase leading out of the hallway.

While wallpaper will always add intrigue and originality into a space – particularly when that space is limited on the furniture and décor it can accommodate – it’s always worth exploring a more unique way of using that wallpaper.

We’ve written about zoning with wallpaper before, and how it’s incredibly useful for establishing that division between one part of the room and another. If your stairway opens straight onto your hall and you want to avoid feeling as though the home’s entry is merely an extension of the landing and other ‘passageways’ in the home, then wallpapering just the hallway (and stopping just as the wall meets with the staircase) can be transformative.

True, no actual walls separate one part of the home from the next, but zoning with wallpaper gives you the ability to create those boundaries – and it can help to make each section feel more significant in its own right.