Tips for a Bright Entrance

Hallways can be one of the trickiest areas of the house. Often lacking in windows, the room can be dark, dank and depressing. Being home to the front door, the room also accumulates a high level of traffic. Here are some tips for brightening up your hallway to create a welcome entrance for you and any guests to your home:

• Choose a front door with a white interior. A light colour, like white, reflects existing light, helping to make the most of any light which does enter your hallway.


• Choose a front door with glazing. There are many reasons why people prefer to choose a solid front door. Security may be one of these issues. There are front doors available which offer laminated glass - a security glass which prevents anyone gaining access by smashing the glass. Privacy may be another issue. Obscure glass, which (as the name suggests) obscures the view through the glass, can allow light into the hallway without giving a clear view to anyone who may peer inside.


• Paint the hallway light colours. As with the front door interior, light colours help to reflect existing light and generally give a brighter appearance.


• Use mirrors near any light sources to reflect the light around the room.


• If you really don't want a glazed front door, or a glazed front door doesn't offer enough light, consider getting glazed side panels. These can be full length window panels on either, or both, sides of the door, half windows or small windows at the top, known as top lights. You can also have a combination of all 3 if you choose.
  This can maximise the amount of light coming into your hallway if you have no other sources of natural light.

Don't get disheartened about dark hallways, a few simple changes can make a big difference and change the entire atmosphere of the room.