10 Bright Ideas to Lighten Up Your Hallway
Hallways deserve a lighting scheme that makes the very best first impression. Here’s how to plan yours to perfection
Lucy Searle
4 May 2018
Houzz Contributor. Editor in Chief of RealHomes.com. I am an editor, journalist, web and copywriter. I was Editor of the hugely successful www.channel4.com/4homes, taking it from a small site to a leading brand. I was also founding Editor of Channel 4’s 4Homes magazine, was Associate Editor at Ideal Home and have written for MSN, Huffington Post, Homes & Gardens, Country Homes & Interiors, Beautiful Kitchens, House Beautiful, Good Homes, and many women’s titles. I founded www.tailoredcontent.co.uk with a fellow journalist and together we blog, write web content and run social media accounts for (mostly) interiors companies. As a general rule, I write about everything from buying and selling property, self build, DIY, design and consumer issues to gardening but have tackled travel and family...
Houzz Contributor. Editor in Chief of RealHomes.com. I am an editor, journalist,... More
The hallway: generally a dark, narrow space with few redeeming features – but also the first room you and your guests see on entering your home. So how to make the best of it, other than investing in good shoe and coat storage? The answer is lighting – get it right and you’ll transform your hallway into a bright, light, feature-packed space.
1. Conjure up atmosphere
A hallway should be inviting, drawing guests into the house. An easy way to achieve this is by installing low-level lighting – like this mini pendant – to supplement your more practical fittings.
The aim here is simply to create a soft pool of light to highlight what’s nearby, so fit a low-wattage bulb, one with a warm tint, or one connected to a dimmer.
18 Ways Lighting Can Set the Right Mood
A hallway should be inviting, drawing guests into the house. An easy way to achieve this is by installing low-level lighting – like this mini pendant – to supplement your more practical fittings.
The aim here is simply to create a soft pool of light to highlight what’s nearby, so fit a low-wattage bulb, one with a warm tint, or one connected to a dimmer.
18 Ways Lighting Can Set the Right Mood
2. Know your lampshades
Wall lights are a highly practical choice for hallways, because they take up no floor or tabletop space – which should be jealously guarded in a narrow space.
Choosing slim shades is a must – but so is picking pale-coloured, drum-shaped designs that throw light evenly both upwards and downwards, and diffuse it softly outwards too.
Wall lights are a highly practical choice for hallways, because they take up no floor or tabletop space – which should be jealously guarded in a narrow space.
Choosing slim shades is a must – but so is picking pale-coloured, drum-shaped designs that throw light evenly both upwards and downwards, and diffuse it softly outwards too.
3. Light a recess
If your hallway is all about minimalist finishes and swathes of architectural glazing, you won’t want to be messing it up with a bulky old banister. So why not copy this genius alternative? A handrail that’s not only recessed to save valuable space and create a neat finish, but is also top-lit, so it’s nothing more than a slash of light at night. Now that’s clever.
If your hallway is all about minimalist finishes and swathes of architectural glazing, you won’t want to be messing it up with a bulky old banister. So why not copy this genius alternative? A handrail that’s not only recessed to save valuable space and create a neat finish, but is also top-lit, so it’s nothing more than a slash of light at night. Now that’s clever.
4. Use reflections cleverly
No self-respecting hallway should be without a mirror (the bigger the better) to make it seem larger and – most importantly – much brighter.
How to maximise its effect? Place a table with lamps on it right in front of the glass and the light will be doubled. Choosing lamps on narrow stands and furniture made of reflective materials will only enhance the effect.
8 Perches for Pausing in Your Hallway
No self-respecting hallway should be without a mirror (the bigger the better) to make it seem larger and – most importantly – much brighter.
How to maximise its effect? Place a table with lamps on it right in front of the glass and the light will be doubled. Choosing lamps on narrow stands and furniture made of reflective materials will only enhance the effect.
8 Perches for Pausing in Your Hallway
5. Don’t paint it – light it
If yours is a modern home, an LED installation like this one will create instant party-time wow factor. Best kept for evenings only, it will add colour and light to an otherwise minimalist space.
Ask for light controls that allow you to easily switch from all-white light to colour-changing effects like this when you’re feeling particularly funky.
If yours is a modern home, an LED installation like this one will create instant party-time wow factor. Best kept for evenings only, it will add colour and light to an otherwise minimalist space.
Ask for light controls that allow you to easily switch from all-white light to colour-changing effects like this when you’re feeling particularly funky.
