‘It used to be one great big empty space!’

With Scandi touches, retro pottery and upcycled furniture, Heidi Stone has filled her large hallway with plenty of personality

- Stephanie Smith

Moving into a bigger house 11 years ago, while pregnant with their youngest son, Heidi and Matt Stone knew they'd have to do lots of the renovation work themselves. Over the years they have worked through the garden plus all of the rooms in the house – tackling the hall was one of the last projects. 'The original house was split into two some time in the 1960s, so we've inherited the room that was the hallway for both houses, which is why it's so large,' explains Heidi. 'The people next door got a grand staircase, and a new one was put in on our side.'

When the couple came to view the house, the hallway looked very different. 'It just had a huge piano in it, a chandelier and a storage unit,' remembers Heidi. 'There was a horrible old carpet and, although there's a large window, the wall colours made it look dark and dull.’

THE PROJECT

Keen to lighten everything up and inject a fresh, Scandi feel into the hallway, Heidi also wanted to incorporate her collections of ceramics and original artworks. ‘My grandfather, Max, was Swiss-German, and my grandmother, Mary, collected all sorts of German ceramics, lamps, vases and jugs, in the sixties and seventies, which I just love,’ says Heidi. 'They also had a lot of G Plan furniture, which no one wanted, so I nabbed some of it as well.'

Both being handy, Heidi was confident they could carry out the project themselves. 'Matt can turn his hand to most things, and I love interiors so I'm good with ideas, and am up for painting,' she says. 'We wanted a mix of old and new, with plenty of wood thrown in.'

WHAT WE DID