Houses built in the 30s - late 50s of the last century, colloquially called Stalin buildings, have always been of interest to resale buyers due to their undoubted advantages: high ceilings, large windows, good space. However, repairs in Stalin buildings require large investments, and the reason for this is worn-out utility lines, the need to replace wiring and serious work with leveling floors and walls.
The investment in a major renovation will be fully repaid by enjoying a comfortable new kitchen.
Where to start repairs
Despite the fact that a Stalinist kitchen is usually small in size and sometimes may not exceed 5 square meters in area, if you are going to renovate it, you need to be prepared for large expenses. And it’s not just the need to replace windows, doors, pipes and electrical wiring.
Thick walls in old houses make it possible to make additional cabinets and even a refrigerator.
You will have to re-lay the floors, level the walls and ceiling, and, if possible, even remodel the room, since the whole family, perfectly accommodated in the luxurious Stalinist meters, simply will not fit into the small kitchen.
Before starting renovations, it is necessary to make a design for a new kitchen that reflects its future interior. Mark the places where the sink, dishwasher, furniture set will be located - the communications and electrical wiring connections will depend on this.
To make the kitchen comfortable, you need to think in advance about the location of furniture, appliances and sockets.
Layout of the corridor (hallway)
To combine comfort with beauty in a small corridor in a Stalinist or Khrushchev building, you need to carefully think through your actions.
However, this also applies to large hallways, where it is important to correctly arrange the main elements and choose a suitable layout.
L-shaped
When planning the interior of an L-shaped hallway, you should think about how to properly combine several doors at once. Between them:
- The entrance is interior.
- Interior.
- Door to the bathroom.
It is important not to touch them when opening or closing. Otherwise, there will be discomfort when moving around the apartment.
Square
In a standard room with a square configuration, which has an arch instead of classic doors, you can install the following elements:
- Sliding wardrobe with mirrored doors.
- Shoe storage shelf with a small bench next to it.
- Clothes hangers.
In conditions of limited space, built-in furniture is the best solution. The closets have compartments where you can store shoes and clothes.
Some models have pull-out shelves, mirrors, lockers and seats for changing shoes.
Angular
If you have a free corner with plenty of space, the best solution would be to use a functional wardrobe with mezzanines. Here you can place both clothes and shoes, as well as various household items, for example, a children's bicycle or a vacuum cleaner. Rounded corners make the furniture compact and safe.
Small
If the frame is small and dark, you should choose a light shade for the walls, ceiling and floor. Install ceilings and lighting fixtures so that artificial light compensates for the lack of daylight.
For a small outdoor setting, we offer the following recommendations:
- Choose a light tone for the walls: beige, sand, white, soft pink.
- Arrange only the most necessary furniture: a hanger, a shoe rack, a mirror, a stand for zones. Leave the space free.
- Install doors - open doors visually increase the free space.
Accentuate the front door with color if there isn't enough paint in the room.
Long and narrow corridor
We offer several ways to set up long passes:
- Divide your positioning into zones. To do this, combine the finishing materials of the floor, walls and ceiling.
- Create a variety of coverage. Place lamps on the walls and ceiling.
- Install apk and niches. This doorway design is suitable for a dining room, office, kitchen.
- Use light colors to decorate your room
- Light walls, white furniture, mirrors and a built-in wardrobe lengthen and expand the small exterior.
- If you want a short and long wardrobe, choose one with high-gloss sliding doors. Not a good place for a wide variety of species.
- If the room ends in font, don't put a mirror on the far wall. It will make the room even deeper and narrower, reducing the free space. It is better to decorate it with photographs with perspective to visually expand the room.
- Take beautiful furniture under the walls and visually expand the frame.
- Move away from the center doors to get closer to the frame.
Corridor design ideas with a niche or pantry
In apartments it is often difficult to find a suitable place to store various household items, household utensils and rarely used items. The closet can be a way out of the situation. It is recommended to place the shelves inside the pantry in a "U" shape so that when you enter the pantry, storage shelves are on the sides and in front of you. This is the most spacious option. You can also install a special clothes rail or use the free space to place household appliances.
Corridor in Khrushchev
The concept of “corridor to Khrushchev” is closer to a narrow and small corridor. As a result, the same design techniques apply to it: a light palette in the choice of decor for walls and floors, a minimal amount of furniture.
The closet can be replaced with hooks; a pouf closet or a narrow chest of drawers will suit your shoes. The mezzanine can become an additional storage room.
