This reveal has been a LONG time coming. I’ve already shared our new front door (which we’re obsessed with), but the entire front hallway has been transformed. From the start I knew that our hallway had potential, but we left the space to the very end, as hallways tend to get banged up the most with constant renovations. Let’s jump into it with a before and after…

This post includes product gifted by the Simpson Door Company, Hudson Valley Lighting, Mitzi, Sandberg Wallpaper, Annie Selke, and Emtek. All content, ideas, and words are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that allow us to create helpful content while featuring products we use and love!

I still can’t get over the transformation. Let’s dig in:

The Door

Updating our door to a 3/4 lite glass door from Simpson Door Company completely changed the light in our front hallway. Suddenly, it went from a dark hole to an airy space. Despite being the same sized door, the door felt like it was significantly larger and more substantial. I don’t know what this sorcery is, but I’m very into an optical illusion.

We painted the exterior of the door Farrow & Ball Parma Gray and the interior Farrow & Ball Lichen. Both colours we had matched to Sherwin Williams paint.

We added some gorgeous hardware from Emtek to the door, which really elevated the look and feel of the door. I love a chunky handleset and the Wilshire is so nice and substantial. We chose an unlacquered brass finish so it would patina in time and get that smudgy look I love so much. We took it a step further and added new brass hinges with ball ends. I love how focusing on some small details can really make a big impact.

And let’s get a little closer on that door hardware

Wallpaper & Paint

Nothing transforms a space quite like wallpaper. Especially in a narrow hallway where you don’t have a lot of opportunities for infusing personality, wallpaper really shines. Here, I gravitated towards Sandberg Sigfrid in Spring Green, which is such a lovely small print that adds texture without demanding too much visual attention. We really love this paper so much and it so perfectly coordinates with the trim paint, Farrow & Ball Lichen.

The Floors

Downstairs, we replaced the hardwood with a Carrara and Bardiglio marble checkerboard in a 12×12 size, as in the laundry room. Ordinarily, I would keep the flooring wood for consistency, but we had to level the floors in our kitchen and that meant there was a significant drop in the floor level at the end of the hallway, which was best addressed with a slanted wood threshold and a change in material in the front hall. Old houses are weird and I like taking that weirdness and turning it into a design moment.

The Stairs

The first time we refinished our upstairs floors we left the stairs for the very end and did a very rushed, very poor job sanding and staining them. So, then I had to stare at blotchy floors for years that made me ragey every day. We finally resanded the stairs, stained them with Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus 2C in Black (our floors are red oak) and they looked infinitely better. Then, we had this gorgeous wool Tailor Stripe runner from Annie Selke involved and it completely changed us from hating our stairs to loving them in the span of a few weeks. There is nothing quite as nice as stepping on cushy stairs. We had the runner installed by a local company, especially due to the need to have the corner mitered.

The landing posed a challenge and opportunity. I had this vision of the stair runner turning the corner at the landing, and chose a runner that would look great when mitered on the corner. The landing came out even better than imagined.

We also gave the handrail a fresh coat of paint, with Benjamin Moore Black Onyx on the balustrades and handrail. It feels so much more elevated now. Additionally, we carried the wainscoting on the handrail side of the wall, so we could cleanly carry the wallpaper upstairs and then we replaced the hardware on the handrail to something much more beautiful. The handrail bracket is from House of Antique Hardware.

The Lighting

They say lighting is the jewelry of the room and I could not agree more. This small space has four different lights and each one was chosen with intention.

The downstairs flushmount is part of my favourite Mark D. Sikes for Hudson Valley Lighting collection. We needed a semi-flushmount with a minimal drop (ask me how many pieces of glass we broke on our old fixture…), and I love how the Somerset carries the alabaster from the adjoining room (nothing is dreamier than alabaster when it’s lit up), along with the black finish echoing the handrail.

We also added a gorgeous picture light from Hudson Valley Lighting called the Stockport, where the brass flows from the lighting in the kitchen beautifully. What I really love about this light is that it is adjustable and can pivot, which is really handy when you don’t have a lot of depth off the wall. This picture light makes my homemade art with my two year old look like it belongs in a gallery. You heard it here – hanging a picture light over any piece of art instantly elevates it and makes it feel important.

Next up is the light over the stairs, one of the additions I was most excited about in this space. This light is from the Ariel Okin x Mitzi collaboration and I’m smitten. The Banyan chandelier does such a great job and merging the black from downstairs with the brass of the other fixtures, and also adds a lot of visual interest.

I adore the bamboo details and the softness the linen shades bring to the space. Now, our hallway feels so beautifully lit and the stairs feel so much more visually interesting.

The last set of lights in the space are also new favourites from Mitzi. The Alaina flushmounts are super cute, well priced and I love the scalloped detail, along with the way the cream trim fits so nicely with the wallpaper. We converted two recessed lights into flushmounts and it feels so much more special in the hallway now.

Art & Runners

Besides the downstairs art, upstairs we also added art in a few key spots.

The first is a series by Laurel Dawn that I absolutely adore. The black frames tie into the stair railing and light fixture downstairs.

We also added these two vintage embroidered pieces that I bought at a tag sale years ago.

And then I hung this piece that we bought for our apartment nearly a decade ago. I am going to note that I’m on the hunt for a replacement piece here, as the frame has warped over time and isn’t sitting as nice as I would like against the wall.

The runner was a vintage Etsy find ordered from Turkey, which far exceeded my expectations.

We also swapped the pull down cord for the attic access to this more sleek option. And the switchplate covers for unlacquered brass ones that will patina to match the door hardware in time.

That’s it! What’s your favourite part?