Ideas on long hallway - wainscoting, paint, etc.

last year

After being in our new home (farmhouse - literally) for two years, I’m now ready to tackle the design of this long, wide hallway that is the “grand central station” of our home. The left side is the wall of doors that go to the laundry room, hall bath, upstairs, basement, and a bedroom. The right side is one long wall.

We did SW Repose Gray for the hallway, which is what the majority of the house is painted and now I’m trying to incorporate some more color. I also feel like this hallway needs some wainscoting to help protect the outside drywall corners, which have just had to be repaired.

I’m leaning towards doing a white shiplap wainscot that is 66” tall (golden ratio for 9 ft ceilings) with a dark color above, possibly SW Iron Ore. I have a full wall of shiplap in my dining room and I love it so no hate….lol. I also like board and batten style, but I had it in our last house and it was a PITA to clean because the 90 degree corners caught everything.

Another option would be to invert the colors and do a dark wainscoting and lighter wall.

I would love to hear other suggestions, too :)

Featured Answer

RTHawk

last year

If you don't like visual clutter, I would keep it simple. Put in 2 or 3 semi-flush mounts, minimalistic set of prints on the wall and nice, muted vintage runner.

Comments (13)

PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last year
last modified: last year
I never like a dark color on top for sure. IMO what you need is art even a darn gallery wall of family pics would be better IMO that a bunch of wainscoting. I do hate "shiplap" but it is not my house . I do think mixing shiplap and more formal wainscoting is not ideal Some more interesting lighting would be nice too . I am not seeing your style so I am just guessing but i like this type of space for family pics but I like all one size frame but I am aslo more contemporary in my style. Check out hall gallery walls .
shead thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
HU-187528210
last year
Ok here are my thoughts:

I like board and baton over shiplap in a hallway.
I agree that the darker color should go on bottom as it’s more grounding.
You don’t need to do a dark color tho. You can leave it all light and bright.
What about considering wallpaper?
Agreed about lighting. Sconces would be absolutely gorgeous
shead thanked HU-187528210
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shead
Original Author
last year
@Patricia Colwell Consulting, I'd considered doing a gallery wall down this hallway BUT I've found it incredibly hard to get 4 teenagers to cooperate for individual pics. They say they don't want to come down the hallway looking at themselves, which I understand. As for art, I'm having a hard time finding things I like. Plus, I'm planning to add a long narrow console table and possible lamps and a mirror. I don't like a lot of visual clutter and would rather keeps things "less" if that makes sense. My house is a farmhouse style. Some might call it "modern farmhouse" but I know that term is a huge no-no on these boards; however, I don't know what else to call it....lol. I just know that visual clutter increases my anxiety so I like clean lines, symmetry, good proportions, and "white space." DH doesn't want to narrow the hallway by adding the table, though. I'm leaning towards a table like this:

@HU-187528210, I like the idea of sconces a lot, but if I do taller wainscoting, I wasn't sure that they'd work. The wainscoting would serve a practical purpose since my kids are notorious for cutting the corner to the kitchen too sharply and damaging the drywall (as you can see from the drywall repair shown). Board and batten would definitely be easier to install if I go that route but just harder to maintain/clean in the long run. I don't have any cleaning issues with my shiplap in the dining room.
nickel_kg
last year
last modified: last year
If you like shiplap and it works (I don't understand how it wraps around corners??) for you, use it! But white -- would that present a problem as your family rubs against it? That would convince me to use a somewhat darker color below, lighter color above.

For lighting, consider a ceiling mounted track fixture -- it's a less cluttered look than lamps or sconces (and won't be knocked off by rambunctious kids). Furniture: nice narrow sofa table is good; would it make sense to provide seating in a narrowish bench, or ??

I agree with your kids about not wanting to "see themselves" in a prominent gallery wall, lol. Save those pics for a more private family space. I urge you to look for local art shows, or even a local real framing shop. Every framing shop I've ever visited also shows local artists work, and the framer could help lead you to art work that would work in your space and appeal to you -- they're good at that!
shead thanked nickel_kg
Kate
last year
I kinda love shiplap too in the right spaces. It instantly warms a space and it sounds like it would work with your house. I like your console selection and think that would look nice. It appears there will be plenty of space to get by and once the kids get used to it being there they won’t cut the corner as tightly or run there hands on the wall; it could be the answer.
shead thanked Kate
HU-187528210
last year
Excuse my messy mock ups 🫣
Did it quickly…
Hope this inspires
shead
Original Author
last year
I've been wracking my brain trying to decide on a top color. I do like the look of SW Iron Ore but thinking it may be too dramatic in this hallway with a SW Pure White wainscot. I'm hesitant to do a color on the wainscot because of the white trim already in place. Because my kitchen and hall bathroom have cabinetry with a blue undertone, I'm leaning towards a color like BM Stonybrook (1566), Night Train (1567), Quarry Rock (1568) or even Dark Pewter (2122-10). Whether I use board and batten style or shiplap style wainscoting is still TBD.
PRO
Sabrina Alfin Interiors
last year
How rustic is your farmhouse? If you prefer not to do board and batten, you could do beadboard wainscoting instead. See below:

Anchorage · More Info

Farmhouse Entry · More Info
shead thanked Sabrina Alfin Interiors
WestCoast Hopeful
last year
I would for sure do a gallery wall of large frames filled with family photos or travel photos. 3-6 large frames
shead thanked WestCoast Hopeful
shead
Original Author
last year
@Sabrina Alfin Interiors, our farmhouse is not very rustic. The beadboard is a little too busy for my style.

This is our exterior:

@WestCoast Hopeful, a gallery wall was originally my thought, too. I ended up doing a 3 x 3 gallery grid wall on the landing of our U-shaped basement steps from our 3 week Alaska/Canadian Rockies trip from a few years ago. I painted the accent wall Behr City Rain which provided a nice contrast to the SW Repose Gray. Since I'm leaning towards putting in a narrow console I'm not sure that a gallery wall would work with that as a focal point. I'm still mulling it all over, though.

We went with one main color in our house (SW Repose Gray) and used BM Half Moon Crest in the master and the laundry room. Even our cabinets are SW Repose Gray so I'm wanting to add a little more color to certain spaces. I wish I could pin down my style as I like certain aspects of modern, MCM, transitional, Scandinavian, Boho, farmhouse, etc......lol. Since I need to repaint the hallway anyway where the drywall was repaired, I thought I would test the waters in this space with adding more color.
Steve Grimes
last year
If you're going to install painted board and batten or wainscot, you might consider installing the outside corner using hardwood. I milled hard maple baseboard and wainscot pieces and don't have any missing chunks or scratches after 5 years.
PRO
DANE AUSTIN INTERIOR DESIGN Boston & Cambridge
10 months ago
You don't necessarily need to do wainscotting. We think by adding a runner, some artwork, good lighting and maybe a plant, you should be able to make it look nice. Here are some ideas for you to help you move foward.
Luxury Loft · More Info

Weston Bauhaus · More Info

Leather District Loft · More Info