Large entrance hall and corridor
Sometimes you can find a hall of very impressive size, in which you can not only arrange furniture advantageously, but also place a fireplace with a rocking chair or a comfortable sofa for guests and a library.
- The large area allows the use of dark, rich colors and bright furniture in the interior.
- If there are windows, then next to them you can arrange a recreation area, a corner for creativity or sports.
- Lamps and floor lamps are useful for illumination in the dark.
- The built-in lighting will also look original.
Design features of a small hallway
The design of a small corridor has its own characteristics:
- You cannot do without furniture, no matter how small the room. There should be a small shoe closet, a growing mirror, open and closed hangers, a wall shelf.
- Furniture with legs should be avoided. There will always be dirt and sand underneath it.
- In a mini-hallway there should always be a large carpet near the door.
- Corner structures look ideal, saving space in the room.
- The design of any corridor in an apartment should not be overloaded. It's better to stick to minimalism.
To visually increase the area, mirrors, light colors and glossy surfaces are suitable.
Replacing communications
Replacing communications is a necessary stage in starting a kitchen renovation. The replacement of communications should be considered taking into account the places where the main water consumers will be located according to the original design.
If you plan to install a dishwasher, change the location of the sink and move a gas stove, you should consider the following rules:
- water and sewer pipes and hoses must not exceed one and a half meters in length and must remain accessible for inspection;
- Flexible gas hoses can only be stretched up to four meters in length.
A good solution for the kitchen is to hide the pipes behind cabinets without back walls: they will not spoil the look of the kitchen and will remain accessible.
Pipes in Stalin steel, especially if major repairs have not been carried out, must be replaced. In old pipes, not only do fistulas and cracks form, but from the inside they become almost 70% clogged with salts and sediments, which reduces their throughput.
Taking this opportunity, you can make global changes and move the sink to a more convenient place
It is quite possible that when replacing a sewer pipe from the kitchen, the question of replacing the entire sewer pipe will arise. Even if a major overhaul was once carried out, you should inspect the location of the pipes - for some reason, it was in Stalin buildings that the housing office liked to run new pipes in the middle of the wall.
New water pipes prevent blockages.
The new water supply and sewerage system is made of metal-plastic or polypropylene pipes, which are characterized by ease of installation, durability, and good performance characteristics.
After replacing the water supply and sewer lines, you need to call gas workers to assess the condition of the gas pipes. After their conclusion, gas pipes are replaced under the supervision of specialists. However, often there is no particular need for this, except for moving the place for the gas stove.
New communication pipes are the basic rule for home safety.
Design of a corridor in an apartment - a selection of photos
In the collection of photos collected on this page, you will find even more interesting options for decorating a corridor in an apartment. They will help you understand the principles of elegant corridor design, find out how certain materials and different combinations of shades look in a real interior. The presented design techniques will be useful to anyone who intends to make the hallway truly beautiful and cozy.
Replacing electrical wiring
The electrical wiring in the kitchen in the Stalinist style, as in the entire apartment, will definitely have to be changed. The fact is that from those years, aluminum wiring was preserved in Stalin, designed at most for a chandelier and a refrigerator.
Now the electricity consumption in a Stalin apartment should be calculated based on the presence of the same refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave, electric kettle, hood, powerful lighting and other household appliances. The cable must be changed to copper with a cross-section of no less than 8 kW. You will also have to install a voltage relay, replace the packets, and install a voltage stabilizer.
It is advisable to decide in advance what equipment will be in the kitchen and eliminate all weak points in the wiring.
It is more difficult to replace if the walls are shingles: you will have to lay the electrical cable on a flammable base, and install socket boxes and distribution boxes in wood. The electrical wiring will have to be built into a corrugated insulating pipe. If the walls are cinder concrete, foam concrete or gypsum, the work will be easier. In this case, ordinary grooves are made in the walls.
The kitchen should have enough outlets for all appliances and appliances.
Layout
To make living in an apartment more comfortable for two people, the passage to the kitchen from the hallway was eliminated in favor of enlarging the bathroom. The kitchen was combined with the living room: the room became spacious and comfortable. Thanks to doors with glass elements, natural light from the kitchen and living room began to flow into the hallway.
