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Hallway Decor Ideas: Elegant & Playful Charm for the In-Between
- Missy Carlin
- May 20
- 7 min read
Updated: Jun 24
Add character to your home with these hallway decor ideas—no full-room makeover needed
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them—at no cost to you. I only share products I truly love or use in my own home.
When my husband and I bought our first home in 2019 at a really great interest rate we figured we’d stay in this house for 3-5 years and then move to a bigger & better one. However, after COVID, two kids, and the rise of interest rates and decline of home inventory we are staying in our ‘starter home’ longer than we originally anticipated. Once we had that realization, I decided it was time to actually make our house more ‘us’ and make changes to our home that we hadn’t because we thought we were just passing through.
Before photos of the hallway
Our small hallway on the main floor wasn’t high on the list of priorities, but after wallpapering and redecorating our entryway, I wanted the hallway to match to create some consistency. I built on the momentum I had from wallpapering our entryway and got to work doing the same to the hallway. If you feel like your home could use a little something, a hallway is a great place to update without committing to a whole room makeover.
Here are some hallway decor ideas to hopefully inspire you and add a bit more “you” to your home!
Statement Wallpaper
Our entryway wallpaper was what inspired me to update our plain hallway to begin with. When you’re in our living room you can see both the entryway and the hallway so I wanted to create some symmetry from that point of view. I also just love the green botanical print! While wallpapering around 4 doorways and 2 closet doors is not exactly easy or fun, the end result created such a beautiful statement as you walk through the hallway.
Playful Art Prints
The hallway wallpaper is beautiful, but I wanted to add more details to the wall to break up the print and also just add some more personal touches. I challenged myself to think differently with the wall art I chose for this hallway. As I’ve been updating our home, I have been thinking about how I can decorate it for our whole family vs. just for my own aesthetic enjoyment. The hallway is also right outside my four-year-old son’s door so I wanted him to find it fun. He has been on a huge animal kick recently, loving reading about any and all animals and also playing with animal figurines all over the house. So when I stumbled upon these sophisticated animal art prints – a fox and a tiger – they instantly felt like the perfect fit for the hallway walls.
I love the style of these illustrations by Mike Koubou, putting animals in the light of sophisticated gentlemen in an old-school rustic style. SOLD. We love this fox and tiger pair. The dark wood frames I used for these prints look amazing against the green wallpaper and adds to the prints’ rustic vibe.
Custom framing is expensive – and since the fox and tiger prints were not a typical frame size, I had to do my own scrappy custom framing. I bought frames slightly smaller than the prints (frames- 16 in x 24 in ; prints - 19 in x 26 in) so that I could cut the prints to the 16 x 24 in size and use ready-to-buy frames instead of custom. This worked because there is a lot of negative space around the fox and tiger that I could cut off without ruining the print, but would be more difficult with an art print that has detail on the outer edges you wouldn’t want to cut off!
Hanging these wall art prints in the hallway opened me up to expanding my personal interior style a bit– trying something new led to me realizing how much I love playful and whimsical touches to add personality.
Unique Mirror with a touch of DIY
A mirror is a great hallway decor idea as it fills up wall space and adds dimension. I forgot that Zara Home existed until I was on Google looking for a wood mirror that was unique and also the espresso-colored finish I love. I thought I found that in this mirror with its fun wood frame, but when it arrived at my house the wood finish wasn’t as dark as I thought it would be from the pictures. SO I took matters into my own hands and applied this dark walnut stain to the mirror frame. I was able to re-finish it because the wood on the frame was not sealed. The end result was lovely and better matched the aesthetic I was going for with the mirror.
PSA/ Side Note: the mirror I received from Zara Home had a defect on it where there was a piece of wood protruding from the frame and it was difficult to get ahold of their customer service to initiate an exchange. After a couple weeks of trying to get a response I decided I’d keep it and hope the darker finish covered the defect which it did. Just know the back-end product support for Zara Home products is not great.
Mini Gallery Wall with Room to Grow
There was a big blank wall space that I wanted to add some art to, but I didn't want it to feel completely disconnected from the animal prints and the wooden mirror on the other walls of the hallway. I had a few pieces I collected that I loved-- a brass monogrammed plaque and a lemon photo frame--but wasn't sure if they were too random to be paired with each other on a gallery wall let alone whether they would clash with the wall decor that was already there. So, I found a wooden frame from Hobby Lobby that very closely resembled the Zara Home mirror with the wood knot detail, and a Rabbit art print from Juniper Print Shop that could tie to the other animal art. I paired that with the plaque and lemon frame and a checkered piece of art in a brass frame from HomeGoods, and it looks beautifully collected while tying in to the overall aesthetic of the hallway.
Gallery walls should be a little random with frames and colors that tie in to each other for cohesion. And this little wall still has space to allow more pieces to be added if I find them over time. What do you think??
Simple but elegant light fixture
The ceiling in this hallway is a bit higher than ceilings in the rest of our house, and it felt like there was so much open space toward the ceiling that I wanted to fill it with a larger light fixture. After searching high & low, I ended up replicating the general look of the simple opal glass globe light fixture in our entryway, and found a larger one (10 inches in diameter) to install in this hallway. Its larger size is perfect for creating a statement and filling the vertical space in an elegant way. The brass element of the fixture also matches the brass doorknobs of the SIX doors in this hallway.
Anyway, who says you can’t copy and paste design decisions you’ve already made elsewhere in your home?? If you like something (like I liked the light fixture in our entryway) feel free to repeat it in other places in your home. Not only does it reduce the number of new decisions you need to make but it also creates cohesion throughout your home if you like that kind of thing– which I LOVE. Using the same wallpaper also tied two spaces together in my home which makes people appreciate the details even more.
This is the light fixture that was already in the hallway- very cool close-up but not big enough for the hallway. It's been passed on to another owner to make use of it!
Whimsical Hardware Details
In such a small space like a hallway, light switches and electrical outlets have a certain prominence to them on the walls, so I wanted to dress them up a bit and use them to add more design details. I ADORE these ‘wiggle’ switchplates and outlet covers from Anthropologie. The brass finish is perfect and the fun shape adds a whimsical and playful touch, especially against the wallpaper that can appear more on the traditional side. I used one switch plate and two outlet covers in this hallway. Paying attention to small details like these really creates a sense of craftsmanship and luxury in a home. It’s like when your socks match your outfit– a small but thoughtful detail that makes me feel like I have my whole life together. Anyone else…?
Home is an Ongoing Process
There is a small 11” x 38ish” space below the mini gallery wall that I noticed could possibly hold a small cabinet for extra storage (which we always need in our small house!). I haven’t been able to find such a slim piece that would fit there yet, so I’m staying on the hunt until I find something that will fit there without creating an obstacle in the hallway. I’m not going to put something there just for the sake of it– this is why creating home is a never ending process, especially when you want to thoughtfully curate things instead of collecting junk.
Beauty in the In-between
I’ve often found myself in phases of life where I’m experiencing a transitional time– ‘in-between’ moments where I’ve moved on from one thing and haven’t yet fully stepped into the new. Being in these phases always brings up the idea of finding beauty in the in-between. It’s often unsettling for me to be on the journey instead of at my destination, so I remind myself to look for what is around me that I haven’t noticed before. All that to say that a hallway is also the in-between! It’s not a kitchen to renovate or a living room to redecorate, but creating a beautiful hallway instead of overlooking it can help you to appreciate your home more and find more places to add your personal touch. What do you think of these hallway decor ideas??
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