Gransnet forums

Ask a gran

Your hall

(117 Posts)
kittylester Thu 03-Jan-19 07:44:01

What is your hall like?

I'm itching to redo ours which is currently done in a very traditional way. It is not naturally very brightly lit, quite wide and currently contains a Georgian desk and chair, a chest of drawers and a grandfather clock.

Phoebes Thu 03-Jan-19 17:05:10

When we moved in, our living room was open-plan with the stairs going up on one side of it. We had it partitioned off, so now we have an enclosed living-room and a separate small hall, with the entrance porch and front door leading off it. We managed to find two bookcases in the local antiques centre which perfectly fit in the hall and are full of books, so it's like a small library. We also have a large framed print by a Basque artist that we bought in St.Jean-de-Luz which adds colour. it has made a huge difference to have the hall and living-room separate and there is plenty of light, as both the doors leading into it are glazed, as is the front door.

Jalima1108 Thu 03-Jan-19 16:53:12

You're all so stylish.

My hall just kind of happened.
I must start reading some of those house magazines.

Jalima1108 Thu 03-Jan-19 16:50:23

A bit untidy!
I can't see a thing out of place PECS!

petra Thu 03-Jan-19 16:49:54

Kitty
I would have Art Deco lincruster panels in that hall.

Jalima1108 Thu 03-Jan-19 16:45:27

kitty perhaps just change the wallpaper?

I also have serious clock envy
DH should have inherited a grandmother clock (a promise, rather than in a will) from a relative but somehow the whole place got emptied before we arrived.

Jalima1108 Thu 03-Jan-19 16:42:11

ps I like yours as it is kittylester!

janeainsworth I'm sure your lampshade is the same as the one in our dining room. I love the bookcase envy

Jalima1108 Thu 03-Jan-19 16:39:03

It's rather plain, very wide but not very deep, with lots of doors (6) and the staircase off, so there is no wall where we can put any furniture except for a rather handy little chest of drawers for hats, gloves, maps - and a hairbrush!

Auntieflo Thu 03-Jan-19 16:33:29

Our hall is average size these days. We have a tiled floor, which is easy to keep clean, and a hooked rug that my parents made, back in the days, and is still going strong. It leads straight into the kitchen, where there is a glazed door, but it is never closed. I’m glad you can’t actually see the kitchen, as I’m in the middle of making a fish pie for supper! Above the radiator, I have a couple of my embroideries, and a ‘butterfly’ picture, made by my big RAMC grandson, when he was about 2/3.
To keep shoes tidy, there is a big oak cupboard, inherited from in-laws. (There is a lamp on the top, but it’s used for DH’s hat repository). We also have a small wooden,Ercol chair, sourced from a charity shop. I fell in love with it, and had to bring it home.
The coats are hung in what used to be the housing for the boiler, now re-located upstairs, in the aring cupboard.

Greciangirl Thu 03-Jan-19 16:08:02

Crikey. Kittylester. Your hall,sounds larger than my living room.
I don’t have a hallway, but wish I did.

Cherrytree59 Thu 03-Jan-19 15:42:50

Or even on stairs and Upstairs!blush

Cherrytree59 Thu 03-Jan-19 15:41:39

We do have a thick carpet in stairs and up stairs hall.smile

Cherrytree59 Thu 03-Jan-19 15:39:20

Long hall with white panel doors to the kitchen, lounge and understair cupboard (the type you be bang your head on every time).

When we moved in it was like the black hole of Calcutta, due to dark green wallpaper.

So now it is painted white, the light is also helped by an upstair hall window.
At top of stairs is a large wooden elephant that belonged to my father.

Downstair hall also has a small window.
An oak floor, oak coloured radiator cover which doubles a shelf over which hangs a large mirror to reflect the light.
At he bottom of the stairs is tall plant stand with large peace lily and a painting that had once belonged to my Dad, it is of a mother giraffe and two young giraffes.

I find paint is the better option than wallpaper as we have a very high stairwell.

A porch with a slim shoe cupboard helps with shoes and boots etc.
But my bug bear is coats left on the end of the banister.

Oh and mustn't forget my owl door stop.

MissAdventure Thu 03-Jan-19 15:33:29

I wish I had gone for cushion floor instead of laminate.
Its a much warmer, more comfy feel.

