Make an entrance

I recently wrote a feature for Notebook – the Sunday Mirror’s magazine – on how to recreate the look of this gorgeous green leafy hallway. It’s a brilliant modern-meets-retro scheme that would work in a living room or even a bedroom; and I love it so much I thought I’d share it with you, too.

The wallpaper used here is Paradise Feather by Little Greene, £137 per roll. It’s not cheap, but it is beautiful, and as you only really need to paper one feature wall with it, it might just be worth splashing out for…

However, if you really can’t stretch that far, Amazonia Citrus wallpaper, £30 per roll from Arthouse.com (below) is a good, far less expensive alternative…

And here’s how to recreate the rest of the room:

Hallways can be useful spaces – not just somewhere to pass through. Turn yours into a place to relax by adding a mini sofa or armchair in glamorous leaf-green velvet, to pick up the colour in the wallpaper (below left: Lulu 2-seater sofa in Flanders green £599 Made.com; below right: Ritchie mini sofa £299 Made.com). Accessorise with plain green rather than patterned cushions for a feeling of cal

Use your wallpaper to cover just one wall, or one side of the hallway, and paint the other walls a gentle off-white (Rolling Fog Pale 158, £21 for 1L, by Little Greene has been used here) to prevent the pattern overpowering the space.

Use plants as ornaments – particularly trailing ivy, punchy blooms and leafy foliage. Think outside the box when it comes to containers – put a pot inside an old birdcage, or arrange flowers in an antique garden urn, to bring the outdoors in. Below, LtoR: Lumio stool £64.69 Maisonsdumonde.com, Tall metal urn £38 MiaFleur.com, Ivory metal birdcage tealight holder £17.75 MelodyMaison.co.uk:

And also: Tukang antique green midi birdcage £65 Puji.com :

Continue the back-to-nature theme with warm wood – on the floor, stairs and furniture. If your floorboards are beyond repair, cheat with engineered wood flooring or even hardwearing laminate – perfect for high-traffic areas like hallways, it’s come a long way since the 1980s and can look incredibly realistic.

Update a cheap junk shop mirror with gold spray paint, such as Rust-oleum Elegant Metallic Gold, £9.49, Amazon.co.uk. For a professional finish, mask off the glass first with newspaper and Frogtape (£4, Homebase), then spray the frame with several light coats, letting each one dry in between. Below: Florence mirror £75 Ayersandgraces.com:

Mix old and new styles of lighting for a stylish, eclectic look – but stick to a colour theme (gold works well here). Hunt for fabulous ornate light fittings in antique shops, then get an electrician to check them over and update the wiring for modern use. Below left: House Doctor Molecular ceiling lamp £189 Ovohome.com. Below right: Boheme 2-light wall bracket £84 Darlighting.co.uk:

A sideboard isn’t just for the dining or living room. A great way to make use of otherwise dead space, it’ll provide extra storage as well as a display area on the top. Use yours to stash anything from books to shoes. Below: Randall sideboard £449 SwoonEditions.com:

And the finishing touches: Fejka artificial palm £20 Ikea; Parrot ornament £12.99 HomeSense; Photography book storage tin, £19.99 Oakroomshop.co.uk: