How Your Hallways Define Your Home’s Character — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00Have you ever driven somewhere familiar
2. 0:01and realized you don't remember the
3. 0:03drive? What did I pass? When did I make
4. 0:06that last turn? How fast was I going?
5. 0:09You've been thinking about arriving. You
6. 0:11know where you're coming from, but your
7. 0:13brain deemed the segue unimportant.
8. 0:16Nothing to see here, we can go blank.
9. 0:19This is the unfortunate world of
10. 0:21hallways, uninteresting and ignored.
11. 0:24What most don't realize, the hallways
12. 0:27play a huge role in how impressive a
13. 0:30home is. Today, I'm going to show you
14. 0:33why your hallways define your entire
15. 0:35property's character and how to design
16. 0:37them properly. If you would like our
17. 0:40help in designing your room, you can
18. 0:43have that help by clicking the link in
19. 0:45the description below.
20. 0:47Hallways bring three major contributions
21. 0:50to a home. First, they control flow and
22. 0:53transition. Bridges between environments
23. 0:56with different emotions. Through them,
24. 0:58we're constantly moving from public to
25. 1:01private, active to quiet, bright to
26. 1:03subdued, or formal to relaxed. A good
27. 1:07hallway manages the shift that your mind
28. 1:10experiences.
29. 1:12When hallways ignore this duty, you'll
30. 1:13notice abrupt and jarring transition.
31. 1:16Like arteries in the body, hallways
32. 1:18control how lifeblood flows through the
33. 1:20home. When they're cluttered or chaotic,
34. 1:23the home feels congested. When they're
35. 1:25sterile, the flow disappears. The goal
36. 1:28is to create a layered yet calm
37. 1:31composure. Softer lighting, eased color
38. 1:34transitions, gradual material changes,
39. 1:37and managed sightlines. The mind is
40. 1:40being prepared to enter the next room.
41. 1:44Hallways play another large role, that
42. 1:46is establishing continuity. Most homes
43. 1:49have difficulty here because connection
44. 1:51is missing. There's a nice living room,
45. 1:54a nice bedroom, a nice office, none of
46. 1:57which have any idea that the others
47. 1:59exist under the same roof. Do you
48. 2:02remember when children used to make
49. 2:03paper cup phones? Two or more paper cups
50. 2:07connected by string sewn through the
51. 2:09bottom. Kids would go into separate
52. 2:11areas of the home and talk into the
53. 2:13cups. The string would carry vibrations
54. 2:16of voice from one cup to another,
55. 2:19ultimately allowing them to speak to
56. 2:21each other in a fun way. The only thing
57. 2:23that makes this a creative and enjoyable
58. 2:26child's activity, rather than a home
59. 2:28full of insane asylum candidates, is the
60. 2:32string. And that's your hallway. It
61. 2:35carries color and material language,
62. 2:37trim style, mood, and tone through the
63. 2:40house. Without that, you have isolated
64. 2:43rooms only speaking to themselves. Let's
65. 2:45look at this under a common scenario.
66. 2:47You have one room warm in tone with
67. 2:50significant layering. The next room is
68. 2:52cooler in tone, a bit more minimal in
69. 2:55presentation. You can reconcile that in
70. 2:58the hallway, and that will translate,
71. 3:01yes, these rooms are different, but they
72. 3:03belong to the same story.
73. 3:06The third major contribution is
74. 3:07perceived quality. The difference
75. 3:10between a visitor saying, "Oh, this is
76. 3:12nice." and "Wow." Very few people design
77. 3:16circulation spaces well. And that's what
78. 3:19legacy level homes always get right.
79. 3:22They treat movement spaces as designed
80. 3:25spaces. See, a neglected hallway carries
81. 3:28an underlying message, we ran out of
82. 3:30time or thought or consideration. A
83. 3:33completed hallway says something
84. 3:36different. The home was planned with
85. 3:38diligence. Now that you understand this,
86. 3:40pay attention to it in restaurants,
87. 3:43homes, or venues. How does the structure
88. 3:46with completed hallways feel? More
89. 3:49invigorating and usually more expensive.
90. 3:53When the hallway's sole identity is no
91. 3:55longer a simple passageway and instead
92. 3:59an experience, things change. These
93. 4:02corridors form a network and they
94. 4:04require a system. Trying to improvise a
95. 4:06hallway is generally punished. Why?
96. 4:10Because every mistake is amplified. The
97. 4:12space is tight, the sightlines are long.
98. 4:15Very often the ceiling is only of modest
99. 4:18height. There is no worthy game of hide
100. 4:21and seek that randomness can play here.
101. 4:24Afterthought will stick out like a bear
102. 4:26hiding behind a chainlink fence. So
103. 4:28before you choose paint, lights, rugs,
104. 4:31or art, you need to answer two
105. 4:34questions. The answers to these
106. 4:36questions make hallway design
107. 4:37dramatically easier. The first is,
108. 4:41"Where am I taking someone and how
109. 4:43should they feel when they arrive?" The
110. 4:46best hallways are not selfish. They're
111. 4:48considerate of the room that they lead
112. 4:51to. Remember, we're designing
113. 4:53transition, not destination. Ask
114. 4:56yourself, "What is at the end of this?
