Apartments with small rooms - how many problems they create for their owners. This is inconvenient, not functional and often irritates homeowners.
Even when entering such an apartment, you are immediately faced with the problem of small space and it begins in the hallway.
The essence of the problem of a small hallway
The typical layout of “Khrushchev” buildings, and often “Czech” ones, is a small hallway. It is very problematic to use your imagination here to realize any design idea.
But arranging the hallway is important and necessary. After all, the whole apartment begins with it, and besides, you need to undress and leave your things in it.
Therefore, no matter how small this part of the home is, it must still accommodate everything you need - storage space, cabinet, mirror, hanger.
The best form of a small hallway is a square room.
Arrangement of a corridor of 5 sq. M Video)
City residents can rarely boast of a large hallway width, and as a result, one can forget about creating a comfortable environment. Rooms in apartments and houses are often designed to perform several functions, while the hallway has the fate of storing unnecessary things. If you apply just a little effort, then small hallways ranging in size from 4 to 10-11 square meters, as well as from 8 to 13-24 square meters, can certainly be turned into a comfortable and unique extension of a cozy home. After all, absolutely everyone, with just a little effort, can turn their corridor into something unique and the dimensions do not matter at all.
Ways to visually enlarge a small hallway
The most important thing for a small room is to visually enlarge it. This will create a more comfortable room, and therefore reduce the irritation of its owners.
Here are the main ways to visually enlarge a small square hallway:- Using light colors in the interior will visually expand the walls.
- Mirrors and mirrored spaces will further open up the space.
- There should be a minimum number of accessories, otherwise they can seriously oversaturate the space.
Using hanging cabinets and shelves in the hallway will help you gain some space.
Basic moments
There is a square hallway in almost every home.
Unfortunately, a unique design cannot actually expand the area of a room. It is only permissible to visually make it larger. For this reason, you need to work hard on its design.
Think about what colors to use to design your square hallway. With the right combination of colors, the hallway will take on a comfortable look.
When painting, you must remember that finishing work is done on a small area. For this reason, the following points should be adhered to:
- use of light shades when painting;
- highlighting the relief pattern on the walls is done with a roller;
- the color of the relief protrusion should differ from the light tone of the wall
Along with lightened shades, bright light falling from above will help to visually enlarge the area.
- The main advantages of sliding interior doors
- Advantages of using drywall (gypsum board)
Hallways from IKEA: ready-made options 90 photos of the best designer models
Light in the hallway
The interior of a small square hallway will require intense lighting, the choice of which should be approached very carefully.
The main mistakes that will aggravate the situation:
- You should not choose large chandeliers.
- Don't use just one light source.
- Using a low-power light bulb will make the hallway room dark and expressionless.
Here's what you need to use in the hallway to make this room extremely comfortable in terms of lighting:
Use two or three levels of light - several points of light across the entire surface of the ceiling and additional sconces near the mirror.
The amount of furniture should be minimal, but sufficient to accommodate everything you need.
Finishes and materials
For floor finishing, it is better to abandon outdated linoleum and traditional laminate and parquet in favor of ceramic tiles. This option wins on several points:
- All street dirt on shoes stretches and settles in the hallway. This room, along with the kitchen, is cleaned more often than others. Ceramic or porcelain tiles are not afraid of either water or detergents. Frequent cleaning will not affect their appearance either.
- In winter, not only water settles on shoes, but also aggressive agents that utility workers use to treat streets. Such substances can cause irreparable harm to expensive laminate flooring, while they are of no use to floor tiles.
Modern laminate production technologies also allow us to talk about its strength, but the material is characterized by increased “slipperiness,” which is undesirable in the hallway. Parquet boards are made from natural wood, therefore, despite the special treatment of the material, it is most susceptible to moisture. This type of covering is not suitable for a hallway. The carpet looks beautiful and gives the room a touch of chic, but it will require constant maintenance. If you nevertheless decide to lay carpet, then it must be combined with a bottom layer of hard covering. This technique will extend the life of the material. Walls are most often treated in two ways:
- Prime and cover with wallpaper;
- Prime and paint.
Traditionally, the hallway is decorated in calm brown tones. For small rooms up to 4 square meters, a simple principle is followed: the floor should be several tones darker than the color of the walls and in no case vice versa. The ceiling is usually undeservedly forgotten. They paint it classic white and stop there, but there are plenty of options for original ceiling finishing. If the room is not only tiny, but also has a low ceiling, then you really have to refrain from experiments, opting for pastel shades and the play of light.
With high ceilings, the scope of work will increase. They can be made in steps, tension or panels. Multi-level ones make it easy to hide additional lighting sources, while panel ones perfectly hide flaws and curvature of the walls. Panel ceilings made of plastic or plasterboard are not inferior in aesthetics to suspended ceilings, but in addition they have reasonable prices and are easy to install. Drywall is ideal for multi-level ceilings: it can easily take any shape, so you don’t have to limit your imagination only to sharp corners.
Little things to consider
In the hallway for a comfortable stay, all the residents’ belongings should be located - a square corridor should accommodate:
- Holders for bicycles or scooters - if there are small children or adults who are interested in this sport.
- A place to store umbrellas, especially if owners prefer cane umbrellas.
- The place where the rug is located, on which animals wipe their paws when they come from a walk.
- Mirror location. No matter how small the hallway is, it must accommodate a mirror. After all, everyone should look at it before leaving their apartment or house.
