Hallways are high-traffic zones that, let’s be honest, don’t get as much love as your living room or bedroom. But that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it. Whether you're freshening up tired walls or giving your space a whole new look, painting your hallway can make a big impact. For this project, we’re taking an old, cream hallway and modernising it with a crisp white refresh.
Here’s how you go from shortlisting shades of white, to testing the whites with a sample pot, to full hallway transformation:
Step 1: Finding the right white
For this project, we needed a cool white. This immediately narrowed our colour choice. But anyone who’s had a look at a colour wall will know that there are still many different (or not so different) cool whites to choose form. That’s where sample pot testing comes in. Grabbing between 2 and 4 sample pots in our favourite shades allows us to test the colours before committing to our final white.
Step 2: Testing the whites
Now that we’ve narrowed our colour choice to 4 whites, it’s time to test. To test colour accurately, brush out your colours onto at least an A4 piece of paper or cardboard. This enables you to directly compare your colours in the space as well as move them around to see how they interact with different lighting at different times of day. By doing this, we soon saw a clear winner… Dulux Lexicon Half.
Step 3: Mask the walls
Once we chose our colour, it was time to prep. Using masking tape, we to masked off trims, skirting boards, door frames and any other areas we didn’t want to paint. We also laid down drop sheets to protect the floors from drips and splatters.
Step 4: Clean the walls
Being a high-traffic area, dirt and scuff marks are common along the walls. Using Selleys Sugar Soap Wipes, we cleaned the walls and got them ready to paint.
Step 5: Prime the walls
The walls on this hallway were in good condition and, as we weren’t making a dramatic colour change, they didn’t need to be primed. However. if your hallway walls are stained, require repairing or previously painted in a dark colour, applying a primer, such as Dulux 1Step Prep, is essential. Apply 1x coat, cutting in before rolling. Allow the primer dry completely before moving on.
Step 6: Paint the walls
Now for the fun part, painting! We applied 2x coats of Dulux Wash & Wear in our chosen white of Lexicon Half to the walls. We cut in first before rolling to avoid the picture framing. We allowed our first coat to dry fully before applying the second. Once the top coat is dry, we carefully removed the masking tape at a 45-degree angle to avoid peeling.
And with that, this hallway was completely refreshed. Gone was the cream, replaced by the crisp Dulux Lexicon Half.
Need some help choosing the perfect white for your project? Head to your local Inspirations Paint store to get expert colour advice or check out our comprehensive guide here.