115. 4:58Is it more private or public, bright or
116. 5:02rich in shadowed? Is it a place to relax
117. 5:04or is it more formal?" A few real-life
118. 5:07examples might help illustrate this. A
119. 5:10hallway leading to a bedroom or quiet
120. 5:13study. What's the goal? Decompression.
121. 5:16So we might introduce softer light, a
122. 5:19muted palette, fewer interruptions. What
123. 5:22about a hallway leading to a kitchen or
124. 5:24a family room? The goal could be
125. 5:27building energy up. Brighter light,
126. 5:30warmer temperature, more openness.
127. 5:32Let's say you have a statement room in
128. 5:34your home, the crown jewel that you love
129. 5:36to spend time in and have family and
130. 5:38friends join you in as well. What's the
131. 5:41goal when leading to that area?
132. 5:43Anticipation.
133. 5:45A mixture of controlled drama, framed
134. 5:48views, and strong focal points. When you
135. 5:51know the destination, you can
136. 5:53orchestrate the journey.
137. 5:55The second question, what visual
138. 5:57language am I carrying through this
139. 6:00space?
140. 6:01A person might spend weeks or months
141. 6:04designing their living room, while the
142. 6:05hallway is nothing more than filled in.
143. 6:09Look at the rooms being connected and
144. 6:10ask, what materials dominate these two?
145. 6:13Which woods or metals are repeating? Is
146. 6:16there a consistent mood? You're deciding
147. 6:19in this moment, am I going to reinforce
148. 6:22their story, or am I going to interrupt
149. 6:25it? Answering these two questions gives
150. 6:27you identity, journey, and movement in
151. 6:30the hallway. Next time you have a
152. 6:32connecting pathway to design, try what
153. 6:35we'll call the ABA framework.
154. 6:38Anchors, bridges, accents. Anchors are
155. 6:42items borrowed separately from each
156. 6:44room. Bridges are items that are shared
157. 6:46by the two rooms, and accents are items
158. 6:49unique to the hallway. An anchor usually
159. 6:52comes from dominant wood tones, metal
160. 6:54finishes, major wall tones, or style
161. 6:57era. If you had a living room with
162. 7:00walnut, brass, and warm taupe being
163. 7:02connected to a bedroom with oak, black,
164. 7:05and charcoal, your anchors could be
165. 7:08walnut from the living room and black
166. 7:11from the bedroom. Bridges commonly
167. 7:13appear as trim profiles, paint colors,
168. 7:16flooring style, art frame finishings,
169. 7:18and lighting. Try choosing at least two
170. 7:20of these that both rooms share.
171. 7:23Accents are a reminder that, although
172. 7:25the hallway connects separate areas, it
173. 7:28also has its own identity. One or two
174. 7:31items as accents should be sufficient.
175. 7:34The hallway will stand apart without
176. 7:36distancing itself. Think paneled walls,
177. 7:39a bold and interesting runner rug, a
178. 7:40gallery wall containing subjects found
179. 7:44nowhere else in the home, unique sconce
180. 7:46lighting, or potentially textured paint
181. 7:49or wallpaper.
182. 7:50All right, we're going to build a
183. 7:51hallway together. Are you ready?
184. 7:54Paint color is going to be our primary
185. 7:56bridge. Let's pull the undertone from
186. 7:59room A or B and use that.
187. 8:01The flooring type can be our anchor.
188. 8:03This is usually inherited throughout the
189. 8:05home anyway, so we'll simply use the
190. 8:08same flooring found in room A, B, or
191. 8:11both. The runner rug can act as an
192. 8:13accent and bridge. The pattern design
193. 8:15becomes the accent unique to the
194. 8:17hallway.
195. 8:18>> [snorts]
196. 8:18>> The color palette extracted from both
197. 8:20rooms is a bridge. Another bridge is the
198. 8:23lighting. Which era do each of the rooms
199. 8:26stem from? Traditional, transitional,
200. 8:30modern? Now we can better decide if we
201. 8:32want to use something like sconces,
202. 8:35lanterns, or linear lights. Do we have
203. 8:37any art or mirror framing in room A or
204. 8:40B? What finishings do they have? We'll
205. 8:43use these as a flexible anchor. The
206. 8:46hallway is now a powerful asset working
207. 8:49within a system.
208. 8:51When actual thought goes into a hallway,
209. 8:54three things become right. Emotions are
210. 8:57regulated, the identity of the home is a
211. 8:59unified, and a signal of quality is put
212. 9:03forward. If you can reframe thinking of
213. 9:06them as outliers and instead control
214. 9:09systems, you'll find yourself among the
215. 9:11lucky group living in astute
216. 9:14surroundings. If you like the video, hit
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219. 9:20See you on the next one.
220. 9:29>> [music]