Make Your Hallways & Stairs Shine Like The Block

Hallways and staircases are the areas of our homes that are often overlooked when it comes to lighting. But these high-traffic spaces have a much larger role to play in the overall style and functionality of our homes than we think. Hallways and staircases connect people and rooms and so the lighting in these areas should guide the ‘travellers’ to their destination safely. While safety of movement is one consideration, style is the other. Why miss out on an opportunity to make a statement or create visual interest? Read on to learn more about lighting hallways and stairs the right way while taking inspiration from The Block.

Your front hallway gives your guests their first preview of your home so it’s important to make a grand impression here. An opulent pendant will do the trick. However, since hallways are usually narrow spaces, make sure that your pendant size is proportionate to the size of your hallway. A good place to install a pendant is at the intersection of two hallways as it draws more attention to your pendant design as well as provides important illumination in this area.

Downlights are excellent lighting choices to use in this space. Depending on how long your hallway is, you can add one or two downlights between two pendants for additional light. Or offset them to one side of the hallway so that they can wash light down the wall and highlight any artwork or photographs that you have displayed. Another trick is to install downlights on alternating sides to make the space feel more evenly lit and inviting.

What a grand entrance this team made with our Empire chandelier! You get a sense of luxury when you step inside this space and it instantly grabs your eye. Daniel and Jade also added downlights along the hallway to illuminate the carpet runner and the artwork in the hallway.

Besides pendants and downlights, wall lights are also perfect for this space. Install two or three at equal distance from each other depending on the length of your hallway and place them around eye level to avoid glare from the exposed globes. Consider wall brackets like our Mona which throws light upwards or Baristo which throws light both upwards and downwards – here the actual light becomes the feature rather than the fixture itself.

Another area that can shine with the right lighting is your hallway console table. Add a single table lamp or two identical lamps for visual symmetry. The lamps will help highlight a wall painting or sculpture while creating a warm and welcoming environment.

Sarah and George chose to make a subtle, sophisticated statement with our Bloom table lamp. The disc on this lamp rotates around the base allowing light to reflect onto a wall or in this case, a piece of art. You can use a smart globe with this lamp to customise your ambience by adjusting the brightness, temperature and colour of the light with your phone.

The staircase in your home is the primary connection between your spaces downstairs and your bedrooms upstairs. This means that this area sees a huge amount of foot traffic throughout the day. Whether it’s for your own family or to impress your guests, the right decorative and functional lighting can make a huge difference in your staircase.

Let’s explore functionality first. Everyone knows how dangerous stairs can be, especially at night. Not just children, adults too are prone to tripping over poorly lit stairs. The key to safe illumination is contrast. This means creating light and shadows along your stairs to give you a sense of depth and space while navigating this space. This can be achieved by adding strip lights on the treads of the stairs or under the handrail or by installing recessed step lights on every third step.

Now, you might have your favourite artwork hanging in your stairway or a beautiful graphic feature wall. Strategically placed wall lights can help show off these important displays while also creating an inspiring ambience as you walk up and down your stairs. These lights also provide additional illumination in your staircase for safe movement.

If framed artwork isn’t your thing, consider making your lights a work of art themselves! Design a creative pattern with your wall lights by choosing three different sizes and clustering them at different heights or install them in pairs. When positioning the wall lights, just make sure that when you walk up the stairs, you aren’t staring directly into the bright globes.   

Since some of your stairs can be darker areas that need to be lit throughout the day, consider energy-efficient lighting options like LEDs. They use less electricity and cost less to run. On top of that, you can add motion sensors to your stairway lighting so that they turn on only when someone is approaching the stairs.

Having a void or unfilled space in your home is a luxury by itself. Its vast emptiness is an opportunity to showcase a feature piece and make a bold statement. Think glamourous crystal chandeliers or sculptural pendants with large scale and long suspensions that accentuate the height of the ceilings and the sense of spaciousness. A single lighting fixture works here, or you can get creative and cluster pendants of different sizes together.

Our Bolton pendant works brilliantly to bring life and purpose to this void. Its sculptural black design complements the sculptural artwork as well as the black elements on the stairway and windows. This pendant also allows its arms to be adjusted to customise your design according to your space.

Remember, your hallways, stairs and void/foyer spaces set the tone for the rest of your house. Include these spaces in your lighting plan right from the start and you can be sure to impress everyone who walks into your home.  If your space is a little tricky to light or you if you feel too overwhelmed with all the lighting choices available, just reach out to our lighting experts here.