Your hall

We have a dining hall. We live in a 15th century farmhouse and it is heavily timbered with a huge fireplace and bread oven.

Our formal dining table and chairs are there. They have been in use throughout Christmas because when the whole family is in residence the dining area in the kitchen is not big enough for all of us. Most of the time we do not use it, but furnishes the room nicely. Apart from that there is a large side-table and a small chest of drawers with the table linen in it.

Our hall is painted white with light coloured carpet and just one table for fresh flowers.

Our is long and narrow, and not bursting with potential, but at least we have one. In our last house, the front door opened onto a small lobby that could just about accommodate two people and a shoe rack. Plans were afoot to build a side extension to make a proper hallway and a downstairs cloakroom, but we moved instead and got both.

Kitty, I have hall envy. Yours sounds very classy. My hall is not as large as yours. Last year I changed from dark wood furniture to light, ( which I have discovered does not show the dust as much ). However, DH still leaves his outdoor flip flops ready in case he needs to visit bin, car etc. When the DGC come home from school, bags are strewn all over. I keep tidying up, but invariably when anyone knocks, the hall is in chaos.

nandalot. The hall I'm an describing is the hall that exists when no one else is here. Dd2 is coming for the weekend and always just dumps her bags in the hall and uses them there. The antique chair always has coats on it despite the rail and hooks under the stairs!

Kitty, that’s reassuring!

My hall is 7’ long, has five doors, the bathroom faces the front door. Fred is parked in the hall his front end in the bathroom, the loo faces the front door and can’t close the door !

I had a minor success at Christmas. As soon as as family arrived I indicated that I would prefer it if bags were strewn across bedrooms rather than the hall and that trainers, wellies and other assorted footwear stayed in the front porch.
They heeded my words?
I’ll post some pics of my hall after I’ve finished eating my breakfast

Our hall is on our list too Kitty .

Ours has less going for us than yours as it has no natural light at all , although quite wide.

We've just purchased some Dulux paint that is light reflecting - supposedly for dark spaces , in a very pale lemon/cream colour. We'll go white for all woodwork and doors ( as there are 5 that open off the hall) and really its just what to put on the floor that's causing us problems.

kitty your hall is lovely but if you are fancying a change how about some new artwork - maybe go ultra modern with a bright abstract to juxtapose the lovely furniture.

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My hall & front porch

Our hall is huge for the size of the cottage but has 6 doors (all stripped pine originals). We had it repainted before Christmas in pale lemony cream colour, just like N&G, with white door frames, skirting and ceiling, removed all the clutter and replaced with a recycled giant pine sideboard, 4 drawers, 4 cupboards, which now holds gloves, scarfs, directories and all our shoes. I have collected all our family pictures and will have a gallery all along one wall.

The best thing we did for our hall was to replace our front door to eliminate the draughts while flooding the hall with light.

None of the standard shoe storage units cater for our size 12 feet so we have large container for everyone's shoes alongside a trug that stores our hats, scarves and gloves.

A wall mirror reflects the shape of the frosted window in our front door and is handy for checking our appearance before we venture out even if we leave by the back door.

Woodwork and panels are painted a soft white, with light coloured carpet, and a mirror hung opposite a small side window, which brings in more light. We try to make it feel light and welcoming.

Artwork is on the list teetime as is flooring, walls etc. Can't change the paintwork much.

Jane can you get here by Saturday lunchtime?

I'm in a new-build (traditional style) terrace with a small and narrow hall which doesn't get much light. There's a radiator with a cover above for a few ornaments and a narrow cupboard above that with miniature knick-knacks. Further along on the other side there's a narrow storage unit which I've painted very pale cream which holds overflow books, etc. A dog-leg leads to the stairs where I keep a shoe rack. I've a gallery wall with various artwork.
Three doors lead to a tiny kitchen, visitor loo ( a boon) and the one ahead to the sitting room. What a lot of stuff to cram into a small space.

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My hall - from both ends!

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Ok, pictures disappeared!

And reappeared!!

My hall is white, bright, minute and semi-open plan into the kitchen. Doors to cupboard and wc. There’s an old Swedish Kilim on the floor, over good wood effect flooring which runs throughout the downstairs. On the wall is a Georgia O’Keeffe print called Lake George Autumn (1927). That’s it and I love it.

My hall is tiny. It has two doors off it and the stairs running up. So decorating it is not an issue...

I’ve used chalk paint on an old pine dresser in my hall as am very into shabby chic decor. All my doors have small glass squares in so it reflects the light really well.

Kitty your hall looks lovely - I would leave it as it is!

kitty your hall looks lovely but I think if you changed the wallpaper & removed the ceiling border it would make a big difference.
Maybe a different colour flooring would set off your furniture & woodwork better?

We have used a small local firm for all our flooring & each time we have done a room we have borrowed numerous samples which have lain about sometimes for weeks before we’ve finally made up our minds