Narrow hallway - 120 photos of the best new designs and layouts

Many townspeople, along with the apartment of the old layout, got a narrow hallway. Often it is absent, and instead there are two corridors diverging from the front door at a right angle.

The main design task is to maximize the space in all possible ways and free up passages. Only after this a few square meters are transformed into a very cozy apartment.

Brief overview of the article

Visual methods for expanding a small hallway

Before you start modernizing a small narrow hallway, you will have to remove all the old furniture and make cosmetic repairs. We will have to abandon dark solutions in favor of practical coatings in light shades.

Visual expansion is designed in different ways:

absence of bulky furniture;
finishing of surfaces with a high degree of light reflection;
remove dark coverings, replacing them with cladding in light colors;
“raise” the ceiling using a tension fabric;
think about combined lighting design.

If we talk about practicality, the volume of weekly cleaning of light-colored walls and floors will not increase. The footage of the room remains unchanged, and dirt is more noticeable on dark glossy surfaces than on light matte surfaces.

In some projects, right at the front door you come across a corner of the hall that encroaches on a narrow corridor. If possible (there is permission for redevelopment), it should be cut off. This will expand the hallway, and a slight reduction in the guest room by 15-20 meters will not be felt at all.

A good way to visually “remove” one of the walls is to use themed photo wallpaper on an empty wall. This is a panorama of a large metropolis or an open door leading to an ancient European street. Spatial illusions are also suitable, but you need the visual effect of “removing” a wall, and not “introducing” an object from the outside.

Hallway design in a modern style

For a modern interior, the best option is a simple, laconic model with a natural texture. The design welcomes more compact hallways in a light design, which give the environment a feeling of lightness and spaciousness, and do not clutter up the space.

An excellent solution would be to use a design in white, gray or sand tones in combination with different elements or black inserts. Furniture with a glossy or matte finish, a product with an interesting texture, or a model decorated with drawings and patterns will help deprive a narrow corridor of boring.

The photo shows an entrance hall with a matte facade in the interior of a narrow corridor in a modern style.

The hallways have a stylish look, complemented with bright details. Furniture with a closed facade, painted in a bright and contrasting shade, will ideally fit into the interior.

Visual expansion of walls using mirrors

One of the planes in the design of a narrow hallway is most often occupied by a closet, hanger or interior doors. Depending on the layout, one long or end wall can be freed from furniture and used to implement visual effects.

A mirrored wall is a popular technique that doubles the size of a narrow space. It is recommended to leave space on the long wall for ceiling mezzanines, and cover the rest of the surface with material with a reflective effect:

mirror tiles laid diagonally;
sparkling polymer panels (lower reflection than traditional mirrors);
stained glass with large mirror inserts;
design a replacement dressing table at the console (flat bedside table) with mirrors of different shapes.

A large mirror can also be mounted on the front door, but it will visually “lengthen” the hallway-hallway. Mirror inserts on interior doors and partitions will also help to visually increase the space.

Advice! You cannot use many mirrors at the same time. It is important to avoid multi-vector reflection and “mystical” paths between mirrors located opposite. It is recommended to choose one mirror technique, as in the photo of a narrow hallway.

How to decorate a long narrow corridor

Decorative elements can not only create a beautiful picture, but also visually expand the space. For example, a light-colored carpet will serve this role perfectly, especially if you choose a product with horizontal stripes. The same rule should be followed if it was decided to use a wooden covering - the boards should be laid perpendicularly, and not along the walls. If you choose two different carpets, you can visually divide the corridor into two parts.

Instead of traditional long carpet runners, it is better to use several small ones; they will create the impression of a non-linear elongated corridor.

An excellent decoration would be paintings and photographs in frames, bookshelves, mirrors, living plants and so on. All this will add comfort to the interior.

Any type of image that offers an attractive panorama can visually enlarge the space.

Small hallway lighting

Low-hanging lampshades “lower” the ceiling and steal the passage space - it is better to remove them. It is better to place the main emphasis of lighting on the walls or at the level of the ceiling cornice. In a narrow but long hallway, you can get by with combined lighting with economical lamps and spot diodes.

A good place for lamps is above the entrance and interior doors. This part of the walls is usually empty, it is proposed to install:

sconce with a large flat shade;
innovation spot;
rotating lamp with play of colors;
low-power spotlight with a beam of directional light (shoot the beam along the ceiling of a narrow corridor).

Note!

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It is advisable to design the perimeter of the upper plane as a “floating ceiling”. As an option, use a regular tension fabric, stretching a diode strip around the perimeter. It is not necessary to place spotlights on top of the stretched fabric; side lighting for small areas will be quite sufficient.

One of the unusual ways to illuminate a hallway remains the “moon path”. Illuminated glass slabs are installed into the tiled flooring; they turn on under the weight of a person when they step on them.

