Hallway Paint Colours
A hallway colour has to welcome you in and sit comfortably beside the rooms leading off it. Warm mid-tones are a useful starting point for dim halls, with softer pales above a dado or deeper shades on panelling and joinery. Choose with your daylight and evening lighting in mind; every shade is available as a 60ml sample.
The best hallway colours are mid-tone, warm and forgiving: light enough to make a narrow hall feel welcoming, deep enough to hide the scuffs from bags, bikes and boots. Most British hallways get little direct daylight, so warm undertones help. Below are forgiving mid-tones, light colours for dark halls and deeper shades for below the dado or up the stairs, all in our scrubbable Wall & Ceiling Paint.
At a glance
- Start here
- Warm, forgiving mid-tones. Most halls have limited daylight. Warm mid-tones are a useful starting point and link easily with the rooms leading off them.
- North light
- Warmth for a dim entrance. Cool, steady north light suits warm stones and creamy whites. Deep earthy colours can give lower walls and panelling more presence.
- South light
- Balance warmth with cool depth. Warm, bright daylight can make creams look yellower. Try a cooler deep shade below the dado and sample the lighter colour above it.
- East light
- Keep afternoon shadows soft. Warm morning sun gives way to cooler, bluer light. Warm mid-tones and pale stones help the hall stay welcoming after lunch.
- West light
- Cool depth, warm evening glow. Morning light is cool and flat, then turns warm and golden. Cooler deep shades can work well on panelling; check the upper wall in both conditions.
- Woodwork
- Connect doors and panelling. Repeat the lower wall colour on skirting or panelling for a calmer line. Use Trim & Woodwork Paint on the appropriate joinery.
- Finish
- Scrubbable walls for busy halls. Both Dead Matt and Matt Wall & Ceiling Paint are scrubbable. Dead Matt gives a durable, chalky-looking surface; Matt reflects a little more light.
- Sample tip
- Check every change of light. Move your sample between walls. Check it in morning and afternoon daylight, then under the lights you use at night.
Tap any tile to read more.
Forgiving mid-tones that hide the scuffs
Warm mid-tones make busy hallways feel welcoming.
Best in north-, east- and west-facing rooms
Brilliant white in a hallway is a full-time job. These warm mid-tones are pale enough to keep a hall welcoming and deep enough that every brush of a coat doesn't show. They also work as a bridge between the different colours in the rooms leading off the hall.
Best in north-, east- and west-facing hallways, where mostly warm undertones soften cool daylight and afternoon shadows; Heron™ and Pipistrelle™ add a quieter grey and purple balance, and Heron™ is best kept to east- or west-facing halls. Check the sample against the colours visible through adjoining doorways.
Light colours for dark hallways
Warm pales soften shadows in dim halls.
Best in north-, east- and west-facing rooms
A dark hallway with no window needs light colour, but the wrong white just turns grey in the shadows. Warm, creamy whites and pale stones bounce what light there is while staying soft. They're ideal above a dado rail or on the ceiling of a stairwell.
Best in north-, east- and west-facing hallways, where these warm whites and pale stones keep cooler light gentle. In a windowless hall, judge them mainly under the lighting you use.
Deeper shades for panelling, dados and stairs
Deep lower walls give the hallway definition.
Best in north-, south-, east- and west-facing rooms
Below the dado, on wall panelling or on the stairs and bannisters, a deep colour takes the knocks and gives the hall real character. Paint the panelling and skirting in the same deep shade as the lower wall and the hallway instantly feels designed.
Best in north-facing halls with Navigation™, Riverbed™, Player’s™, Twitchell™ or Whimgin™, south-facing halls with Riverbed™, Bobber™ or Lincolne™, and east- or west-facing halls with Twitchell™, Whimgin™, Bobber™, Lincolne™ or Forester™.
Sample it the way we would
Step 1
Paint your peel-and-sticks
Each £5.99 sample comes with three paintable peel-and-sticks. Give them two coats and let them dry fully.
Step 2
Stick them around the room
Put them on two or three walls, including the wall opposite the window, at eye level and lower down.
Step 3
Live with them for a day or two
Look in the morning, the afternoon and under your evening lamps. Move them around until you are sure.
Your questions, answered
What colour makes a dark hallway look brighter?
A warm, light colour such as a creamy white or a pale stone. Cool, blue-based whites tend to look grey in a dim hall. If the hall is very dark, it can be better to embrace it with a deep colour below the dado and a warm light colour above.
What is the most practical paint for a hallway?
A scrubbable wall paint in a mid-tone. Our Wall & Ceiling Paint is scrubbable in both Dead Matt and Matt, so scuffs can be cleaned off. For skirting, doors, stairs and bannisters use our hard-wearing Trim & Woodwork Paint.
Trim & Woodwork PaintShould the hallway be the same colour as the rest of the house?
It doesn't need to be the same, but it should get on with the rooms you can see from it. A warm mid-tone or a soft white is the easiest link between differently coloured rooms.