Wall repair
Stalinist walls may simply be uneven, or they may even develop deep cracks. In any case, they will have to be strengthened and leveled. Some people completely remove the layer of old plaster, which can reach up to 10 cm in thickness, fill the shingles with a mesh and plaster the top with any gypsum plaster, or sew up the gypsum board. You need to understand that reducing the thickness of the ceiling between apartments leads to noise insulation problems.
Drywall makes the walls perfectly smooth and improves sound insulation.
Wall leveling today is usually done using drywall. This design allows you to hide an additional layer of sound insulation between the wall and the gypsum board. You can stick tiles on drywall, fix plastic panels or stick wallpaper. However, if you have the skill, you can level the walls using plaster mixtures, which are sold in sufficient quantities today.
If you want to combine the kitchen with the next room or expand the room through the corridor, you can remove the partition, especially if it is made of wood with shingles. Before dismantling the wall, you need to carefully examine the ceiling: rotten ceiling boards can only be supported by a partition.
Only partitions can be moved; capital walls cannot be touched.
Dismantling is carried out from above - first the partition is freed from the layer of plaster, and then the boards begin to be sawed off. This work cannot be called easy - since even pine boards over decades of use could become as strong as stone.
Moving the partition of a small kitchen allows you to place additional furniture.
What to do with the ceiling
- Whitewashing or painting is the simplest and most budget option. Does not require any special preparation, quite fast. Disadvantages include fragility and tendency to stains and mold.
- The suspension system is a rather interesting option, characterized by a reliable design. It will help hide imperfections such as unevenness. Disadvantage - requires initial preparation: gluing or plastering
- Stretching the ceiling is a practical and durable option that is easy to maintain. You can choose any color and any surface - glossy or matte. Disadvantages include the high cost of repairs if required.
Floor and ceiling
If the ceiling in Stalin usually does not cause problems - it can be plastered, leveled, monolithic ceiling tiles glued to it, a suspended ceiling can be hung, then with the floor the list of work will be longer.
All errors in the old ceiling are easily hidden under the hanging structure.
The old floor is dismantled, since many of the boards are usually already rotted by this point. Mountains of garbage are usually found under the boards, and if there were problems with the sewer pipes before the repair, then they are also saturated with a fetid odor. This garbage must be collected and thrown away, and the gaps between the joists must be covered with expanded clay to create a heat and sound insulation layer.
Replacing the floor makes it possible to make it warmer and improve sound insulation.
Everyone makes the floor pie at their own discretion.
There are more than a dozen pie options:
- Expanded clay up to 20 cm, mesh for reinforcement, screed up to 4 cm, laminate or parquet.
- 2 layers of plywood on logs 15mm thick in level while maintaining horizontality, backing, linoleum or laminate.
If the floor is reinforced concrete, you can level it with a light wet screed or buy a regular dry screed, for example, from Knauf.
Laminate flooring is great for modern kitchen renovations.
How to organize storage in the hallway
- If you have a small apartment, the hallway will provide a lot of additional storage space. Remember that bulky furniture is not suitable for this space, especially for narrow hallways.
- With a standard passage width of 85 cm, even small furniture can block the passage.
- Use small shelves on which you can place books, place them around the perimeter and under the ceiling - this will significantly save space in a small hallway and solve the problem of visual cluttering of space.
Make a redevelopment
In some cases, it is impossible to do without remodeling a Stalinist kitchen. There are interesting houses that were actually built in the pre-Stalin period, but which are also called Stalinist buildings.
When designing microdistricts of such houses, it was envisaged that residents would eat in dining rooms in the courtyard, and the kitchen was intended only for drinking tea at night. Of course, with an apartment size of 60-80 square meters, a kitchen of 4 square meters will not be able to perform its functions.
Sometimes the kitchen table is only suitable for a cup of morning coffee.
Such kitchens can be combined with an adjacent room, making a dining room there, and leaving the functional area in the same place. There is an option to simply move the partition one and a half meters into the next room and cover it with plasterboard.
This, by the way, is a more legal option, since according to the standards, gasified kitchens must be separated by a door from living quarters. To solve this problem, you can use popular sliding structures, including glass ones.
Often redevelopment is the only way to make a small kitchen comfortable
Proposals from designers
Stalinka buildings have enormous potential for making fundamental changes to the layout. A minimum of main walls makes it easy to reconstruct the room.
First of all, the corridor will be redeveloped. Thanks to it, you can change the area of any room and the configuration of the hallway. In the layout of a three-room Stalin, it is possible to create a large living room by combining the corridor and the largest room.