FarNorth Thu 03-Jan-19 15:28:10

My hall is painted turquoise with fuschia pink doors. It's been like that for a long time and needs to change.

kittylester Thu 03-Jan-19 15:17:46

We have looked at laminate and real wood but DD3 suggested wool at wood effect lino. I scoffed and then looked at it in John Lewis and was very impressed. I think that's what we will go for.

Despite our house being an old school we have no traditional floor boards.

MissAdventure Thu 03-Jan-19 14:32:19

I have laminate in my hall, and never had any problems with it.
One small (i tell myself!) area that has slightly lifted due to my daughters dog doing a wee on it whilst she was at mine in an emergency.
Its absolutely fine if spillages are mopped up soonish.

MrsDoyle Thu 03-Jan-19 14:27:46

I have a reasonably large hall which is the envy of the living room straight from the street that the Victorian cottages round here have. However, whilst I love the look of it, it’s cold despite a large radiator. I have to remember to keep the doors closed upstairs to try and keep some heat in. I’m seriously thinking of getting a heavy door curtain too. The previous owners had one up but I thought it would be unnecessary and took it down. Silly me!

gillyknits Thu 03-Jan-19 14:26:29

We are just considering getting rid of carpet in our hall as it gets so dirty and cleaning it has taken all the finish out of the carpet. Any ideas as to weather laminate flooring would be good. Solid wood seems so expensive?

MadeInYorkshire Thu 03-Jan-19 14:24:35

Thank you MissAdventure - Gulligranny yours sounds lovely too! Do wish I had more space, bu actually I suspect I would end up filling it with more 'stuff' as I have a tendency to hoard a little!

MadeInYorkshire Thu 03-Jan-19 14:21:06

kittylester I absolutely adore yours!

Eeek - apologies for my awful spelling of the word wood above!

Happy new Year to all!

MissAdventure Thu 03-Jan-19 14:21:05

I can't help, but I hope you can, madeinYorkshire.
Your hall is splendid!

There are some lovely halls. I wish mine was, but I've never managed to make it homely.

gulligranny Thu 03-Jan-19 14:19:51

I've got a big squarish hall; as you come through the front door the stairs go immediately up to the left, with a gorgeous round window to the front of the house, then turn through 90 degrees to continue up. There's a skylight which gives us lots of light. We have an old pine bureau under the stairs with the phone and a lamp, and on the wall to the right as you come in we have a long-ish high-backed storage bench for shoes (not that DH ever puts his in it ...). Alongside the bench is a very old - late 1930s - wooden-case television set with a big plant on top. This big hall and the round window were some of the reasons we fell in love with our house, even though it didn't tick any of the boxes for things we insisted we had to have. But it felt like home as soon as we stepped inside.

MadeInYorkshire Thu 03-Jan-19 14:16:17

It is dark but cosy and quirky, and the house really lends itself to Christmas, looks lovely with everything up, but didn't do much this year .... often do a Toy shop in my front window which the kids like to see going past.

No idea how to add more than 3 photos? Can anyone help with that?

Doodle Thu 03-Jan-19 14:12:06

kitty I love your hall. Ours is dark with no windows (we like in an apartment) it’s painted light with a light carpet and with some warm lighting not too bad.

MadeInYorkshire Thu 03-Jan-19 14:11:21

I haven't got a hall! I live in a tiny thatched cottage and you come through the front door directly into the lounge which does have it's problems .... however .... when I moved in the kitchen was in a tiny galley between the lounge (no window, no fan or extraction!) and the stairs come at the far end. What sold me the property was a huge room at the back through the kitchen which was empty! Fairly large L - shaped room, so I put the kitchen in there .... so the original kitchen is like my hall and is decorated as such. To cover all the old kitchen walls, I had cupboards built down one side one for coats one for bedding, which also hides my printer (they both have sockets in from the original kitchen) and bookshelves down the other - it is dark and quirky, but am pleased with how it came out! I would love to have it white as it really wood brighten it up no end, but as I am disabled and can't do it myself, then once you have started down that route, the whole house would have to be done and that is way out of reach! The stag head was a white resin one that I have remodeled somewhat, the filing cabinet has had hairpin legs and new handles added as it looked pretty horrid, and the table top is something that I recently did with fabric as the top was manky but the military cabinet I loved ....