Decoration & Inspiration: Room Rescue - Hall and Study

I banned 80s décor to create a timeless hall

Anita Wilson, 59, moved to her 18th century cottage in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, with her husband Andrew, 59, and children Gareth, now 31, Stuart, 27, and Sam, 23, over 20 years ago, and immediately redecorated throughout. The hallway was painted bright yellow with green check curtains. ‘It was really trendy at the time!’ Anita laughs. ‘Then we just got used to it and didn’t realise how terrible it was until more recently.’ However once she started looking, she found the walls were grubby, the curtains bleached from the sun and, more importantly, the stair carpet was worn and loose in several places, so a danger to anyone using it.

What was wrong with the old room?

Dangerous carpet
The staircase was a real mess. Thin foam-backed carpet had been glued and nailed down many years previously and was now posing a real danger as it was loose and a trip hazard. We needed to find the right carpet with the correct underlay so this peril was removed.

Dated décor
The yellow walls were not only overwhelming in such a compact space, but the paintwork was worn and shabby having not been touched up for years. It needed a fresh new colour scheme to be bright and airy, yet appropriate for an old cottage.

No storage
Anita had nowhere to hang coats so they were always left strewn around the house, or in a pile in the kitchen. She also wanted somewhere to keep keys safely, and a lamp to give a soft pool of welcoming light during the winter months.


Your Home solutions


Invest in the right carpet
A stair carpet must be practical. We chose this 80% wool one for its hardwearing properties, and the fleck weave not only looks great, but will be forgiving and not show every last speck of dust either. It was fitted edge to edge rather than as a runner to make it easy to keep clean.



Choose a warm colour scheme
A pale straw colour paint on the walls blends with the wooden floor and banisters and the modern Ultimatt formulation means the surface is much harder wearing than traditional emulsion. We also painted the door to the under stairs cupboard and panelling under the banisters, as these woods were different shades to everything else, but now look much more co-ordinated.


Choose furniture carefully
This lovely pale cream painted table meets Anita’s needs perfectly. Its design is delicate so unobtrusive, and the colour blends with the scheme well. The proportions are perfect too – neat and compact, yet offering storage and a display area.


Tip
Keep a simple colour palette in a small space to stop it feeling cluttered and claustrophobic. All the tones here blend together gently which gives a soft look, while the blinds and accessories in contrasting colours add interest without being dominant.


Create your own artwork
Anita wanted some floral pictures for the stairwell, but couldn’t find any she liked. We showed her how to staple beautiful embroidered silk over artist’s canvases to create a unique collection.




Make Roman blinds
Anita fell in love with this fabric with its teal green background and woven floral pattern. She made it into Roman blinds that have a more modern look than the bulky curtains she had before, and one metre was enough to make both blinds, so a great budget-busting buy.




Find a place for coats
Anita desperately needed some storage for coats, and an attractive painted hat stand offers everyone a place to put their jackets. This is a better use of space than a set of wall-mounted hooks as the stand sits neatly in the unused corner, but everything’s still within easy reach.




Cover ugly radiators
The hall was kept warm by a large, yet ugly, radiator that looked out of place in the newly decorated space. We invested in an attractive cover that transforms the area without having to buy a new radiator, and it was fitted easily in an hour or so.



What Anita says…
I was so pleased to get some advice as I had no idea where to start and I’m delighted with how it’s turned out. I love that it feels like an individual space in its own right, not just a corridor, which I didn’t think possible in a hall. The colours are gorgeous and the carpet’s so soft underfoot – such a change from the tatty one we had before. I really enjoyed learning how to make my own pictures – I’ll definitely do that again as it’s so easy and looks fantastic.

What Your Home says...
We wanted a fresh clean look for Anita’s hall, but were also aware that it needed to be completely practical too. We chose the flooring first, as it’s easier to match paint to carpet than the other way round. The Jacob range of carpets from Axminster has a lovely mottled weave while the Hyper Tread underlay will protect the carpet for years. Once the walls had been painted a toning pale straw, we added practical furniture, then impact and character with teal and berry accessories to finally bring this hallway up-to-date.