Stair And Hallway Planning; Inspiration To (Almost) Realisation.

Finally, all the crap messy work is over with and we can get on with the fun stuff! Today’s post is all about stair and hallway planning; from inspiration, through to (almost) realisation.

Having stripped, sanded and sealed most surfaces in the hallway, the next step was to think about the pretty parts of it all. The flooring had been chosen for the vestibule and the downstairs hallway, so the next step was to think about what to do with the stairs and top landing. For this, I turned to my trusted source, Pinterest.

Having seen the condition of the stairs, I knew that I wanted to leave more of the wood exposed*… but also knew that I couldn’t be arsed with the noise of my own feet clattering up and down them. Also, since the hallway is quite empty, I felt that carpet would be the best option to dampen noise and to soften the space.

*When I say “leave more of the wood exposed” I don’t mean ‘bare wood’…it was stained and marked and generally bleugh! What I mean, is painted wood.

The Inspiration.

Usually a rich source of inspiration, I have to say, Pinterest left me feeling pretty flat whilst stair and hallway planning. Only a handful of images really stood out, very few of which was really what I was looking for, for number 69.

However, these images did manage to get the cogs turning…

Lonny via Pinterest

I love the colour of the stairs in the above image. A slightly beige/green grey, with a soft sheen looks so good with the iron rods. This colour ticks all the boxes for me as it has that ‘what the fuck colour actually is it?’ thing going on, that I’m really keen on. This, but with a stair runner, would look great.

Image by Kotomi on Flickr via Pinterest

I love this image. It’s totally not what I’m after, but does open up the question; light stairs with dark carpet?? Also, I love the bench and wouldn’t mind this for the upstairs landing.

Light Locations

Again, not quite what I’m after… but I LOVE this image. I’m shit at minimal though (I like stuff too much!) so would need to add in rugs and artwork/mirrors.

The Style Board

So far… We have wood, tile, carpet (to be made into a runner) and a potential colour. I love the hue, though I’m thinking ‘darker’ tones would work better. So, darker it will be.

Ignore the bottom left tile. I loved it but it kinda did funny things to my eyes. Also, add black stair rods onto that board. The carpet is fairly safe, but getting a decent stair carpet is bloody expensive, and I want something that I can work around in the future. Did I consider pattern? Nope. I have rugs in mind for that carry-on.

The Plans.

First, a reminder of what we are working with…

I wonder what put me off patterned carpet?…

So, first off, the flooring is already down and it looks ace! I laid it in a diagonal pattern which ties in nicely with the herringbone in the living room. I plan on panelling the ‘stairwell’ area, in order to make it look a little more impressive, painting it to match the grey/green of the stairs. This will contrast with a softer pale grey (we are thinking Farrow and Ball ‘Pavilion’) on the rest of the walls.

The radiators have been changed to traditional style, in a black gloss finish and the doors throughout the whole hallway will be painted black, with victorian style beehive knobs (the originals were mismatched and/or broken). The glass and brass lighting was bought in M&S before I had even moved in. I just loved this shape so much. There are two lights, one long (shown here) and one short (for the vestibule). A strange coincidence, that the original plastic shades were not dissimilar in shape! (see the original pic).

You’d be forgiven for thinking that we had kept the original hall table. We haven’t. What will be going in it’s place is a beautiful vintage glass display cabinet that belonged to Brian’s family. It was looking worse for wear so I’ve refinished it and it looks great!

Pattern and colour will come in the form of rugs and artwork. I already have the rug in the foreground but I’m not 100% sold. As for the second rug, it may be a DIY follow up from last week’s bench post (if you haven’t read it, catch it here).

Still a lot of work to do, and a lot of stair and hallway planning to be done… but I can let you know that one of those decisions involves a chandelier (hee hee!!). If you follow me on Instagram, you may get a sneaky peak tomorrow!

Coming soon… Stair and hallway Planning; The Upstairs Landing.

Have a lovely week!