First impressions count — so now is a time to front up
Still, the front hall is often thrown away as a simple jumping off point. Even where architecturally designed, double-height halls elicit gasps — there is often a wobble in aesthetic confidence or sheer neglect.
Estate agent Raymond O’Neill of Sherry Fitzgerald, Skibbereen points out the critical impact of the front hall at sale.
“If a person is inspired when they visit a property, they are far more likely to have a higher opinion of its value. The entrance hall can make a huge difference and maximise its sales impact.
"You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and a welcoming entrance can make all the difference in securing a quick sale.”
There’s a pleasing tension to the front hallway and even its approach. It’s generally a limited space, so kicking up the quality of ingredients is simply more affordable than for a fuller room sized area. Secondly, it’s somewhere you pass through rather than laze about in.
It’s permissible to be more forthright in its treatment and above all, the hall should (with a crumb of formality) invite us into the first circle of your world and your taste, from the first footfall.
Appropriate to the style of the house, this is about a welcome-in, without an overtly aggressive visual challenge.
Flooring right inside any exterior door takes a mighty hammering and must be hardwearing. Still, don’t feel bullied into wood or tile if you prefer the yielding sophistication of carpet. The crucial thing is to get the wear type right, and generally this means as much wool in the mix as possible or a heavyweight natural such as sisal.
Look for ‘Heavy Domestic’ choices and keep them clean to cut down on attrition of the pile with gritty dirt. One hidden benefit is that a carpet or rug will sop off the foot-borne muck before it reaches more intimate rooms. Make good use of pattern to manipulate spatial issues.
Geometric lines in monochrome grooving out of a new exhilaration in 1970s design, can crank open a narrow space or invite the eye forward in leading stripes. Striped edging to solid colour hall and stair runners also injects interest without overwhelming from the floor up.
Tile leading to a carpeted stair is a good compromise for complete practicality. Baked encaustic tiles set on a concrete base, beloved of the Victorians and Edwardians are back in force.
An investment buy, ensure any colour or pattern will endure in its universal appeal, and explore the new offerings in bold, handmade, pre-sealed Moroccans (around €3- €3.50 per 20cm tile or around €60-€75 plus per square metre).
Borders and corners tiles allow you to map out the area. Any tile, laminate or stone floor must have a key or slight grip for safety sake.
If there are floorboards beneath an old carpet in a well lit hall and you’re feeling brave, dramatically dark, blue-black floors are all the rage.
If you want to completely lose your mind — it has to be a Studio 54 purple floor. Ensure you insulate against draughts with a flexible filler and use primer and undercoat before the final top colour. Keep in mind that darks highlights dust in stereo.
White flooring bounces light, and makes a fresh classic statement, but keep shoes off and a mop on hand if you can’t terrify them to the back door. Take a look at B&Qs new colour matching in Valspar products including a Super-Scrub wood paint in hundreds of colours including Tuxedo (near black) and Pantone Eclipse (purple). From €23 per litre.
If installing a new door, building or renovating, consider including side-lights to grab all available natural illumination. The purchase and installation of new doors to a second hand house can be claimed as a tax credit at 13.5% of qualifying expenditure under the Home Renovation Incentive Scheme. Go to www.revenue.ie for further information.
Downlighters are generally a depressing pooling of light for a narrow walk-way where diffused, more general lighting works best. Wall washers matched to a ceiling light or two to three pendants set from a ceiling, can handle most situations.
Place switches at both ends of any significant hallway. Beyond using mirrors to steal light form other rooms, try glazed artwork lit obliquely by direction ceiling spots, to again amplify light and lend glamour.
Tailor to fit. Where space is tight, slender consoles and slim, wall mounted storage is key, but even these should be set well back from the front door itself.
Don’t get too hung up on designer coat-stands and vintage hooks, until you’ve considered them buried under six or seven coats — what elements can you actually see?
The blank face of a modern high storage unit hugging the wall, might actually show off the area and function better than ornamental titillation. Watch the door action doesn’t pick the eye out of a passing child.
If you do have to manage with a single console — make it count. Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen’s Scaramouche Hall Table in racy black and mirror finish is an opulent choice but a laughingly affordable €225 at Littlewoods. Anvil Home is offering its Grey Mist console table in classic, Belle Époque styling for just €100.
Where there’s a fuller yawn of room, there’s a chance to do a little free staging that can discreetly serve your hum-drum needs too.
A short couch, side-table and mirror for adjusting your face for the world, putting on shoes and taking a pause with the shopping bags on your return. With the current fashion for double high atrium halls cased in glass, furniture softens the cool expanses of a high glazed canyon. These bonus spaces can in some cases, prove generous enough to install a stove, dining table and chairs — very 18th century in spirit for dinner parties right inside the front door.
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