I know it's been done to death but recommendations please for neutral paint for a hall?

[NigellasGuest]

it's quite a dark hall so I'm tempted by those light-reflecting paints, although I have a feeling they must be a bit gimmicky?

I would love some recommendations for decent neutral paints, warmish toned, that I can buy in Homebase or B&Q ideally with tester pots so i can have a good think about things before proceeding...

needs to be hardwearing, wipeable etc.
I recently painted the sitting room in paint from the Little Green Paint company - it was absolutely beautiful to work with - went on a treat, and looks lovely. Ideally I would buy from them again but I can't really afford loads of testers from them, and they are not available in my local shops!

[pepperrabbit]

We've just done our entire house in Dulux paint - I had enough testers to almost do one entire room!
Had a few testers from the own brands and they were simply not worth the money - even the tester pots were shoddy patchy.
We have the light reflecting stuff in our hall and did all the ceilings in the brilliant white and I do think it makes a difference.
We have Natural Hessian in the hall which I'm really pleased with, and Almond White in parts of the kitchen and study.

[80sMum]

Warm tones are often dulled down, so are not so good at brightening up a dark space. If going for Dulux colours, look at those in the "fresh" colour range, as they are the best for dark areas.
There are some useful videos on the Dulux website advising about colour, light etc.

[Feckbox]

I painted my very big, very dark hall in Dulux Almost Oyster.
It's a soft, warm very pale beige. I liked ot so much I then painted the kitchen and living room the same

[weedonleg]

Dulux Swansdown. Very light greyish-brownish white.

[tittytittyhanghang]

I'll second dulux hessin, because thats whats in my hall and lounge :)

[NigellasGuest]

I've been out and got a few testers - so far I am liking the Dulux Almost Oyster quite a lot! Hessian not bad either - but the Oyster one is a bit warmer I think. I also got carried away and tried out a couple that are distinctly purplish but that's a bridge too far. Will observe them all in different lights etc.

[1605]

Natural hessian has too much pink in it, and as a result it can look like slightly fleshy in a hallway which will contain many assorted items (shoes, coats, junk) of different tonal shades.

I'd go for natural calico, which happens to be Britain's best-selling paint colour and is a fantastic completely neutral off-white.

[ArbitraryUsername]

We've just painted big patches of dulux light and space paint (in morning light) and other non-light and space colours on the wall in our dark hallway. The light and space stuff does seem brighter but we're trying to work out if that's due to the colour or something else.

[NigellasGuest]

that's interesting arb - I haven't actually got tester pots of the light and space paint yet.
Will try natural calico, 1605.
Although I'm thinking I might actually try something darker. Not sure I need to do the knee jerk reaction of painting light shades just because it's a relatively dark space.
Natural hessian does not seem to appear fleshy at all in my hallway btw - but we dont' have much junk atm

[RationalBrain]

Dulux light and space paint, morning light. Very pale lemon, almost white but not quite. Very calm and not yellow-y. Just painted half the house in it!

[charlottehere]

Just had ours done in crown ivory cream, v boring but looks bigger and brighter. The decorator said it was crap to work with and needed 3 coats (was light grey before)

[NigellasGuest]

charlotte - we also had our sitting room done in crown ivory cream - our decorator said exactly the same thing! and I had to go out and buy more paint as we hadn't anticipated the third coat. For that reason I will not buy Crown paint again. (ours was a pale magnolia before, so like you we weren't covering a dark colour).

[Maat]

If you want more of a cream colour, our hallway, stairs and landing are all in Crown Soft Linen. Walls are vinyl silk so you can wipe them over. It's a lovely colour. Doors/woodwork in Ivory Cream.

Beware of some neutrals in dark spaces - they can end up looking like newly plastered walls.

[Maat]

X posted.

I've never had a problem with Crown paint but usually splash out and buy the one coat stuff. There are too many walls/doors to have to do them more than once !

[reluctanttownie]

Our entire house is Dulux Jasmine White. It's a very very very pale cream off-white, with no particular undertones. Really nice and simple. Cool and fresh in cold daylight, nice and warm in sunlight and artificial light. Not as trendy as the oyster/hessian/almond/calico ones, all of which I tested, but works for us and is nice and classic. Our carpet and lots of furnishings are beige and grey, so most of those were too beige to work, unless we wanted an entirely greige house. Tested hundreds and it was the only one that didn't seem to have a pinky, purply, orangey, mushroomy or something undertone.

[shattereddreams]

I've just done a very dark hallway with dulux endurance in almond white.
Very wipe able which essential as kids can't reach the bannister

Very calm and fresh toned. I have a touch of the pink hints in my beige carpet so walls couldn't handle too much warm.

[GoldPlatedNineDoors]

We bought Cooke Dough - think its a Hoembase own but may be Dulux for our Lounge but it would be perfect for a hall. We have a vintage range duck egg blue in the hall.

[NigellasGuest]

After rreading another thread in this topic, I have realised I need to choose curtain fabric before painting the walls because it's easier to match paint to fabric than fabric to paint!

I didn't mention, but I am planning to put a thick curtain above the front door which I think will help make the house feel cosier [sp]? during the winter. Something tapestry-ish-inspired. Seems I need to get that sorted first..

[Katykatkins47]

Just painted the lounge with dulus almost oyster... not happy it's got a very very lilac tint to it .
Will be getting in touch with dulux

[verystressedmum]

I just did the hall stairs and landing in almost oyster and it hasn't got a lilac tinge to it, it's like a light stone colour. Maybe indifferent lights it looks different, what the light in your room like?

[mandy214]

I really recommend the Dulux Endurance range. 2 questions - how do children's hands get so grubby and secondly, why do they trail them on the wall when they go upstairs?

The person responsible for paint development obviously had children like mine. It is really wipe able and doesn't leave a mark when scrubbed. It's been done about 6 months and still looks good ( cause for celebration here).

We have Egyptian Cotton. I would say it's a true (light) beige - not lilac -y or blue. Just a very nice light mushroomy beige.