Welcome the magic of Christmas into your entrance hall with these Christmas hallway decorating ideas. With guests popping in and out (we hope) during the festive season, ensure you bring decorative flair to your hallway for a proper yuletide welcome.
While the hallway is mostly dressed for guests, let’s not forget that as a homeowner it has to bring you joy every day too. As homes don’t have many decoration upstairs, it’s nice to decorate the stairs to create a sense as if you’re walking into a winter wonderland as you walk down the stairs every day of advent.
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These decorative hallway solutions will make you feel festive the moment you step through the front door.
Christmas hallway decorating ideas
1. Scent with a seasonal arrangement
Image credit: Max Attenborough
A statement flower arrangement in a hallway will set the scene for festivities the moment you step through the doors. But it can also help to add seasonal fragrance, with floral aromas. Choosing a festive vase adds a further hint of decorative colour and texture. A reflective vase will enhance the surrounding light glow of fairy lights and candles (opt for LED for safety, if left unattended).
2. Update a mirror with a Christmas design
Image credit: Ben Anders
If you have a hallway mirror give it a festive touch with removable Christmas stickers, like in the hallway above. The mirror has been adorned with a wintery landscape made up of white trees. You can also use a chalk pen if decorating on a budget. Complement your mirror design with a hallway tree adorned in lights and decorations.
3. Adorn the bannister with blousy blooms in a bouquet
Image credit: Max Attenborough
Tie a beautiful bouquet at the bottom ion the stairs to add a wow factor. Choose large headed to create a colourful statement. blooms The use of ribbons, flowers and foliage helps to add a country touch to the staircase and surrounding hallway space. This also helps to fill the room with scent.
4. Layer tones to make a lasting impression
Image credit: Dominic Blackmore
The choice of decorations doesn’t need to scream colour to be heard. You can still keep the tonal palette subtle but create an awesome awe-inspiring display. Mix materials in the same neutral colours to create a subtle, layered interest for the look. Blend subtle taupe and white large-scale paper pom-pom balls, natural wooden cut trees and gently glazed glazed glassware.
5. Guide the gaze up the stairs with foliage
Image credit: Max Attenborough
Use a garland of foliage to dress the full length of the banister, to make every use of the vertical space for decorating. Mix things up by hanging your stair garland at the bottom of the spindles rather than along the handrail – and if you regularly mist the foliage with water it will keep it vibrant and fresh throughout the festivities.
6. Hang rustic wreaths from a staircase
Image credit: Catherine Gratwicke
For a striking hallway display create small and simple wreaths and hang them on a wall from the staircase above. These rustic wreaths have been created by wrapping asparagus ferns around wooden embroidery hopes. Try using willow worked into a hoop for an even more rustic look, woven with ferns and other foliage.
7. Light up a side board with pillar candles
Image credit: Future plc
Covering a surface in candles is a guaranteed way to make your hallway looks welcoming to any guests who cross the threshold. Select a mix of different height and shaped candle holders, ranging from tea lights to tall pillar candles. However, to keep the look cohesive, pick one thing to tie all the candle holders together. In this case it is the industrial metal finish and geometric shape.
8. Adorn the bannister with simple foliage
Credit: Brent Darby Styling: Leoma Harper/Holly Phillips
A subtle garland of eucalyptus and pine cones adds a lovely and fresh festive touch to this gorgeous dark balustrade. The owner has added an extra Christmassy touch to the garland with small paper decorations in cream, red and plum that match the surrounding colour scheme. If you are a fan of this Christmas hallway decorating idea find more tips on how to add subtle yet festive touches to a house on the owner’s blog Style the Clutter.
9. Make a statement with paper lanterns on a bannister
Image credit: Richard Hookaway
Lace a stair garland with touches of foliage, lights and oversized paper lanterns – in gold if you want to bring opulence to proceedings. Opt for a eucalyptus garland as a modern spin on traditional holly and ivy.
10. Dress a bench with simple seasonal touches
Polly Eltes
A little can go a long way in a small space, such as a hallway. A few simple decorations on a hallway bench can instantly set the scene for a warm welcome. A display of frosted twigs in a glass bottle vase, alongside star-shaped votives and reindeer ornaments are enough to inject an instantly festive flourish to this hallway space.
