Looking for victorian hallway advice/inspiration!

[ElizaCrempog]

I'm really struggling with inspiration for my hallway. In desperation I'm hoping some of you with more vision can help me! The house is Edwardian/Victorian (1912) and the hallway is quite dark with just one window to the side. At this stage I can't afford to re-carpet although it is needed and could do it in a year or so, but the hallway is dingy and grubby and in need of brightening up somehow. Please have a look at the pictures attached and inspire me!

Whoops, pics now attached!

@OnASwankyMarleyPond so similar!! Thanks that's really inspired me to get going. I'll leave the wood for now and do everything else. Will post pics when it's done, but may be a while...finishing a bathroom this weekend

Here's ours.. not finished yet, bannisters will be white and will have a striped runner up the stairs eventually.

Someone had painted our beautiful Staircase white before we refurbished our Victorian style house. It took us two weeks and a heck of a lot of hours of hard work to strip it back to bear Wood ready for repolishing. DH is a skilled woodworker by trade, and he made an excellent job of refurbishing the staircase back to its original wood shade.

Following the original Victorian trend, he also installed a Dado rail to add more character, wallpapered the bottom half with traditional embossed Victorian style paper, and gave it a coat of silk sheen emulsion to match one of the colours in the tiled flooring. Above the rail was painted Matt Warm cream Emulsion, to add a shade of warmth that complimented the warm wood tones. We took a lot of inspiration from visiting the Castle Museum at York, and several National Trust and English Heritage properties, and we were also lucky enough to be invited to view the finished refurbishments of some of the Period properties that DH had worked on, which were truly amazing, especially the Manor houses and the Victorian mansions around Harrogate and London Knightsbridge and Mayfair, some with Grade 2 listed building status.

Our own home is no where near as grand, but it didn’t stop us from borrowing a bit of priceless inspiration for the sympathetic refurbished Style!

Just to add would love to keep bannisters as wood, but previous owner knocked hell out of them doing a dodgy conversion into two flats. Will be keeping the spindles wood but again several need replacing.

There are several specialist companies who repair or replace damaged Staircases to a wide range of styles, you need to get someone who is experienced in Second Fix Joinery and Refurbishment of Period properties, although DH has trained up a few youngsters who have become very skilled at their job, but who went onto become Kitchen Fitters simply because they could earn more money doing so!

The dado really has worked wonders to emphasise the height. We bought ours from B and Q and DH managed to fit it, so it was pretty easy 🤣 Similar to a PP, the paper I’m planning on is an embossed F and B one - my general inspo has been nature and foliage, so planning on some William Morris willow print light shades on the two landings to carry the theme through. Would recommend a plant stand in the torchere style with a big, long-leafed plant - maybe even two!

The colours in the door look lighter / more pastel than I think the original might have been, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing in any way - you’ll just need more spots of vivid colour (like the plants) around the hall.

www.farrow-ball.com/wallpaper/lotus

This is the paper I’m going for, in the palest of green. If your paint colour is more neutral than mine, you could go bolder with paper?

I would absolutely paint the wood! Especially the wall panelling and door below the stairs.

Anothe vote for painting the wood white. Or maybe even pale grey.

I really like this paint combination, and the tiles are very similar to what you already have.

I would paint the banisters too

Recently did my Victorian house hallway, we already had a dado rail & embossed paper on the bottom half which I painted Elephants breath the top was white cotton by Dulux, we have some panelling underneath the bannisters painted that LG hicks blue also painted picture frames & few decorative wall bits in the hicks blue, we had stripped pine spindles/door frames & skirting boards which really made it very dark(it’s north facing & quite narrow) so painted those white but left the original panelled doors pine & the handrail.
Replaced the ceiling lights with ‘Stella’ star lights from Pooky it feels so much brighter & welcoming now.

@3orangekissesfromkazan

Here's ours.. not finished yet, bannisters will be white and will have a striped runner up the stairs eventually.

That’s beautiful 3 orangeKisses

Also OnAswankypond lovely as well.

I’d definitely NOT paint the wood. It adds so much character and warmth. And wood is way more forgiving of scuffs than paint is.

I’d paint it all in F&B “oval room blue” or very similar.

I'd paint the wood, or at least the spindles and wall panels.
But then I really dislike dark wood.

If you stripped the wood back would it be as dark? Ie is it the actual wood colour or does it have a dark stain that could be stripped and bleached out?

A lot of work though....

You have a beautiful hall.

I think you're right to leave the wood as it is for the moment. Once it's painted that's that. See what it's like when the walls have been freshened up.

Don’t paint the wood! I know I’m the 100th person to say it but it’s still worth saying!

I would ditch the blind on that window too – why lose light you don’t have to? Think it’ll definitely seem less dark once it’s all painted and descruffed. I’d paint skirting and architraves the same colour as walls to smarten it up too.

If you want to lean into the dark, look at The Frugality’s hallway on Instagram – gorgeous! (Despite her painted stairs...)

I'll be the 101st, don't paint the wood. The people in our house before us pained the wood stair case - and worse - did it badly - it chips and scuffs. The house next door has the original and it looks fantastic.

don't paint the panelling either.

A fresh coat of paint (we did our dark hallway in Clotted Cream from Dulux and it's a lovely warm colour) and some pictures, a new light fitting, and a big mirror - make the world of difference.

I follow a girl on Insta - ourcrosspoolterrace and her house looks amazing. The colours are amazing. Maybe you'll get inspo from that.