Some apartment owners don't see the point in having a large number of small rooms. They prefer large-scale sizes with voluminous furnishings. It is quite comfortable for them to convert a 3-room apartment into a two-room apartment.
Combine adjacent rooms into one and make a spacious bedroom, connect the kitchen and living room, turning them into a dining room.
It is not a problem for a Stalinist to increase living space. In the post-war period, construction of one-room apartments began. The area of such a room, according to the Stalin layout, is 50 square meters. m. and the complete absence of a bedroom is not entirely comfortable.
The spacious room can be divided into two, or a mezzanine can be arranged. The ceiling height of 3m is divided into 2 and 1, so you get a small bedroom. Such a restructuring will not require additional approval and payment for the resulting square meters.
Another option for remodeling a one-room apartment is converting it into a studio. Dismantling of all partitions. The finishing of the columns and crossbars, the arrangement of a sleeping area on the mezzanine and a comfortable apartment for a single person or a young family is ready.
In addition to remodeling the Stalin-era apartment, residents of the first and last floors have the opportunity to equip additional premises.
Stalin's houses were built without basements. All utility networks are located under the first floor. And in order to carry out repair work, you have to contact the residents of the apartments and open up the floors.
To avoid this inconvenience, you can design and arrange a basement. Store winter supplies and other belongings there. At the same time, access to communications will open.
Stalinka buildings, as a rule, have a gable roof and owners of apartments located on the top floor can equip an attic room. To do this, you need to competently draw up a project, justify your desire, have it approved by the relevant authorities, and only after that begin reconstruction. It is certainly a labor-intensive and lengthy process, but it will pay off.
Choosing the right style
A Stalinist kitchen is an opportunity to realize all your design dreams. If the Stalin style is nomenklatura and the stucco molding has been preserved under the ceiling, you can play with this element by building a classic or Soviet interior in the kitchen. Classic interiors love spacious rooms, so you shouldn’t implement them if the kitchen area is less than 8 square meters.
In a smaller kitchen, a modern style - minimalism or loft - will look great. High ceilings, very large windows - all this contributes to good natural light.
In a Stalin kitchen you can realize the most daring design ideas
general information
The area of the Moscow apartment is 52 square meters. m. Decorator Olga Zaretskikh arranged it for herself and her husband, so the interior turned out to be homely and at the same time elegant. The colors used in the decoration are standard: light walls contrast with dark parquet floors. This is a universal combination that is relevant at all times.
Choice of colors
The peculiarity of Stalina is the high level of illumination in the kitchen. Even a very small kitchen will look spacious, and if you decorate the walls, ceiling and furniture in light colors, it will be easy to breathe and a joy to work in. Even in a small kitchen, but well lit thanks to a large window, rich furniture fronts and contrasting bright accents will look great.
The harmonious combination of a light background and rich accents enlivens even the smallest kitchen space.
Corridor in an apartment - the most fashionable design ideas
Most of the population lives in Khrushchev-type panel houses. The outdated interior in the hallway is considered a feature of such apartments. It is not distinguished by freedom of space and convenience; it is dark and uncomfortable. Physically expanding this room is not easy, but making visual changes is easy enough.
Before planning a renovation, you should consider whether children or pets live in the apartment. If your little child is creative and enjoys drawing, it is best to decorate the walls with easy-to-clean materials.
In a limited space there is practically no free surface for finishing and placing furniture. In a small room, light cabinets or modular corridors are installed.
Bright hues
This color palette allows you to make a small room visually spacious and voluminous. The use of light shades in a miniature corridor gives the interior coziness and fills it with a warm atmosphere.
Photo wallpaper
This option for wall decoration is optimal for rooms with a critical lack of free space. It is best to use options with perspective - realistic landscapes, geometry and urban themes.
Balance of geometric shapes
Compact furniture
The small kitchen area dictates the choice of a compact but very functional interior. It is even possible to arrange tall cabinets, similar to Soviet pencil cases, up to two or two and a half meters.
The built-in wardrobes are very spacious and allow you to place all kitchen utensils.
You can also increase storage space by using a furniture plinth with drawers. If you replace the wide and deep Stalin-era window sill with a marble or granite one, you can use it as a work area.
The space under the cabinets can be used functionally with drawers.
For a small kitchen, a linear layout of the furniture set is chosen, for a more spacious one - L-shaped or U-shaped, but provided that a passage between the furniture elements is at least 1 meter wide. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to place kitchen corner sofas in a small kitchen. A table and chairs are a great option.
