Hall/Stairs/landing Help!

[ColdTofuSandwich]

Hi there. I desperately need to redecorate and I have NO clue what to do.

It’s old fashioned at the moment, but the hall is wide and dark and I have no idea how to modernise it. Husband and kids think we should keep the dark wood, I think that makes it much darker.

I don’t know if I should be looking at colours, keeping it white, carpet or wooden floor…

Any suggestions I would love to hear.

hi OP,
I wouldn't say old fashioned, I'd say that the dark painted stairs are a very contemporary modern sleek style, along with the style of door, where as your lovely windows and the wainscot and so on is traditional and more suited to an older property. So it's a clash of design styes rather than being old fashioned and that's why it doesn't feel cohesive to you.

What era is the property? What type of look do you and your family like? Both of these will guide the way to transform this into a wonderful space.

Ah thank you for answering! So my teenagers say exactly that about the stairs - they’re fashionable, so I’ll bow to your/their knowledge!

the house is 1930s, I like plain and classic - so maybe make the wood work the focus? Which would mean keeping a carpet. In which case do I just redo what’s here effectively but have it entirely white and replace the old fashioned wallpaper?

The stairs are beautiful and would be perfect with a classic wallpaper eg William Morris.

I shall google William Morris!

If the house is old, it wants to look sympathetic to its age and period. But still nice, clean and inviting, as a hallway should be.

• laminate wooden parquet flooring. More expensive options like Karndean, bombproof, but I definitely think I would get rid of the carpet
• Is it mahogany or black? Leave the wood for now as it adds interest and looks nice
• Think about a new carpet up the stairs. A twist or jute? Or perhaps painted white stairs, with a runner and black stair rods. Looks traditional and gorgeous
• Skim the ceilings
• Remove the wallpaper and add some panelling perhaps. Or paint two shades - an off white or slightly darker "white" or neutral below picture rail, and pure brilliant white across the top of rail and on ceiling. Will add depth. No ornaments on rail. Get some art to hang off the rails, or cluster your pictures together on one wall or up the stairs
• Paint radiator black or buy a rad cover. Add a lamp and a mirror above, some plants
• New light fitting, an easy win. A close to ceiling chandelier would look lovely
• Remove curtain pole above beautiful window, add a plant in a nice basket there, maybe a few of your ornament there. Imagine it's a zone, a place to pause and think "that looks nice" as you go up and down the stairs
• You need a shoe storage bench or coat rack for storage

I can mock you some bits up in chatgpt but they always add random stuff and get things wrong but quite good as an idea. I love your stairs so much!

I'd change the internal doors they are too modern and clash with the style of the house. Remove the wallpaper but keep it relatively neutral if you are keeping the dark bannisters (which are nice)

Doors are dreadful - not in keeping with the age of the property.

Gosh I'd love to have a space like that as my hallway - you are lucky. There is so much potential.
For me whilst the staircase/banister is beautiful it really clashes with that more modern door. Would it be an option to change the door to something more 30s style?
I'd probably paint the banister - but depend what you do with the rest.

Thank you everyone! Totally agree - the doors do not go with the property (they were here when we bought the house) and I want to replace with original style doors.

love that picture with the tiles! That looks fab. Also like the suggestion of white above the picture rail and something a tiny bit darker below.

amazing how much moving the little cupboard makes.

thanks all for taking the time to reply. I have zero design ability!

We have the parkdean flooring in our kitchen - could think about running it straight through.

Lovely hall with bags of character and potential @ColdTofuSandwich !

When we had a similar large hallway (ours was Victorian), we laid reclaimed encaustic tiles on the floor. Our staircase was painted white which didn't suit the space so I painstakingly stripped it all (three flights and a mezzanine), then stained it dark mahogany to match the bannister rail. We painted the walls in William Morris green and had a matching Morris paper above the dado. No curtain at the window and a green 'Turkey' carpet. Loads of art on the walls. That was 20+ years ago...

If I was doing it now, or if I were you - depending on how brave you are - I'd choose more colourful encaustic tiles (or porcelain copies - we put very colourful ones in the bathroom of our last house). I'd have a colourful runner from Roger Oates and probably do the staircase in black (I've recently done this in our current Georgian property). We've chosen Edward Bulmer Jonquil for the hall walls which is similar to F&B Setting Plaster - it's very restful, more forgiving than white and looks amazing in a period house.

Thank you so much! You don’t have a pic do you? Thank sounds amazing

No, sadly I don't as it was so long ago.