Help me with redesigning entrance hallway

[Skinnymartini]

Pic attached for reference.

Recently moved to a house with a fairly large (by London standards) entrance hallway- about 5.5 meters end to end and 2.5 meters across. I want to make this a more welcoming space. 2 problems.

1. I don't like the flooring at all - it looks too dated. same flooring extends to the living area on the left. Would like to replace just the hallway flooring with cheap but anti-slip checkerboard tiles (large black and white squares laid on the diagonal, perhaps) - would this look nice? What make of tiles would suit? I don't think I can afford LVT and smaller checkerboard tiles look messy.

1. You can see the massive radiator on the left - about 180cm. It had a wooden cover which I have removed since didn't like the look and felt it blocks heat. Ideally, i would like a slim profile console table to fit around it since it is an eyesore, and I have no other space for a console table. Has anyone seen a very long console which could fit? Ideally don't want to replace the radiator with a smaller one but that may eventually be the only option. Any other options?

Thank you!

Lovely big hallway.

Looks like a Victorian/Edwardian house OP? If so, any chance there may be original tiles somewhere under that wood? 🤞🤞🤞 if so then uncovering and restoring those would be amazing.

Think you’d need to take up the wood and remove skirting boards in order to tile, so that would be an expensive job even with cheap tiles.

Personally I would sand and refinish the wood - perhaps a dark stain? - rather than lay cheap tiles. You could even consider painting/stencilling them.

Re the radiator - I think I’d try to replace with a nice looking cast iron style one (not actual cast iron), and then put a shelf above it.

Sounds like you are on a tight budget so I wouldn’t be ripping up the floor to see if there are original tiles as that could end up messy and expensive. As you can’t afford LVT there are some nice quality chequer board vinyl flooring available, I would get a professional to lay it though for a quality finish.

This company do your size radiator console tables.
https://graceandolive.co.uk/shop/tables/rustic-radiator-cover-console-table-entry-way-table-with-steel-box-framed-legs/?attribute_pa_finish=sanded-not-oiled&attribute_pa_lenght=100-centimetres&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=starter&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=7896&mh_matchtype=&mh_keyword=&mh_adgroupid=&mh_network=x&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhc-sBhCEARIsAOVwHuQPfYW0E6g9pyHqy9Hc98fcuc-96R83bD1sgTNTJT2KEVy7WCGAGAEaAjMXEALw_wcB

Thank you all, very helpful.

@Loveablockheel I don't think I like the look of vinyl at all. Thinking more porcelain tiles (or similar). Thanks also for the link to the table. Let me go measure. Ideally something in glass / metal rather than wood but this is a decent option.

@minipie thanks. This seems an effort / budget intensive option so will be difficult on my tight budget. I am going to show the depths of my ignorance here - is that a wooden floor? I thought it was laminate. I personally prefer a cleaner, modern look and feel, and hence i am dreaming about glamorous marble effect tiles.The house is a 1930s semi and has mostly been redone about 10 years ago (so the rest of it doesn't look as dated).

If the floor is wooden - can't tell but it might be - then can you just sand it and re-stain? That was you can choose a a lighter stain that suits your taste better.

Rugs can make a big difference, too.

The radiator is fine, and I actually think those older ones are much less noticeable than many modern ones. Paint it the same colour as the walls and it'll blend in much more. Once you put a console table over the top it'll be invisible.

Might need to be bled.

Pretty sure you can buy simple black metal console legs and then you can find a piece of wood or glass of the right size to fix to the top of it. A glazier / framer should be able to help with a glass top.

The wall opposite, at right angles to the cupboard under the stairs: I'd remove the storage boxes from there and put in a tall, leafy green plant - possibly with a mirror behind it. And a picture with an accent light on the far back wall would look great.

The wood looks solid to me. Or engineered. It doesn’t look like LVT as it’s not uniform in colour. I’d leave it alone. Not much you can do with the radiator. A vertical one would have given you much more floor space.

Ah 1930s, less likely to have lovely original tiles then and agree with PP it’s not worth ripping anything up to check (only if you had a loose section anyway).

I don’t think you’re going to get a good “marble tiled” look without spending a fair bit unfortunately. You’d have to think about how it works with the various thresholds, skirtings, radiator - you can’t just lay tiles on top of existing floor (also they would likely crack). Your best bet IMO is refinishing the existing floor. And/or a nice runner. If you really like the chequerboard look you could look at painting it like that, but the paint will wear over time.

It looks more like wood than laminate in the pic but hard to be sure from a photo. If there is an area that will definitely always be hidden you could try sanding a small patch and see if it comes up nicely?

Console tables - have a look on Etsy for radiator table, there are quite a few sellers on there and they can generally make them to your chosen dimensions. Many are quite rustic looking which doesn’t seem what you want, but there are some that look much smarter eg a company called DevlinAndCo and another called LUXwood.

Normally a radiator shelf with some stuff on top will take peoples attention from the radiator underneath.

Hard to see the state of the flooring but maybe refurb it, especially if it is solid wood. Replacing it with any sort of decent tiles will cost ££££. You could maybe have it sanded and then restored to a lighter colour.