Expert Help

Dr Dulux: How to childproof your hallway

3 tips to combat fingerprints, scuffs and all the wear and tear of daily family life from Dr Dulux.

Q: As a family of five, our hallway seems to bear the brunt of the comings-and-goings in our home. It never looks as fresh as the rest of the house! Is there something we can use to keep it from showing dirt? Jess, Hampshire

A: Thanks for your question. The hallway is notoriously one of the trickiest areas of the home to decorate. Not only is it often a small and narrow space, but it’s the area of your home that sees the most traffic, dirt and mess, including muddy marks and mucky fingerprints on the walls.

Here are three ways to childproof your hallway and protect it from the dirt and mess of daily life:

1. Coat of Armour

The ultimate defence against mucky little fingerprints, coffee spills and stains, Dulux Easycare is a childproof paint that acts like a coat of armour for your walls. Its tough formulation is 20 times more durable than normal Dulux matt emulsion, so you can wash spills, stains, and fingerprints off the walls without the colour fading. It also comes in a wipeable matt finish and in a huge array of colours, so you'd never know it was any different to standard paint. Just don't tell the kids...

2. Divide & Conquer

Another great tactic for keeping walls looking fresh in a high traffic area is to deploy a clever trick: two-tone walls. Pick a darker coloured child-friendly wall paint for the lower half of the wall, which will better disguise marks, and a lighter colour above to keep a light and airy feeling. Feeling adventurous? You could even take the two-tone effect over your hallway furniture too, to create the illusion of your furniture ‘disappearing’ into the walls for even more space. Watch our how-to video to find out how to master this technique here.

3. Prints Charming

A bold pattern can hide a multitude of sins, from crayon marks to mud prints, as it distracts the eye from picking up small defects, so it’s just the thing for a busy hallway. Plus, it’ll give your entrance the wow-factor from the moment you walk in. Again, you can split your walls up so that the bold pattern covers the lower region of the wall (up to around the level of a dado rail) and paint the rest in a coordinating colour – or just go all-out with all-over pattern! We have some brilliantly bold paint techniques to try; check out our how-to videos on our YouTube channel. If you prefer to use wallpaper, our Visualizer app is a fantastic way to pick a matching colour; simply take a photo of your pattern and it’ll find the closest colour match. And you can order testers on the spot!

Find out more about wipeable matt paint and see all our available colours on the Dulux Easycare hub.