11. Welcome guests with a wellness offering
Maxwell Attenborough
Invite guest in from the cold with an offering of warming natural blended tea. Served from a tray of wellness inducing scented candles it’s the perfect way to warm the hearts and souls of seasonal guests. Team alongside a decorative display of natural foliage to enhance the holistic experience.
12. Adorn a doorway with a lit up garland
Image credit: Ti-Media
Embellish the door frames of the living room or dining room with a simple garland of foliage and add some copper wire lights. Hang a glittering disco ball or oversized bauble from the centre to draw the eye into the room beyond, towards the twinkling tree.
13. Line pillar lights up the stairs
Image credit: Dan Duchars
Clear your hall of clutter and line the stairs with pillar candles in jars Brave real candles or play it safe and avoid any potential fire risks by opting for LED candles. Wrap the bannister is a garland bursting with fragrant natural greenery, fairy lights and sparkly baubles.
14. Style up a cosy nook
Image credit: David Brittain
Take inspiration from wintry woodlands and country copses this season. Cosy up a window seat with twinkling lights, colourful cushions and snug throws with forest elements to emulate the views beyond. With a nod to a more refined Nordic style, this look blends neat furnishings with painted and light-toned woods, wicker and woven textures.
15. Add opulence with a touch of gold
Image credit: Joanna Henderson
Don’t be afraid of a little bling! From soft, aged tones to brassy and rich bronze shades, gold adds warmth and elegance. It’s a no-brainer at Christmas, but gold can be used as an accent colour all year round to lift and finish a simple room scheme
16. Decorate with wreathes and garlands
Image credit: Tim Young
Greet guests with a sparkly scene. Put on a wonderful wintery welcome in a hallway with snow-frosted wreaths, garlands and mini Christmas trees. Go for a cool, contemporary look.
Choose decorations in icy shades of grey and steel, with a hint of Scandi style. Arrange frosted sprigs all along a console table, keep the look fresh and green, and spruce up decorations made from natural materials.
17. Captivate with a characterful Christmas display
Image credit: Simon Bevan
Take a palette of icy whites, forest greens and woodland browns, add cosy Nordic accents and a sprinkling of Narnia for a bewitching festive scene to greet your guests come Christmas Day.
Create a pretty display by bunching a set of fairy lights into an elegant glass cloche. Add colour with a lush stair garland to provide a warm welcome and fill the space with a gorgeous woody scent.
18. Fashion a stylish display
Image credit: Mark Scott
Keep colourful throws in a simple metal unit under a display of coats, scarves and bags. Beat winter chills with a woven blanket used as a door curtain and add texture with rustic baskets. Bring in a few Christmas touches, such as baubles hung from a peg rail, tealights and candles, mistletoe and sprigs of spruce for festive fragrance.
19. Light it up
Image credit: Tim Young
Make a Christmas display on a hallway console table to add some festive cheer to your entrance. Twinkling lights and Christmas go hand-in-hand, so try to add a bit of sparkling illumination to your hall. Create a warm and opulent atmosphere with scented orange and cinnamon candles set alight inside burnished and bronzed lanterns. If you don’t fancy a whole string of fairy lights, place a few battery-operated tealights in glass jars and pop them on a hallway shelf.
20. Hang a sweet-smelling garland of fresh foliage and herbs
Image credit: Jan Baldwin
Line your hallway door with aromatic evergreens, such as eucalyptus, which make wonderful garlands as they release their scent when brushed past. Use delicate herb wreaths, hung as window decorations to add further delicate fragrance. And why not throw some fairy lights into the mix to add an extra bit of Christmas sparkle?
21. Create advent bunting
Image credit: David Brittain
Craft a pocket Advent calendar and hang it from peg rails. The joy of Christmas is as much about the anticipation as the celebration itself. This is an original twist on the traditional Advent calendar. A deep green panelled wall is the perfect backdrop for a bijou buttoned chair, where you can grab a little peace and quiet.
Give a country hall a very modern twist with charcoal paint and gather the season’s deep winter palette of pine green, holly red and winter white to set the scene.
Related: Christmas living room decorating ideas to get you in the festive spirit
Will you be decking your halls with any of these Christmas hallway decorating ideas?
