Entry Hall Furniture & Hall Decorating

Entry Hall Furniture & Hall Decorating

A hall should be formal enough to receive strangers in and hospitable enough to welcome friends. A hall, when it has the proportions and furnishings of a living room, can hardly be called a living-hall. It loses the spirit of the hall, and becomes, as to service, a living room. A hall is at best a passage-way, but, at the same time, it is expressive of the hospitality of the house.

There are four kinds of halls: the large and small, the light and dark. Some of us should count ourselves blessed in that we can build our halls as we like them,of suitable size and light; others must make the best of a dark little pocket, or a bare, glaring, unprepossessing ark.

By the use of mirrors, paper and furniture properly arranged, we can cheer up the little dark hallway. A good-size rectangular mirror hung on the wider wall will reflect and thus enlarge the apparent size of the hall to a remarkable degree. If it is placed on the narrow wall, it gives an attenuated reflection. An oval or round mirror has a more decorative effect, but does not enlarge so successfully. Adjoining mirrors set in the two corners opposite the entrance will have an enlarging effect, and if a lamp is set before them, the reflections and amount of light are astonishing.

Mirrors serve as a convenience as well. One has only to remove the hall mirror for a few days and watch the men of the family shove their hats on at an unbecoming angle, to say nothing of the air of real tragedy assumed by the feminine members of the family who are denied a last, fleeting glimpse as they speed on their several ways.

One has become a little tired of foliage wallpaper in the hall, yet they are doubtless the wall covering par excellence for the small hall. By the perspective in their patterns one imagines she can see beyond into the depths of the trees. The same is true of landscape wallpaper, so many of which, of Colonial design especially, are now on the market. They are reproductions of old wallpaper, and the dealer, if well informed, can tell you at what house and at what date the original paper was found. A light, plain tone paper or a painted wall will also enlarge the effect of the hall. A figured paper, other than foliage or landscape, should not be used in a small hall, as it will diminish the size.

The woodwork should be light, and if possible the floor also. The floor coverings may be of a warmer tone but not so deep as to absorb light.

Another way of lightening up the small dark hall is to change the entrance door. These alterations may take a dozen different forms; the upper panel may be of glass or top and side lights used. I find that many people swathe their side panels with dark silk that cuts off the light. The thinnest ecru scrim,, drawn very tight and attached to top and bottom by a rod, is sufficient;. The top transom, which may be semi-circular, can be treated in the same manner, but the greatest care should be taken to attach the scrim smoothly on the semi-circle and to draw it very taut and even at the center. The gathers may be concealed by a small semi-circular piece of buckram covered with scrim. This makes a neat finish to a difficult hall door treatment.

Also much can be done to enlarge the appearance of a small hall by the arrangement of the furniture. In many apartments the hall is long and narrow. Therefore, any piece of furniture that "sticks out" is a nuisance. A long narrow table, against which the only objection is that it accents the length of the hall is at least a convenient place for a card tray, a bowl of flowers, a hat and stick. Its length may be broken by throwing across its width a piece of decorative fabric which by its color will help furnish and add life to a dark hall. At either end of the table may be placed a high-back, narrowish chair of William and Mary pattern. No piece of furniture should be placed on the opposite wall, else the passerby would have to serpentine down the length of the hall.

A large, barren looking hall may be made cheery and hospitable by using a warm toned figured wallpaper. If the ceiling seems too high, bring it down on the side walls, running the paper up to the line of the frieze and finishing it with a molding. This conveys a feeling of the ceiling starting where the paper stopped. Paint the woodwork a tone darker than the paper and lay a rich, warm toned carpet or some Oriental rugs on the floor. These furnish wonderfully and at the same time do not clutter as a variety of furnishings might.

There are on the market some beautiful Morris design wallpaper that are especially attractive for halls, and also some interesting French patterns. They are dignified, formal and handsome. In a hall with such paper, do not place small, finicky pieces of furniture; use a few large pieces, a credence, or cabinet or a semi-upholstered double highback seat. A chest is too low to furnish properly unless one uses it as the central motif in a group, placing a tapestry or fabric above, torcheres at either side and a large brass or pottery bowl of brilliant color upon it. If torcheres are out of the question, inexpensive high brass candlesticks may be used. They stand over two feet and are slender and graceful in form.

There are many attractive consoles that look well in a hall of any proportion. Use a pair of them, dull green with stripes of tan and dull gold with a formal glass compote of similar tone Venetian glass; they lend an exquisite note to a carefully considered hall. The compote may be flanked on either side by a pair of Venetian glass candlesticks in amber and green. Again, we may use a pair of Adam mahogany consoles, finished to a very light tone, supporting a pair of graceful alabaster vases. White Wedgewood, either china or pottery, may be substituted for the alabaster, although the effect would not be as mellow.

After visualizing such effects can we regret the passing of the hat-rack, the plate rail and the china closet! The accumulation of coats and wraps may be put away in the hall closet, where a divided shelf built four or five inches from the floor can hold the rubbers and arctics that used to clutter, like so many chicks, around the feet of the motherly hat-rack.

