The hall is the home’s first impression
A gilded mirror, a round table and a bouquet. That is how a passageway becomes a room you stop in. The hall is the first thing you see when you come home and the last thing you leave, yet it is often the room that gets the least care. As an interior architect in Stockholm since 2010, I know that the hall sets the tone for the whole home.
Treat the hall as a room, not a corridor
The most common mistake is to see the hall as something you pass through. It then becomes a place for shoes, keys and post, and that is the impression it gives. Turn it around and ask: what do I want to feel when I open the door? Calm, warmth, a little anticipation? Everything else follows from that answer.
A round table in the middle of the room is the simplest way to make the hall a room. You walk around it, not past it, and the table becomes a natural place for a vase, a bowl for keys or a stack of books. In Dusty Deco a dark wooden pedestal table stands under a chandelier, and suddenly the passageway has a centre.
If your hall is long and narrow, a table on the floor will not work. A slim console along the wall, a bench or a row of pictures can do the same job: give the eye something to rest on.
The mirror and the light
A large mirror is the hall’s best friend. It doubles the light from the door or window, it makes a small room bigger, and it lets you see yourself one last time before you go. Choose a framed mirror with some history if you can – a gilded frame from an auction house gives more character than a new one.
The light matters just as much. A hall should never be lit by a single ceiling spotlight. Combine a chandelier or pendant with wall lights at eye level and, if there is room, a table lamp. Then the hall is welcoming even on a dark November evening. On Grevgatan the wall lights radiate over a patterned wallpaper, and the crystal chandelier does the rest.
Think about the colour of the light too. Warm white, around 2700 kelvin, makes wood, brass and fabric look the way they should. Cold light turns the hall into a stairwell.
Storage you do not see
A hall without storage will never be beautiful, however lovely the mirror. Coats, shoes, bags and umbrellas need a place behind closed doors. The best solution is built-in wardrobes running from floor to ceiling, with the same mouldings and colour as the walls. They then disappear into the room instead of dominating it.
On Strandvägen we built wardrobes with panelled doors and lighting inside. Behind the doors are hanging rails, shoe shelves and drawers – and in front of them a hall that looks calm every day.
If there is no room for a whole wall of wardrobes, a chest of drawers, a bench with storage underneath or a few good-quality hooks can go a long way. The point is that every item has an obvious place.
Five things to consider
If you are redoing your hall, start with these five questions. Where do you put keys, post and your phone when you come home? Where do guests hang their coats? Where do wet shoes go? Where do you check yourself in the mirror? And what is the first thing you want to see when the door opens? The answers decide where the storage goes, where the mirror hangs and where the light falls.
Measure how the doors swing, too. A wardrobe that cannot open fully because the front door is in the way becomes an irritation every single day. Leave at least 90 centimetres of clear passage, more if several people need to take their coats off at once. And do not forget somewhere to sit – a stool or a bench makes it easier to tie your shoes and gives the hall a human scale.
Finally, let the hall connect with the rooms beyond it. The same floor, the same mouldings or a colour that returns makes the whole home feel coherent from the very first step.
The floor and walls take the most wear
The hall is the room that wears hardest. Grit, snow and bags take their toll on floors and walls, so choose materials that grow more beautiful with time: stone, ceramic tiles, oiled wood or a checkerboard floor in marble or limestone. On Östermalm a black and white floor ties the hall to the kitchen and bathrooms.
The walls can have more character than in the rest of the home. A patterned wallpaper, a dark colour or wainscotting makes the hall a room of its own and also withstands more than a white wall. It is a small room, so being bold does not cost much.
And finally: flowers. A bouquet in the hall is the first thing you see when you come home. It is the cheapest way I know to make a home welcoming.
