My Monochrome Corridor Makeover - Reveal

I am so excited to finally reveal our Monochrome Hallway Makeover. I’ve been compiling all the works we have done over the months in this post! Decorating a house is not a short project, as I have learned it with my first home and it will always be evolving but if you look at the before photos below you will cringe. Hope you enjoy and if you have questions, feel free to use the comment section below.

Disclaimer: We paid for all these ourselves. I would always disclose if any product was gifted at the beginning/under photo description. Links with an * are adlinks.

This post is about our Edwardian narrow corridor makeover. The starting point was an all-magnolia white walls with a few holes (yes, we bought a house that had holes, that was pre-brexit mind you, now the london house market dedicated to millennials aka under half-million must be smelling lavender before they can sell them - ok sarcasm now over for the rest of this post). The flooring was an old used grotty carpet.

Scroll-Down to discover what we have done with the space.

The brief I’ve given myself for this room was : monochrome, chic and elegant, with touch of vintage art deco, with a mix of old and new.

BEFORE/AFTER Photos

Monochrome stripes

For a visual interest on the column, I choose to add some monochrome vertical stripes. This was previously white, then I painted the column black when I painted my feature wall but decided to go for a drama effect with the monochrome stripes. I used masking tape to create the stripes as you can see below.

Brass Knob Detail.

I got this Black and White Striped Monochrome Knob on Etsy* for the pipe box above the hallway/kitchen door.

Gallery Wall

I got these prints from Desenio. They were my first attempt at making a gallery wall! I like them very much, they combine elegance with minimalism and echos the colours of the room. And by colour, I mean the black and white of course 🙂

Mirror

Currently I have a 52cm diameter black mirror but I want to update it with a 100cm diameter mirror! I am considering this one which has some bronze colour and could match nicely the light fixtures : Caligone Bronze Metal Round mirror 100cm*.

Staircase with Led Light Strips

Click here for the blog post with the DIY tutorial: How to Add Floating LED Light Feature To Your Staircase. Step-By-Step Tutorial

Flooring choices

I choose a Herringbone pattern parquet. Here it is the Karndean Blond Oak - Art Select - AP01. I really like that its petite size fits nicely in the narrow corridor. This is a small tribute to Haussmann Parisian flats which rock these amazing large timeless herringbone or chevron wood parquets.

Stairs Carpet

I long debated what flooring to have in the stairs and finally decided to go for full carpet because I wanted to minimise noise when going up the stairs as we live in a maisonette, our downstairs neighbour would hear us. Plus we have two cats who like to run up and down the stairs and I don’t really want the neighbours to come ring at the door because of our cats… The Carpet is Splendour iSense Ebony 99.

Wall Paint colour

Dulux Brilliant White on the walls and ceiling and Dulux Rich Black both in a matt finish.

Vintage Art-Deco Light Pendants with White Ceiling Rose

We found these vintage art deco pendants in the living room when we moved in, they were fitted on plastic cheap fittings and I decided to keep them for the corridor makeover. The way they distribute light is unique and beautiful and knew it would look better in a narrow hallway than in the large living room. I decided to mount them on a more modern black fittings in order to contrast with the vintage aspect. I really struggled to find the right fittings for these as they can only fit BC22 lampholders (not the modern E27 fitting which is widely available) I guess that is one of the aspect of wanting to keep items from the past, there is a bit more leg work! In the end, I bought electrical item by piece (Bronze BC pendant lampholder, Black Fabric Cable, black electrical rose) and our electrician built the light pendant all together. I got everything from this website called lampspares.

The ceiling rose have a diameter of 30cm. We got the white ceiling rose* at B&Q.

To conclude, I am delighted with it!! The space is interesting but not too overwhelming. I love these stripes, they make the room feel instantly more sophisticated. Even if this is a reveal post, It is possible we will tile the entrance in the future as I believe this will provide better water-tightness as after-all raining days are a sure thing here in London and scrubbing the floor isn’t something I particularly like doing. If you have places or tiles to recommend please let me know!

Hope you enjoyed the post! If you like it, you may also like my Master Bedroom Update : Moodboard + Upcoming plans

Marlene