has anyone painted their dark hallway a darkish colour?

[ggirl]

Watched someone on youtube saying embrace the dark and paint a dramatic colour , Mine isn't horrendously dark but am thinking of painting blue. Anyone done this and has it worked?

[BackforGood]

We have a natural break at around 3' off the ground, where there's what looks like a picture rail (I'm assuming it has a different name at that height! ) so we went for a fairly dark blue up to there where it gets all the scuffs and bumps and wear and tear and then a creamy colour from there upwards, so it reflects what little light there is in the hall much better.
Is something like that an option for you ?

[Velvetbee]

In our old house I painted our dark stairs and landing darkish blue and stencilled gold stars randomly all over after seeing the chapel at Hampton Court. It was pretty.

[wonkylegs]

We've just painted ours black under the dado and a light parchment colour above, all woodwork gloss brilliant white. It looks so much lighter than it did before (was a golden yellow), the black grounds it and somehow makes the whole thing lighter.

[Bunbaker]

When we put our last house on the market the hallway had dark decor. We had some interest, but no offers. We then had the hall, stairs and landing redecorated and painted a cream colour and put it back on the market. We had three offers within a couple of weeks, all at or above the asking price.

If you don't intend to move any time soon then paint your hallway any colour you like. If you are planning to move, a dark hallway is rather offputting to most buyers.

Dark decor makes spaces look smaller and claustrophobic IMO.

[ggirl]

hmm yes interesting bunker , hadn't thought about that .
Think I may go for a pale blue colour , fed up of cream.

We had a dado rail , took it down yrs ago , don't think i can be bothered to put it back although Id quite like panelling on the lower half of the wall going up the stairs so I can paint it with gloss and easily clean it.

[ggirl]

lovely
this is what i want , mine is half the size though

[Bunbaker]

Love my new nickname . That's what your bathroom will look like if you have a dark ceiling

[PeterParkerSays]

Our north facing wall has purple wallpaper. To me, it looks cosy and inviting but the poster upthread who mentioned resale is right. We have no intention of selling but it's a colour you'd eithr love or hate.

[ggirl]

Hahah sorry bunbaker ...thats what your name does in autocorrect

[wowfudge]

BackforGood - it's a dado rail at that height. Originally used to stop furniture damaging walls.

[BackforGood]

That's the word, thanks Wow

[zipzap]

I used to have a dark hall (no natural light at all) in my flat which I painted a rich raspberry that I loved and was wonderful. All the woodwork was white gloss and I had some wooden furniture.

I now live in a house that has a dark hall despite having some natural light into it, and despite being painted cream above the dado rail and cream and pale green stripes below it (think 90s show house which is what it was!). I hate it and am planning to do it a soft dark blue apart from the back wall which is the one that goes up the stairs. That's all cream and will stay that way as it will be a mega bugger to paint, thanks to the stairs. Some of the woodwork is dark (dado rail, front door, stairs bannisters) whilst other stuff is white (skirting boards, doors, door surrounds and the stuff around the top, the name of which has momentarily escaped me), so haven't decided which of that to change, if any.

I'm also thinking of trying the extra bright white or cream from dulux (or anybody else that does it) which is supposed to be more reflective and brighter to see if that helps for the ceiling and other bits I do paint white...