Common types of wallpaper

Let's highlight several types of wallpaper that are suitable for a long narrow corridor:

Vinyl wallpapers. Affordable and most popular. They have different colors and designs. Under them you can hide the unevenness of the walls. Both calm and bright colors are suitable as a covering for a narrow hallway. An example of a long corridor in the photo:

Liquid wallpaper. In appearance they resemble plaster. They will be an excellent choice if you have children or pets, as it is easy to mask the damaged area by applying a new coat. Easily hide minor wall imperfections. But they also have their disadvantages in that they do not have ready-made patterns and designs.

Washable. Although these are paper wallpapers, as the name suggests, they are easy to clean, because they are covered with a special layer that is resistant to water. Pay attention to the photo below:

Important! Liquid wallpaper must be applied by experienced craftsmen.

Furniture in a narrow hallway

Modern design solutions eliminate bulky cabinet furniture. Instead of numerous cabinets, the following is used:

built-in wardrobe on the end wall;
compact “hallways” (hanging rack with a shelf for hats with a shoe rack, having a seat);
a narrow dressing room along the wall behind a light curtain (a simplified version of built-in furniture without a facade;
lightweight forged furniture - sets consisting of floor and wall hangers, umbrella stands, shoe shelves with soft seats;
mezzanines above head level along the aisles and a small narrow closet in the hallway in the corner space;
“transformers” (movable banquettes and ottomans, folding table tops, folding tables);
traditional furniture for narrow spaces - console (side table with 2 legs), narrow shoe racks, floor hangers.

Compact furniture is a great opportunity to expand narrow passages. It is recommended to fill empty corners and a small section of walls between the doors and the ceiling (shelves for hats) to the maximum. You can also use glass corners and shelves with trim; their placement should be safe.

How to increase space

When choosing wallpaper with a metallic pattern or pattern, the narrow corridor will become much larger. Horizontal lines, in turn, will make it longer. If the ceilings are low, then vertical stripes will be the best choice. If you plan to make a bright hallway, then a combination of a floral print with vertical stripes will do. Bright black and white design shown in the photo:

You can use mirrors, paintings, rugs and special lighting as items that expand the space, as well as arrange furniture correctly. It is better to arrange the furniture in a checkerboard pattern, so the hallway will be much wider. Ideally, the color of the furniture should match the color of the door, so take this into account when purchasing each piece. The same applies to skirting boards, which should blend harmoniously into the created environment. This design creates the appearance of a wide space.

It is better to place the lighting above the furniture and in the middle of the ceiling so that the light falls on the lower part of the walls. If you choose modern types of lighting, then special small light bulbs built into the ceilings will do. Pay attention to the photo:

You need to choose large oval or rectangular mirrors, which are best placed in the narrowest place. It is better to use two mirrors in a row on one wall, which will make the entrance area visually much larger.

It’s easy to make the hallway look sloppy thanks to photo wallpapers or glossy coatings, because when the lights are turned on they will be distorted.

Advice! The wallpaper pattern should be significantly smaller than the furniture in the narrow hallway.

You can use wallpaper inserts that will look fresh. It’s also easy to stick small pieces of wallpaper on furniture, which creates an original interior design and will distract guests’ attention from the small size of the entrance area. An interesting example of decorating a hallway in an apartment is shown in the photo:

Don't forget about the design of the floor. Of course, it is better to use a light wood covering, which will make the area at the entrance more free, but only if the lower half of the walls is decorated in a contrasting rich color. It is not recommended to use dark colors, which will show all the dust accumulating in this area. The photo shows an example of a fairly successful combination of dark wallpaper and light floors.

Design of a small hallway with zoning

Today it is customary to destroy walls and partitions in order to expand the area of the hallway. Thoughtful zoning will help to use the available space more efficiently without transforming the walls.

Note! It is worth abandoning swing interior doors, which occupy part of the passages, in favor of sliding structures. If no one uses the living room for sleeping or as a study, it is better to remove the doors that swing open into the hallway.

If the hallway is not planned at all, but there are two corridors, the narrow hallway in the apartment can be separated using zoning. Corridors are generally not used functionally like hallways. But it’s easy to cut off part of the passage using an arched structure made of decorative plywood or laminated chipboard. This will split the narrow corridor in two.

Then the part of the room near the front door will be easier to transform into a more spacious room. Here you can apply all the methods of visually expanding the hallway, and closets for seasonal clothes will remain outside it. Along a narrow corridor, designers recommend decorating a dressing room in the form of built-in wardrobes behind sliding doors. Some clothes can be left on a hanger behind the front door, and shoes can also be placed there on a multi-level shelf, if there is such space.

For more interesting ideas for decorating narrow hallways, look at the photo of the designer’s selection.

Ceiling decoration

The best option would be to whitewash and paint the ceiling surface. Firstly, in such a room the color of the ceiling should be lighter than the color of the walls or floor. Secondly, you can use various hanging or plasterboard structures, but this has its own nuances. On the one hand, you don’t have to worry about leveling the ceiling, but on the other hand, such methods take away the height of the room.

If the height allows, the choice may fall on suspended structures, behind which you can easily hide electrical wiring and uneven ceiling bases.