6. Create a scene
Believe it or not, there’s an art to placing table lamps on a console, particularly in a hallway, where they’re instantly on show.
Here, it’s done to perfection: the lights create a frame for and focus the eye on the grouping of pictures, while the monotones of the artwork complement those of the lighting and table. Consider your own colour scheme carefully.
Browse more inspiring hallways
Believe it or not, there’s an art to placing table lamps on a console, particularly in a hallway, where they’re instantly on show.
Here, it’s done to perfection: the lights create a frame for and focus the eye on the grouping of pictures, while the monotones of the artwork complement those of the lighting and table. Consider your own colour scheme carefully.
Browse more inspiring hallways
7. Big it up
OK, so we can’t all afford to own a house that could fit a light this large in it, but really, it’s all about proportions. If you have a high-enough ceiling – or perhaps a stairwell with an opportunity for a larger-than-average fitting – a super-sized light can be all you need to create that desired first impression.
OK, so we can’t all afford to own a house that could fit a light this large in it, but really, it’s all about proportions. If you have a high-enough ceiling – or perhaps a stairwell with an opportunity for a larger-than-average fitting – a super-sized light can be all you need to create that desired first impression.
8. Group for effect
As we all know, good lighting isn’t just about, er, light – it’s also about the fittings themselves and the impression they create. A grouping of pendant lights – a big trend in dining rooms – makes for both a practical and decorative lighting solution in a hallway too. It creates a pretty focal feature that takes up no floor space and casts plenty of light about.
As we all know, good lighting isn’t just about, er, light – it’s also about the fittings themselves and the impression they create. A grouping of pendant lights – a big trend in dining rooms – makes for both a practical and decorative lighting solution in a hallway too. It creates a pretty focal feature that takes up no floor space and casts plenty of light about.
9. Go high, go low
Lighting a hallway is all about creating choice and an even distribution of light. Here, a track of directional fittings throws light downwards, while separately operated skirting spots fill in the gaps.
The result? A long, narrow, potentially dark hallway is flooded with light along its length. And at night, with only the skirting lights on, you’ll have instant atmosphere too.
Lighting a hallway is all about creating choice and an even distribution of light. Here, a track of directional fittings throws light downwards, while separately operated skirting spots fill in the gaps.
The result? A long, narrow, potentially dark hallway is flooded with light along its length. And at night, with only the skirting lights on, you’ll have instant atmosphere too.
10. Lead the way
Lighting the stair treads isn’t just about health and safety – it’s a clever way to draw the eye upwards. It’s a trick you might like to use if you have a particularly attractive staircase or banister, or even just a piece of sculpture or furniture at the top of the stairs to which you’d like to draw attention. This recessed skirting hides an LED strip – an elegant solution.
Tell us
How have you lit your hallway – and would you change it after looking at these ideas? Tell us in the Comments section.
More
Read more interior design stories
Lighting the stair treads isn’t just about health and safety – it’s a clever way to draw the eye upwards. It’s a trick you might like to use if you have a particularly attractive staircase or banister, or even just a piece of sculpture or furniture at the top of the stairs to which you’d like to draw attention. This recessed skirting hides an LED strip – an elegant solution.
Tell us
How have you lit your hallway – and would you change it after looking at these ideas? Tell us in the Comments section.
More
Read more interior design stories
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petrucciO.......try removing the dark hall runner or replacing with a lighter version...absorbing light. Have you considered a skylight or two? An inexpensive solution that I have incorporated into my 9 metre long hallway which also has 3 doorways but was gloomy too. Maybe worth a shot.
We are fortunate to have a big open hallway so a long modern french suspended light unit fills the hall while small blue LED’s light the stair treads
Love that slash of light/handrail along the wall in the minimalist design. Overall, though, if you can't get more natural light in and you've done all the standard things for lightening up, you absolutely must look at the artificial lighting of your hallway. Banish overhead lights - they are sacrilege, mostly. Or go the other way and make the most of gloom/darkness; paint in dark colours, add metallic and reflective touches and gorgeous mood/soft lighting. So you can be enveloped with warmth when you walk in, making it a calming and intriguing cave-like welcome when you walk in, either from outside or from elsewhere in the house. I discovered peacock/petrol bluey-green years ago, long before it became hip. It's a great colour in a dark space; really sophisticated and contrasts so well with crisp, bright colours. Gentleman's club colour is what I'd call it ;-)