Hallway Decorating Ideas

This is the entrance to our house.

We haven't yet decorated our hallway, it is exactly as it was when we purchased the property.

When we first viewed this property I immediately fell in love with the Victorian charm, the beautiful stained glass in the front door, the cornice detailing and the decorative wall paneling.

Cornice & Decorative Wall Paneling

I also quite liked the traditional wallpaper, but since having lived here for awhile now, the hallway is looking a little tired and much too yellowish beige for my liking.

It's definitely in need of a freshen up.

 This is the upstairs landing and is completely covered with the same traditional wallpaper as featured downstairs.

I went to my go to design idea source Pinterest & started my Hallway Ideas board.

https://uk.pinterest.com/sureambeautiful/hallway-ideas/

I loved the look of these two hallways as they are both quite modern & fresh looking.

Although I still love the idea of wallpaper & wanted something a little more bold.

I first looked at this tree wallpaper by Cole & Son (as I have a couple of rolls left over from our previous property) & I am still obsessed with it.

http://www.cole-and-son.com/en/collection-new-contemporary-two/wallpaper-69/12147/

I also really liked this striking Black & White graphic wallpaper

'Minaret' by Osborne & Little

http://www.osborneandlittle.com/products-and-collections/wallcoverings/spring-2011/wallpaper-album-5/minaret

However these bold graphic wallpaper designs really don't work with the decorative wall paneling which features throughout our entire hallway.

Therefore I started searching for less graphic designs.

I ordered loads of swatches (I could probably wallpaper an entire wall out of patchwork wallpaper with the amount of swatches I have!!)

I quite liked the above 4 designs so I painted the decorative wall paneling white to see how a contrast would work (it didnt!!).

I then painted a section to match wallpaper 1 - didn't like that either!! 

We've finally decided on the below option no. 4

It's from Cole & Son, Albermarle Collection 'Baudelaire'

http://www.cole-and-son.com/en/collection-albemarle/wallpaper-94/1004/

It has a nice neutral background with a metallic print.

It's bold yet still traditional so works perfectly with the decorative paneling

We've decided not to wallpaper the entire hallway, as that would just be replacing one traditional wallpaper with an updated version.

Instead we'll make a feature of this wallpaper & only paper the left hand side of the hallway & the entire way up the stairs / landing area.

This will give a more modern feel.

The decorative wall paneling will be painted in a matching colour to the background of the wallpaper.

Will update you once it's done!!

Bathroom Progress - Flooring, Radiator & Vanity

The underfloor heating has been laid.

We used 'Comfort Zone' underfloor heating, the same brand that we also used in the kitchen.

Now the freezing winter mornings will be something to look forward to..

The floor tiles we selected are a light to mid grey 600mm x 300mm

They are slightly textured and have a very faint barely there, glitter through them.

The grout will be a matching light grey colour.

The pigeon hole shelves have now been finished with tile edging in white.

The box has been made for the concealed toilet cistern, ready to be tiled.

It's been so long since we've had a toilet upstairs!!

The vanity has been secured to the wall.
We bought the vanity from Ikea, it's from the 'Godmorgon' range:

http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80195536/#/80180993

The unit does not come with a top or basin.
My intention was always to have a marble top & splash back made to fit this unit, with a counter top basin.

Our marble supplier can now come and measure.

The wall radiator has been fitted to the wall & plumbers have connected the pipes.

The shower screen has been fitted.

We bought a new silver antique style large mirror from Camden Mirrors in Camden Market Stables:

http://www.camdenmirrors.com/

We bought the largest size possible to fit in the space so it would make the room feel bigger.

Bathroom Progress - Plastering, Tiling & Flooring

It's so nice to see the bathroom starting to lighten up, it was such a dark room before we started the renovations.

The new window lets in much more light than the previous.

The dark red wallpaper has been removed and the plastering has begun.

The pigeon hole to the left of the window is starting to take shape

The frame around the concealed toilet cistern has been built to support the tiling.

The wall to the left of the toilet is where the vanity / basin will positioned, it's not a solid wall so our builders have added timber beams behind the plaster board to support our wall hung vanity.

Once the plaster has dried completely the tiling will begin.

We've chosen natural Marble Bianco Carrara tiles 600mm x 300mm 

for the walls.

As a feature within the pigeon holes, we've chosen a mosaic tile 

300mm x 300mm as below:

When the tiling began, it soon became evident that they were really difficult tiles to work with.

When the tiles were cut, the edges were very rough & sharp, we thought there was a problem with the tiles we had bought.

We bought new blades for the tile cutter, searched online & spoke to our tile supplier to see how we could resolve the problem.

Apparently this is normal for natural marble tiles and a lot more time and effort is needed to get the edges of the tiles smooth ready to be used (much to the dismay of our tiler!!).

The only solution was to use a fine sand paper to sand each cut edge of the tile to achieve a smooth finish.

The timber shelves have been added to create our pigeon hole shelves.

The walls have been painted, we used the same colour as we used in our kitchen which worked really well.

It's Crown 'Soft Steel' for kitchens & bathrooms.

The feature mosaic tiles have been put up inside the pigeon hole shelves.

The end is now insight and the bathroom has taken on a brand new look, which is very exciting and looking forward to having it finished.