What Do You Have?

The first part of planning any decoration project is to assess the room you are working with and to look at the positive and negative points you may want to bring out or disguise.

• What are the dimensions of the space?
• What shape is it? Long and narrow or more square?
• How much natural light does it get? Which parts get more light than others?
• What is the current flooring? Does it need to be replaced? Could it be restored?
• What are the problems with the area as it is? Is there too much clutter? Is there nowhere to hang coats? Is it unwelcoming?

What is Your Budget?

Everyone could have a magnificent hall or stair case with an unlimited budget but most of us are not so lucky!

• How much do you have to spend on your stairs or hallway?
• What do you have to buy? What would you like to buy if you possibly can?

Timescale

If you are decorating other rooms in your home, do your hall last so that any mess caused by moving furniture through the hall can be dealt with when you redecorate the hall.

• When will you start decorating the hall?
• When does it need to be completed by?

Plan for Color

Color is important in every room and in a room which often lacks natural light it is important not to make the color too dark. Also you need to think about the rooms that have doors that open out onto the hall. Colors should be complementary to each other. If in doubt about paint colors buy some test pots and paint large pieces of paper then pin them up in different places to test out the colors under various light conditions.

• What colors would add light and a welcoming touch to the hall?
• Do they need to go with existing rugs or artwork for budgetary reasons or just because I like them and want to keep them?
• Which colors will complement all those in adjoining rooms?

Flooring

Flooring needs to be practical in the hall as this area gets a lot of wear and tear from foot traffic and it can get dirty quickly too.

• Will you keep or restore the existing flooring?
• How much flooring will you need? (Floors can be an awkward shape and difficult to calculate especially if you are buying flooring from a roll such as carpet or vinyl. Work out the length you will need from a whole width of the roll to fit the hall in one go. Stairs should be calculated separately.)
• Is your hall likely to get wet? If so, laminate or tile may be a better choice than hardwood flooring which can suffer if damp seeps between the planks.
• What kind of flooring will go best with the chosen color for your hall?
• Will the stairs have different flooring to the hall? It may be worth using stair carpet to cut down on noise even if you have hard flooring in the hall.

Furniture Choices

It is important to have plenty of storage in your hall.  A great piece of hall furniture is sideboard furniture so that you can hide the clutter that tends to gather there.  Things to  consider when picking out hall furniture are:

• What existing furniture do you have? Do you want to retain it or could you do better with other pieces?
• Where will you store coats, shoes, bags and keys?
• Where will you put the mail when you bring it in?

Lighting

Lighting has two purposes in a hall and stairs. It needs to be light enough to go up and down the stairs safely and the light needs to be welcoming for visitors too.

• Do you have strong enough lighting on the stairway?
• Do you need an electrician to install additional lighting?
• Do you have space for a hall table and lamp to welcome vistors in the evening?

Taking some time to think about and organize your decorating or remodeling project will really help keep you on budget and meet your deadline.