During most renovations, the hallway, stairs and landing take more traffic than any other part of the house. Every trade, every delivery and every bag of rubbish passes through them. That is why it usually makes sense to plan them as the last stage of the job, rather than the first space to look finished.
For a house renovation, Cirencester homeowners can save themselves a repeat job by deciding early what happens to these spaces and when. Alpha Renovations Ltd takes on renovations and refurbishments as one managed project, so the order of the different trades is planned together rather than left for you to arrange one by one.
Treat the hallway as the main route through the job
While kitchens, bathrooms or other rooms are being worked on, the hall is the way in for materials, tools and people, and the way out for waste. Walls get knocked, floors get scuffed and stair treads take heavy wear. Decorating the hall or laying a new floor there early can mean doing it twice.
Walk the route yourself before work starts. Note which door will be used, what the route passes on the way to each room, and anything fragile along it: a stair carpet you are keeping, a newel post, framed pictures or a radiator in a narrow spot.
Agree protection for what is staying
Some features in a hallway are worth keeping: an original floor, a staircase, panelled doors or period details. Decide what is staying at the start, and ask how each feature will be protected while the rest of the house is worked on. Typical things to cover are:
- floor and stair coverings along the main route
- door frames and corners that materials will be carried past
- banisters and handrails
- doors that should stay closed to keep dust out of finished rooms
Ask who checks the protection and how often it is renewed. Protection laid on the first day and never looked at again does little good once the work is well under way.
Plan the hidden work before the finishes
Hallways often carry things that serve the whole house: light switches, the routes of pipes and cables, and sometimes the meter. If any of these are changing as part of the renovation, that work needs to happen before plastering, flooring and decorating, not after.
Think about lighting at the same stage. Stairs and landings need light where you actually walk, and moving a switch or adding a light is far easier before the walls are finished. Make these decisions while the rooms either side are still being planned, so the hall is not opened up again later.
The same goes for anything fixed to the hallway walls, such as a coat rack, mirror or shelf. Decide where each one will go before the walls are finished, so new fixings are not drilled through the last coat of paint.
Choose finishes that cope with daily wear
Once the heavy work is done, the hallway is still the busiest space in the house. Muddy shoes, bags, pushchairs, bikes and dogs all pass through it. When choosing paint finishes and flooring, explain how the hall is really used and ask which options suit that wear.
Colours in a hallway are seen from several rooms and in mixed light: daylight from the front door, little natural light on the stairs and lamps in the evening. Try samples on more than one wall and look at them at different times of day before deciding. Painting and decorating choices here also set the tone for the rooms that open off the hall, so decide whether you want the colours to flow through or change at each doorway.
Make the hallway the final, planned stage
Put the hallway, stairs and landing into the plan as a stage of their own, starting once the other rooms no longer need the route for heavy work. Agree what that stage includes: making good any damage from earlier work, the flooring, the decorating and any final fittings.
This also gives you a natural point to look over the whole house. With the main route finished last, you can walk through each room, check the agreed list and raise anything outstanding before the last surfaces are completed.
Questions customers ask
Should I decorate the hallway first so the house feels finished sooner?
It is tempting, but the hallway usually takes the most wear during a renovation. Decorating it early risks damage from materials and foot traffic, and you may end up paying to have it done again. Leaving it until the other rooms are finished usually gives a better result.
Can the hallway still be used while the rest of the house is renovated?
Usually it has to be, because it is the main way in and out. That is why agreeing protection, the route for materials and which doors stay closed matters so much. Ask for these to be set out before the work starts.
Read who manages what in a whole-home renovation and the renovations and refurbishments page, then get in touch with a short description of your house and the rooms involved.
