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Room & Space Planning

Wallpaper for a narrow hallway: work with the walls between the doors

Fredrik Hallengren
Fredrik Hallengren, Writer Guide ยท 4 min read ยท Updated Oct 2026

Doors, closets, and coat hooks can leave only narrow sections of wall visible in a narrow hallway. Choose a repeating pattern for those sections, or place a landscape mural on a clear wall you can see from the front door.

Several doorways? Choose a pattern that works around them

If you want to wallpaper around several doorways, we recommend starting with a repeating pattern. Flowers, leaves, or geometric shapes appear in several places, so even the narrow sections of wall have something to show.

Floral Gaze, Laurel has flowers and foliage that repeat across the wall. The size of the flowers is worth a closer look. You pass near the wallpaper in a narrow hallway and notice details you might miss in the product image.

You can order a wallpaper sample, a small printed piece of wallpaper that lets you see the colors at home before choosing. For Floral Gaze, it also shows the pattern at its actual size. Hold it against the wall between two doors and step back. You'll get a better sense of how much of the pattern fits in that space.

Give a landscape an uninterrupted wall

Historic Lands, Forest Green is one of our most ordered forest designs. The trees and the opening between them work well on a wall you can see from the front door.

We would give this design a clear wall. That might be the short wall facing the front door or a longer wall with storage elsewhere. The landscape can then be seen without a mirror or coat covering the part that first caught your eye.

Try the wall's width and height in the preview on the product page. You'll see what fits as the image is sized to the hallway wall. Move the design and compare a few positions. Pay particular attention to the opening between the trees and how much of it you want to include.

Doors, closets, and coat hooks can leave only narrow sections of wall visible in a narrow hallway. Choose a repeating pattern for those sections, or place a landscape mural on a clear wall you can see from the front door.

Start with the view from the front door

Stand where you enter your home. Which wall do you see first? That's often a good starting point for an accent wall, even if another wall is larger.

Check the view from adjoining rooms, too. If the living room door is usually open, you'll also see the hallway pattern from there. An accent wall lets you choose a more defined place for the design and control how much of it shows through the doorway.

Make this check with coats on the hooks and bags in their usual places. You'll see the wall space you actually have to work with.

A light background matters more than a few light details

In a hallway without windows, the hallway light determines how you see the wallpaper colors. Look at the sample where it will go, with the lighting you use every day. If light comes in from another room, compare the sample with that door open and closed.

For a lighter look, start with the background. Pale flowers on a dark ground still leave plenty of dark color on the wall. A light background with fewer dark details gives a different overall impression. Look at the color distribution in the complete product image and use the sample to judge the shades at home.

Plan the wallpaper and storage together

A clear wall opposite the coat hooks can give the design more room than the wall behind the coats. If you need wallpaper near storage, a repeating pattern can still work when parts are covered.

Our wallpapers can be wiped with a damp cloth. Follow our care instructions if you need to treat a stain.

Take a photo from the entrance before deciding. It can make it easier to see whether you want a pattern on several walls or a landscape on the open section.