Preparing for the festive season – hallways part 2

With only a couple of weeks left until the start of the festive season you still have time to methodically re-arrange, decorate and de-clutter each room within your home, rather than leaving it all until the very last minute! Your front door and hallway is the key to making any guests feel immediately welcomed.

If you are having many people visiting you over the festive season you will need to de-clutter your hallway to provide not only a 'good' first impression, but also make room for your visitors coats and footwear. With forecasters predicting many of the parts of the UK seeing a white Christmas this year, visitors are going to arrive swathed in layers of outdoor clothing and boots!

Have a pair of inexpensive mule style slippers on hand for those who forget to bring their indoor shoes! Although you may escape the snow, especially if you don't live in the UK, you still have time to place rugs over flooring which will take some of the potentially wet and muddy footwear. As the cold spell is going to be with us try and save money on heating by using curtains to block out any draughts and retain precious heat within your hallway.

Many new homes have glass or partly glazed front doors to enable natural light to enter, without hallways can be very dark and gloomy places! However, glass does not retain heat in the same way as wood and therefore should be treated in the same way as your windows. Basically this means deciding on a window style dressing for use at your front door or side panels if they are also made from glass.

Roman blinds are a great idea if you don't want to use full length curtains and curtain tracks for fear of them being too much of a nuisance. Opt for medium or heavy weight materials or lighter weights which are lined to provide as much insulation as possible during the cold nights. Of course Roman blinds enable you to have the maximum amount of light during the day as you need or want.

Neutral colours are a good option if you want to keep your hallway light and airy, if you have patterned wallpaper a plain fabric which accents of one the colours within your wallpaper will provide you with a chic and well balanced look. Alternatively if you have plain walls you can choose a gorgeous patterned fabric which either compliments or coordinates with the colour of your walls, if you have carpets try and team the colours so that your new Roman blinds don't look out of place!

For more inspiration then why not browse through our Christmas Shop.