Buena vista

A hallway gives the first impression of you and is your first style statement in your home. You should aim to create a vista and ideally people shouldn't be able to see straight through into another room. Plan the space so that there's a feature wall to look at. If you are putting a new door into an adjoining room put it to one side so that you can see a part of the room from the hallway but there is still an element of surprise.

Natural floor

I'm not a lover of plain carpet, especially in light colours, in the hall as it's just not practical. If you want to make the space seem bigger, which is what most of us are trying to do, choose a non-directional pattern. The best coverings are coir matting or a polished hardwood floor. You can put in a really nice rug or Persian runner if you want to dress it up a bit. There is more rubber being sold in Ireland now in really wacky colours although beware of using very strong shades on the floor as you can get sick of it and it's expensive to replace.

Discreet storage

If you are storing things in the hall you should make the storage facilities into items of furniture or work them in under the stairs so they are unobtrusive. Instead of just leaving the electrical cupboard as it is, you can make a positive feature of it. Work it into the area by having it perhaps at the same level as the glazing on the front door or at the same height as the dado rail. Widen it to make a table for a lamp and consider putting a cupboard into the end of it. If there's a conduit running to it on one side you can box it and balance it on the other side with a fake box to make it look like a piece of furniture.

Low light

Overhead lighting can be very harsh, whereas a lamp on the hall table is much more welcoming. It indicates that this is not an office, it's a house! It doesn't matter whether the lamp is modern or traditional, it's the level that it's at that counts. The aim is to create a hall on a human scale, so try and have another table further in with another lamp that draws you along.

Best features

Any good feature in the hall should be highlighted. If there are nice mouldings on ceiling pick them out with lighting and colour. You could either have a ceiling light coming down to the right height or have a lamp that throws enough light up to get a nice shading effect with the moulding. You can also pick mouldings out with spots. If the mouldings in your house are bunged up with layers of paint it may be worth cleaning them up just in the hallway.

Be bold

You can use bold colours on the walls for two reasons: it can make the hall warm and welcoming - and you're not sitting there looking at the colour all the time. Most colours work in a hallway if the lighting works with it. If you have cool colour and florescent lighting it will look horrible but blues and green work very well if the lighting is warm. It's generally better to go for light colours as it makes the space look bigger.

The big picture

Halls are good places to put big paintings in because the walls are relatively free of furniture. Paintings that are tall and thin work better than horizontal ones because they tend to accentuate the length of a long hall. Mirrors add depth.

Well finished

It can be worth spending money on small but expensive finishes. For one of our clients we installed a very nice granite table which hangs from the wall with no visible means of support, making the area look nice and spacious.

Staircases

Staircases can be dominating partly because building regulations require the uprights to be very close together. Paint them rather than stain them because that can make them look heavy. White looks best and it is more traditional.

Emma Cullinan is the editor of Select magazine