Transformable furniture solves the problem of lack of space in a small kitchen.
How to increase kitchen space
Not all owners of Stalinist apartments can boast of a large and spacious kitchen. But there are options to expand it:
- Dismantle the wall between the kitchen and the adjacent room, thereby increasing the kitchen space.
- Move the partition deeper into the room that is adjacent
- Partially dismantle the wall. In a similar way, the work area will be separated from the eating area.
How to hide a gas water heater
A gas water heater with an open combustion chamber is usually hidden in a false cabinet without a bottom or top, but with a 15-cm indentation from the side walls in accordance with gas service standards. However, in a kitchen decorated in a modern high-tech or loft style, the column and pipes can not be hidden, but can even be used as a decorative element.
If the requirements are met, you can hide the geyser in a closet along with the pipes.
How to arrange furniture
The main role when choosing furniture is played by the layout of the corridor. We will learn how to furnish a room elegantly and functionally.
Using very narrow furniture
Finally, a few examples of furniture arrangement in the interiors of very small corridors. This will need to be made to order. Of course, you can’t put clothes in it, but it’s trivial to put keys, hats, scarves, an umbrella, bags, a bag, and so on. And these are the items that we remember at the last moment, and it is best to keep them near the door. Pay special attention to the open mezzanine in the first photo.
And a few more photos with unusual cabinets:
Closet
An ideal option for any entrance area is a built-in wardrobe with mirrored doors. It should be in harmony with the interior design of the hallway and be easy to use. It is better to choose a model of the ceiling itself with mezzanines for hats, bags and scarves.
Optimal cabinet positions:
- in a niche;
- the whole wall;
- in the corner.
Built-in technology
You will have to buy kitchen appliances in a Stalinist kitchen of the minimum size and build them in whenever possible. It is better to place the dishwasher in the space under the sink, choose a tall and narrow refrigerator, and a narrower stove. A gas hob will be a good solution in a small kitchen when solving functional problems.
Furniture of reduced dimensions can be built into the set and save the necessary space. A hob instead of a full-fledged stove frees up space for additional drawers.
Why do you need redevelopment of Stalin buildings?
During the construction of the “working” Stalin buildings, the project did not include a bathroom.
Subsequently, residents themselves began to install showers and baths in the hallway, or occupy part of the kitchen. This is not entirely comfortable and was done absolutely incorrectly. Due to the remodeling, the kitchen area was reduced, or the corridor narrowed.
Corridor-type apartments have large isolated rooms and long narrow corridors. Currently, most of the former communal apartments have become full-fledged apartments. The presence of a long tunnel makes it uncomfortable and depressing.
The layout of a corner stalin building often has a walk-through large room and two bedrooms opening into it. This is not very convenient in terms of using the apartment.
Today, architectural designers offer owners of Stalin-era apartments numerous options for changing the arrangement of rooms. The presence of internal support columns and crossbars allows you to make changes inside the room without problems. When approved, such projects receive virtually no objections.
Lighting
Thanks to the high ceilings, any type of lighting can be used in the Stalin apartment, including chandeliers in combination with spotlights around the perimeter. Unfortunately, precisely because of the same three-meter ceiling height, lighting with one chandelier may not be enough. Therefore, it is necessary to provide for the presence of additional light above the work area, above the apron, on the railing, as well as an additional sconce near the dining table.
Abundance of light creates a cozy atmosphere in the kitchen.
A Stalinist kitchen can be renovated and converted into a more comfortable space. A huge plus is the high ceilings and large windows. You most likely won’t be able to carry out the repairs on your own - there is too much work: replacing wiring, replacing pipes.
How to visually expand the corridor
The design of a narrow corridor in an apartment can be expanded in several ways. To realize your idea, consider the parameters of your layout. Once you have the exact numbers, you can move on to the next steps: arranging furniture, choosing lighting, finalizing colors, and filling in small gaps with nice decorative details distributed around the perimeter of the room.
Another mental illusion will be the placement of mirrors. It is necessary to turn the lack of space into an advantage so that guests even think that they are experiencing discomfort from crushed walls.
Photo of the solution for arranging a narrow corridor
To make it easier to view the information received, we suggest looking at a selection of photographs with problems and ways to solve them. Pay attention to the trends for 2022. On them you will see how you can expand the space of the corridor without breaking the walls, relying on the magical laws of optics and physics.
