While you probably invest a lot of time and research into choosing paint colors for the various rooms in your home—from the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom—odds are you haven’t given much thought to the hallways.
According to design experts, however, whether small or expansive, hallways play an important transitional role in your home, connecting your interior look and feel from room to room in order to present a cohesive and stylish design scheme.
With that in mind, Better Homes & Gardens consulted with professional color experts and designers to curate some of the very best color choices for your hallways. The general rule of thumb is to first consider your floor plan, they say, choosing a neutral color like taupe, cream or gray to seamlessly integrate open floor plan layouts. Homeowners should also take their furnishings and other decor into consideration to choose a complementary hallway color.
Here are some of the best color choices to maximize the design potential of your hallways:
Platinum by Behr: A light gray shade that also exudes warmth. Platinum is infused with subtle greenish-blue tones that helps create a serene atmosphere while passing through hallways.
Rabbit’s Ear by Glidden: Designers say this shade is as soft and cozy as its namesake. A warm griege with a touch of cool tonality, Rabbit’s Ear’s ashy hue skews it a bit toward the gray spectrum. This versatile shade serves as a great transitional tone for blue and cream.
White Dove by Benjamin Moore. A shade that will work in most any home, White Dove is described as a true white with appealing warm undertones. This bright and inviting color is particularly well-suited for smaller, closed-off hallways, helping to open up the space and avoid a cave-like atmosphere.
Toasted Almond by Glidden. Beige often gets a bad rap for being boring, which makes choosing the right shade of the utmost importance. Designers say Toasted Almond is one such choice, imbued with hints of caramel and bronze that add all-important interest. The color works nicely with natural wood tones, and plays well with both modern and traditional design schemes.
Tamarind by Benjamin Moore. If your hallways are part of an open-plan design or feature interesting architectural elements, you might want to opt for a richer color such as Tamarind. The rich mushroom hue of this color will help give your home decor a grounded feeling, while its deeper nature helps highlight details like arches and moldings.
Choosing the right paint color for your hallways will elevate your home’s design and add interest to this often overlooked space.
