Tips for Transforming Your Hallway

Let’s talk hallways! Hallways are often the forgotten child of home transformations. We’re all too quick to upgrade the rooms of the house that we forget about the sometimes narrow, and often dark hallways that carry us from room to room. Then you’re left with all of these beautifully finished rooms connected by a hallway that feels relatively unfinished. I’ve done a couple of hallway transformations and I’m getting ready to start another one. So I wanted to put together a list of tips for transforming your hallway that I’ve found helpful and that bring such a small space to life.

Read my tips for transforming your hallway below and be sure to check out both of my DIY Hallway Transformation posts HERE and HERE.

Tips for Transforming Your Hallway

A fresh coat of paint.

I think by now we all know how much a fresh coat of paint can transform a space, and hallways are not excluded from that. I kept mine white to tie into the rest of the house and to help brighten an otherwise dark area. But, for the garage hallway, you will notice I painted the ceiling dark to add contrast and really make the fun light fixtures pop! In my upstairs hallway, I pulled that same dark door color that flows throughout my home to the baseboard. The same color story exists in all my hallways, just in differs forms. Don’t forget to keep it interesting!

Change up the light fixtures.

Speaking of light fixtures, out with the old and in with the new. In both of my hallway transformations I swapped out the can lights for some statement -making pendents!. This makes it feel more custom, especially if you’re still working with the builder grade lights.

Shop my hallway lights below

Add architectural details.

Adding architectural details to your hallway can really take it up a level. What I mean by that is, add molding or paneling to the walls or faux beams to the ceiling. Just something to give an otherwise blank space some depth and dimension. This also creates movement in the hallway and gives your eyes something to look at. I like to paint my molding in a semi-gloss finish, since molding tends to collect dust and hallways are often high traffic areas. This makes it easy to wipe down.

Paint your doors a different color.

Another paint idea in this set of tips for transforming your hallway! This one is something I did when we built the house. So, all of the doors in my house are painted Benjamin Moore Cheating Heart, which is a dark charcoal color. This creates visual interest and contrast from the Benjamin Moore Simply White walls. You can read more about my doors HERE.

Display art or photos.

Art or some sort of wall feature makes any space more personable. Downstairs I added our family calendar to the hallway and framed it out in molding. And upstairs I added a few framed photos. Hallways are also great places to put up gallery walls! But be careful not to over clutter it. Such a narrow space can easily become overwhelmed if there’s too much going on.

Add some decor pieces.

If you have a wider hallway, adding a decor piece is always an option. For example try adding a narrow bench or even a console table. Both of which would be extremely handy in a hallway leading from the garage. Just make sure you have the space for it. For something more low profile that will still add warmth, try a runner.

There are a number of ways to spice up a boring hallway in your house. And most of them are relatively inexpensive and easy to pull off! So if you’re standing in your hallway thinking it looks unfinished, think back to these tips for transforming your hallway! And be sure to follow along on Instagram and come back to the blog for my next hallway transformation reveal.

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