6 hallway trends to refresh your home for spring

As the warm, sunney weather starts peaking through, many homeowners across Wales will be starting to think about making home ugrades. Spring always brings with it a sense of renewal and what better way to freshen up your home that by renovating the hallway. The once forgotten space is set to become a feature room within the home.

In celebration, hallway design and staircase experts Andy Fenton, joiner, staircase installer, renovator and founder at Staircases by Andy Fenton and Lucie Levesley, associate director and hallways expert at Jackson Woodturners have teamed up, each sharing tips and advice on Spring trends, which have been collated in the inaugural “Hallway and Staircase Report” by Jackson Woodturners.

Trend 1: Elaborate storage solutions to maximise useable space

In 2024, home improvers will look to make more of the space available using innovative storage solutions. Staircases often create unused areas (both underneath or above them) and customers are really starting to get creative with this, maximising the functional space in their homes. 

Andy Fenton, joiner, staircase installer, renovator and founder at Staircases by Andy Fenton comments,

“The storage solutions that I can offer customers are becoming increasingly elaborate and complicated, especially as features like drawer systems are improved by manufacturers. Portable tools that companies are now making are fantastic and allow me to create more complex fixtures within my customer’s homes.”

“Alongside practical storage for things like shoes, coats  or cleaning equipment, I’m also starting to see demand for lifestyle-enhancing design features such as wine cellars, reading nooks and home working spaces.”

Trend 2: Bold colours and patterns, personality in design

2024 is the year to go bold with home decor and the hallway is no exception. We often see interior trends reflecting creative areas outside of the home and the Pantone Colour Report for 2024 does just this, with vibrant reds, oranges, greens and turquoise shades dominating their spring/summer palette. “Hallway colour ideas” gets searched for on average 2.9k times per month on Google, as Brits look for inspiration.

“Looking back over my time in the staircase industry, there is nothing more exciting than what’s happening now. Trends are changing from simple pastel colours and light shades to bold patterned carpets and rich wall colours. Patterned carpets are making a return for 2024, with people looking at even bolder wallpapers and Venetian plastering on the tall feature walls.”

Interest in carpets and flooring is high, with Google and social media providing a wealth of inspiration. The number of monthly searches around the topic includes 9.9k average monthly searches for “stair carpet runner”, 2.9k for “patterned carpet”, 4.4k for “patterned floor tiles” and 1.9k for “hallway flooring ideas”.

Trend 3: Pendant lighting to replace hallway spotlighting

The maximalism trend which extends across the interiors space isn’t just about colour and furniture. Interesting feature lighting is becoming a home decor staple, with #pendantlights being tagged around 377,000 on Instagram alone. 

Though the trend may have first started in kitchen and dining areas, it is now set to be big for hallway decor too. Staircases with high ceilings can really benefit from statement pendant lighting, making a design feature out of the unused headspace.

Andy comments, “Feature lighting is growing alongside modern LED technology, replacing the small downlights that have been so popular for years. Pendant lighting, unusual light shades and atmospheric sconces were once investment pieces; however, these no longer have to break the bank with high quality, more affordable options being readily available to the average homeowner.” 

Despite the popularity of daring designs and Instagram trends, Andy and Lucie don’t see Oak and Glass becoming unpopular anytime soon. We’ll see period features being given a contemporary twist and the coming together of different styles will be widely seen.  

Andy comments, “Traditional styles like oak and glass give such a feeling of space for a hallway, it’s difficult to see the benefits of this style being forgotten. While clamped glass gives a modern look, by mixing metal and wood there will always be the want for grooved fitted glass. The versatility of this look is what makes it popular. It’s as at home in old barn and church conversions, as it is in modern three-storey townhouses. This will always be in my samples kit when I go on my customer visits.” 

Lucie sees the cost of living impacting spending, commenting that, 

“Older customers are still spending however, younger homeowners are looking to make savings where possible. Full room renovation might be off the table for many however, there are still plenty of ways to upgrade a hallway on a tighter budget.”

Lucie adds,

“Going into 2024, staying in, is still the new going out. With continued uncertainty in the world and the cost of living still at the forefront of people’s minds. We are finding that younger customers are not making the big changes that they may have done before. They are instead opting for small affordable tweaks such as newel post caps, and handrails on the wall. It’s older customers who are tending to be spending more to transform their staircases.”

As with the use of bold colours and patterns, we expect this more adventurous taste will translate into spindle design too. Lucie reports that white primed spindles are still a big seller for Jackson Woodturners however, she expects to see an increasing number of customers purchasing them to give them an affordable facelift once delivered. 

Lucie said,

“White spindles are an affordable pre-primed item that can be kept white or painted to match your décor, and there are on average 29k monthly Google searches for painting the staircase. We had a lot of people painting them grey or black in 2023 but, next year we believe renovators will become more daring. From warm shades like Pantone’s colour of the year, Peach Fuzz to delicate  shades such as Dulux’s Sweet Embrace .”
Lucie adds, “Black metal iron spindles are still very popular. Due to this demand, we have introduced some new styles such as our statement, circle spindles that we think are sure to be popular in 2024.”

2024 is set to be an exciting year, where hallways steal focus for homeowners and renovators. From bold creative choices, to feature lighting and statement spindle design, it’s clear from this report that there will be some exciting transformations across British homes in the coming months.