Another hall abomination is a telephone. Unless we want our guests to know the price of their roast, or the family to listen aghast while we tell a white lie for society's sake, or the cook to hear us asking for a new one's references, don't put your telephone in the hall. Closet it, or keep it upstairs, where the family alone are the bored "listeners in".

The architectural details of many halls - the door and window trim, stair spindles and newel posts - serve as sufficient decoration for halls built in the Georgian and Colonial manner. The same is true of the wrought iron grill work introduced in Italian and French halls. In like manner the hall of English spirit requires but few accessories against its rich paneling. The question of pictures in the hall can be solved readily. If space permits, hang a truly decorative picture in the hall, one from which colors can be picked to repeat in the hangings or one, from which en passant, one gets a complete and pleasing impression. In several halls I have seen, perhaps by accident, perhaps because its use is more prevalent than one would imagine, the engraving of the Centennial in Philadelphia, in which The Great have their numbers under them, and in the margin are the numbers checked up by their names. Minute, purely pictorial pictures of this character should not be hung in the hall or on the stairs. Imagine dinner waiting while a guest looks to see if Grant was surely there at the Centennial! No, stairs are made to walk up and down, and not to stand on while one looks at pictures. Try the restful and dignified effect of their absence, and you'll never hang another picture on your stairs.

Imagine the chore of hanging them, too! I have never seen a book nor an article, "How to Hang Pictures on the Stairs" and how should the uninformed know whether pictures should be hung on the first stair, and then skip one or two stairs before the next is hung? It's a bad business and they would better be left off. At least the expressman will be grateful!

The lighting fixtures of a hall should harmonize with the architectural background. Sidelights are best where there is no stairway to be considered, but a ceiling drop light is the only adequate fixture for a stairway. I find that many halls which are otherwise suitably furnished will have a wretched mission lantern. A center drop light of the same design as the side lights, is by all means the correct one to have, but the greatest care should be taken that the light is sufficiently strong to light the stairs well.

In apartment houses we are apt to find cheap brass side fixtures. These may be painted the color of the side wall, making them inconspicuous. A rather formal parchment shield, covering both lights, may be used with them. Many halls lack color, and here is the place to introduce it in rich tone which repeats the color of the portieres. In a hall where the fixtures are inadequate or badly placed, a pair of candle wall sconces or candlesticks set on the table will add sufficient light. Moreover, candles give a hall a quaint, "homey" appearance, and the late ones find them convenient to light the way upstairs.

A hall into which adjoining rooms open by large doorways or arches needs a neutral color on the walls. The distinguishing note may be had in the curtains, portieres and upholstery. For hallway upholstery the finest fabric is tapestry. One old walnut chair with a petit-point seat would strike a note well worth living up to in the remainder of the house. The upholstery should, in the main, match the general tone of the portieres.

Hall portieres play a difficult role in connecting up a color scheme which has not been carefully considered as a whole. One bit of advice: all portieres in the hall should match on the hall side. They may be faced according to the color schemes of the various rooms; in fact, they should be so faced, but there the question of expense enters, as double portieres are not to be had for a trifle. If a general running undertone of tan is found in all the rooms opening on the hall, use a tan portiere to harmonize with all. Rep, silk, double-faced damask or velour may be used with economy. While the living room might be mulberry and the dining-room blue, each might carry a tan in addition. Striped silk, thin sun fast or a stiff glazed chintz all make good hallway window hangings. They should be made up in simple, rather than formal, designs, with straight fitted valances to give the dignity requisite in a hall.

I know of one successfully planned hall that has broad striped, putty colored paper, cream enameled woodwork, a very dark, blue-green carpet and an old oak dresser on which stands a warm, richly colored orange bowl.

Another has Japanese gold tea paper. On either side is a Chinese screen set as a series of panels in the wall. A Chinese Chippendale table is faced on the opposite side by a yellow lacquered cabinet. The electric fixtures are Chinese Buddhas in gold, black and maroon.

The color scheme in another hall strikes the keynote that is carried throughout the house. It is an arrangement of gray, orange and black. No one period is adhered to. The walls are rough cast plaster. The carpet is black, acting as a foil to the orange painted furniture that is striped with thin lines of black. The gray walls are paneled with moldings of black and orange. The shields of the fixtures bear little designs of orange and black.

A fourth hall, where one forgets the background, has for its glorification a console of wrought iron rubbed with gold. Topping it is an inch-thick black glass. Above hangs a marvelous mirror of wrought iron with a frame of black glass around the mirror. The hall was square and of good size, but the only other groups in it consisted of a tapestry below which was an oak chest black with age. On it a bowl of Italian pottery held one rose, a last, light touch to complete an extraordinary hall.

Which brings me to my final point: Always have one or two or more flowers in the hall. They create a sense of refinement and repose whether they are delicate lilies-of-the-valley or common Black-eyed Susans from the roadside.

Next Page: Bedroom Furniture Arrangement.