To get a sense of the fantasies that designers realize when decorating such a small space, it’s worth considering photos showing design options for a small square hallway.
- Hallways Provence - spectacular design options for hallways with corner and straight models (100 photos)
- Long hallway - simple, original and stylish solutions for decorating corridors and hallways (135 photos)
- Large hallway: modern design and current hallway layout (130 photos and videos)
National trends
In addition to the main directions, there are diverse Russian ideas for creating design.
For a square hallway in an apartment, concepts such as:
African style is a complex of African elements. Here possible reliefs on the walls are used. Finishing work is carried out in bright sunny shades.
Japanese theme - the presence of bamboo parts in the overall design picture. For example, you can hang bamboo blinds on the windows.
Mediterranean influences. The finishing is carried out in a light color palette. Wood imitation elements are added to the ceiling. Also, interior arches are made between the hallway and the common room.
Provence style. Reminds me of French design. Basically, natural finishing materials are used. The completed design is complemented by flowers or floor vases.
So, in a square-shaped hallway it is easy to make the desired design. You need to combine the right design and style when finishing.
Designers recommend using high-quality finishing materials. By using rich colors and choosing the right furniture, your boring entryway will become extraordinary.
Photo of a square hallway
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Color as a designer's tool
Traditionally, it is believed that the hallway should be decorated with neutral light colors, which visually expand the room, but are not as easily soiled as really light colors. There is some truth in this, but only a share.
The area in front of the front door where people change shoes and take off outerwear suffers the most from street dust, dirt, and moisture brought into the room. So it’s easier to solve the cleaning problem by choosing materials with special impregnation or easy to clean ones.
As for the visual expansion of space, this can be done using other methods, using bright shades that match the color scheme of the living rooms. The design of the hallway can be much brighter, especially when we are talking about a sufficient area - 7 square meters. m.
- Striped wallpaper - if you want to make the room taller, then use wallpaper with vertical stripes; if it is more spacious, use horizontal stripes. The second technique is best used in a hallway where there are many doors: they break the hallway into fragments, and a horizontal strip connects it. The colors are very diverse, you should only avoid shades that are too dark.
This option is not suitable for design in a minimalist or techno style, since their meager color palette does not allow this. In the classical, baroque and rocaille styles, stripes are also not used. But in Provence, Art Nouveau, English there are no restrictions.
- Cladding panels - made of wood, plastic, lining is also suitable. The walls are sheathed to a height of up to 1/3, and the rest is decorated to taste - wallpaper with a geometric pattern, plain, with floral patterns. Plain plaster or Venetian plaster looks great in a classic interior.
- The combination of plain and patterned fabric, as well as stripes and ornaments, is an excellent technique for changing proportions. After all, 7 sq. m may consist of numerous niches, ledges, corridor exits and doors. To balance it all out, different finishes are used.
Thus, niches and protrusions are decorated with plain light wallpaper or plaster, visually removing them, and smooth walls are covered with plain colored plaster or wallpaper with ornaments, even wall panels, to emphasize them.
The reception works great if all the doors to the hall are decorated the same way. The ceiling should also be monochromatic and one-level to compensate for the variety of finishes on the walls.
- Colored and patterned fragments - formed in a variety of ways: a painting, a wall panel, painting on a wall, an area covered with Venetian or mosaic plaster, and so on. Such areas are necessary for shifting attention and correcting impressions. Their approximate shape - elongated in length or width - visually corrects the proportions of the room, and colorful colors distract from unfortunate features - an uneven wall, an asymmetrical ledge, an abundance of doors.
Furniture items
The design of the room is determined by both the type of furniture and the arrangement. And although there are quite a lot of restrictions here, you can achieve a positive effect with these means.
- In a medium-sized hall, a wardrobe can only be placed along the wall - either next to the front door, or opposite the entrance along a short wall. Its appearance should correspond to the style, but the shape depends on the configuration of the room.
In the elongated room there is a narrow long cabinet that acts as a wall. It is recommended to install side shelves near the front door: it is more convenient to leave bags and various small items here. The coupe can be given a curved shape if the concept allows it, but it is not recommended to get carried away with this. The closet plays the role of a wall, and its complex shape is perceived as a distortion of the outlines of the hallway.
- If there are many doors leading into the hall, it is more rational to install a pair of high wardrobe cases and at least one open hanger.
Living without a closet is quite difficult: firstly, not all clothes can be stored on hooks rather than on hangers, and secondly, the accumulation of outerwear on a hanger looks sloppy.
- The frame hanger looks original - an open module with a bar for hangers. This solution is suitable for loft, Scandinavian style, Provence, and to some extent for minimalist ones, but is unacceptable in a classic design.
- The hallway should have shelves for hats, keys, scarves, newspapers and other things. In the interior, shelves play the role of horizontals and, if they are open, they can be successfully located in any convenient place. Shelves create an open structure on the wall without blocking it.
- And, of course, a shoe rack. For a classic design, a closed one with a soft top seat to serve as an ottoman is more suitable. For minimalist styles or Provence - these are open shelves, wooden or metal.
The hanger and shoe rack, unlike all other pieces of furniture, can be placed only in one place - near the entrance. This must be taken into account when planning. The hallway differs from other non-residential premises in a very short list of functions. Here you need to take off your clothes and shoes and place them. Such modest tasks allow us to pay much more attention to the aesthetic side of the design than it seems. A bright, interesting hall is a wonderful calling card of a home.
