Feeling a bit sad about my hallway- what can I do without major £££

[lizardqueenie]

Haven't decorated our hallway except for adding new carpet when we moved in 5 years ago and now that is looking a bit sad thanks to 2 cats like Edward sissor hands and some guests who haven't removed their shoes. Have borrowed DM's vax to see if I can clean up the carpet a bit. Wallpaper/ paint in hallway 2 sets of stairs due to loft extension is an off yellowy colour, just looks dirty IMO. Also woodwork paint is looking quite bashed & chipped from moving various bits of furniture.

So what can I do to jazz it all up a bit without spending tons of ££ ??as we are possibly hoping to have a GF extension next year and will have workmen etc traipsing through& dust everywhere.

Hi, I've renovated 3 houses, on tight budgets, and if it were me, I would key the surface of the woodwork, then use one-coat gloss, For the walls, I have found dado rails, with different wallpaper on the lower section, very useful when owning cats, and silk emulsion helps (when it comes to keeping it clean, as it's wipeable) great with small children/dogs. For the carpet, use a solution of biological washing powder, sprayed on the carpet, then steam-cleaned off, very effective. I hope this helps.

Hi- wow what a wealth of experience and some really ace tips there. Never though of using bio powder but a great idea. Thank you.

Any more from the floor?

I don't know if you are just looking for painting advice but we seem to have accidentally made a huge difference to our hallway just by adding a bookcase and a lamp.

It would depend upon the shape and space in your hallway though. There is nothing worse than having to squeeze by to get through a hallway. We keep the lamp on through the night as it provides enough light for dcs to get to the loo without waking the household by putting the light on.