Decorating a narrow hallway, but stuck on how to make it look great while still allowing people to move through the space easily? I hear you! Here’s a creative idea that you may well decide to try…
Decorating a narrow hallway can be such a pain – can’t it! What do you use to accessorise or add interest/character?
Struggles with spaces are quite common when it comes to making decisions about decorating, so I thought I’d share with you today some of the thinking and ideas I had for that space in my own home in the hope that it may well help and inspire you when you do any redecorating of your own.
So, let’s start at the beginning – shall we….
Full disclosure – please note that I received a discount from where I purchased my wallpaper map – but all words in this post are my own and I would have purchased whether I received a discount or not.
I love anything about decorating – from picking colours to choosing the finishing touches. But sometimes there can be a tricky area that takes more thought than most.
We all have spaces that are difficult to find a solution for, and mine is (was!) a narrow hallway at the top of the stairs.
Let me introduce you (and please excuse the laundry basket!)….
This hallway came from carving out some space from an existing bedroom when we extended the house about 6 years ago – and I have to say that I was really pleased with how it came out. You see, we live in a 1930’s style house that has deep skirting and picture rails – so the builder we had made sure that every part of the extension used the same details – and now it feels seamless rather than an addition.
TIP – Always try and match finishes and fittings to the existing home when it comes to extending – so you don’t know where the new begins!
There was nothing fundamentally wrong with this space – it’s clean, light and fresh – but it really is lacking any kind of finishing touches – and with me being me, that had to change!
Trouble is – it’s a difficult space to add anything to.
Define The Problem
First things first when it comes to decorating – and that’s to work out what the issues are in the space (because the last thing you want is to decorate beautifully only to find it still doesn’t work because you haven’t addressed what’s wrong).
This hallway area is narrow – which brings with it the issue of how to decorate the walls to add interest and some sort of focal point without it feeling too busy or impractical.
We needed to be able to do all of the following: –
- Walk through the space easily
- Not worry that something would fall off the wall every time we passed there
- Be practical for a growing family (and friends!)
- Have things within it that make us smile, and that reflect our likes and tastes so it works with the rest of the house.
Tricky – but I like a challenge!
Brainstorm Ideas For a Solution
Now that we had worked out the issue (which was probably why it had taken so long to get around to tackling that space), it was time to look at ideas that may or may not work.
There are lots of options I looked at and here’s the list – with my thinking behind each one:-
- Console table – a narrow console table may work well, but still would stick out quite far into the space so not really that practical. This basically ruled out all furniture options from the space – so now it was wall decorations that I concentrated on.
- Pictures – either a set of three pictures in a line, or one large picture on one wall. Maybe even a picture wall – but hanging glass frames on the wall didn’t seem a very good idea right outside my daughters room because it would be easy to lean accidentally on them or brush past them and make them fall. To me this felt like an accident waiting to happen.
- Canvas pictures – I love canvas art but have a bit dotted around the house already – so I wanted a change.
- Wallpaper – A feature wall of a patterned paper would be a good option, but I wanted to do something a little different if at all possible. However, I did like the idea of totally filling the wall if possible and really making a statement.
Pick A Solution
So – from all this investigation, I knew I wanted something similar to wallpaper but more quirky. Something that filled the wall and that didn’t need anything extra in terms of furniture or accessories to feel complete.
What options are there?
Well, murals came to mind immediately, and wall stickers as well, but nothing really made sense to the rest of the house.
Until, that is, I realised that the answer had literally been staring me in the face all along…
It’s so true that you can get inspiration from any number of places and you should always be on the look out, but I wasn’t expecting to find it at my gym!
I go the my gym quite a bit – I even work there at least one day a week – and in their work area they have a wall with a feature wallpaper/mural on it.
The thing that makes it quirky is that it’s a map wallpaper of the local area.
Something that’s interesting to look at, and looks great at the same time. It also works really well with the look I have in my house of a little bit of an industrial theme going on.
EUREKA!
A massive Google search later helped me to work out exactly what I wanted – and the order was placed…
All I had to do to place the order for the map wallpaper was to measure the walls and decide on the style map I wanted (there are loads of options on the website I bought from).
TIP – Measure at least three times, and measure at different parts of the wall because your walls may not be totally square and you want to ensure you have the largest measurement so you know what you will get will fit.
The wallpaper came in a tube and was in 3 pieces. I got a decorator to hang it for me (we had other rooms being decorated at the time which will be revealed soon!), and that was that.
And I really couldn’t be happier.
Here are a selection of before and after pictures so you can get a feel for how the space looks now, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a great alternative to normal wallpaper. Only trouble is, it’s now a talking point so when guests come round upstairs has to be tidy ;o)
Want to try map wallpaper/murals yourself?
Here area few places you may want to look for similar map style wall decoration:-
I really hope this narrow Hallway idea has inspired you to try something different on your walls next time you’re thinking of redecorating.
Thinking outside the box when looking for things to use – especially in more awkward spaces like this Hallway – can have AMAZING results!
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