The corridor in the apartment is the intersection of all household routes. Wherever you go, your path lies through the corridor. And therefore it is extremely important that this room is comfortably furnished, with compact and at the same time spacious cabinets and drawers.
How to make a mezzanine in the hallway with your own hands, and get a convenient and space-free place to store various things? Read more in today's article.
How to make a mezzanine in the hallway with your own hands?
In what cases is a mezzanine needed?
Owners of their own houses can be said to be luckier than residents of apartment buildings. In a private home, you are free to design your hallway so that it only serves as a place where you can take off your street clothes and not visit it until the next time you leave the house.
But the owners of apartments, especially those built in the Soviet era of the Khrushchev type, are forced to think about arranging the hallway so that it can accommodate an often large amount of clothes, shoes and much more important things, while remaining as spacious as possible. The mezzanine does an excellent job of storing household belongings while remaining unnoticeable and not interfering with the passageway of the corridor.
What is a mezzanine?
Types of models
There are separate types of cabinets that belong to the main groups.
Corner
Often the space at the junction of two walls in the hallway is not fully used. There may be shoes standing haphazardly and outerwear hanging on hooks nailed to the walls. However, a wardrobe will fit perfectly into the corner. Corner structures can be of three types:
- L-shaped;
- triangular;
- polygonal.
L-shaped are 2 housings connected together perpendicularly. The triangular, low-volume design follows the shape of the corner. It looks beautiful in new high-rise buildings and one-room Khrushchev apartments. Polygonal wardrobes are made to individual sizes. 4-, 6-, 8-gonal models are popular.
Direct
Classic wardrobes consist of a frame with a back wall, base, ceiling, internal filling, sliding mechanism and movable doors. The standard option is a rectangular shape.
Modular
This type implies a universal design, which consists of individual modules. Inside the closet, you can swap out shelves, hooks, hanger mounts, drawers and organizers. If there are not enough additional compartments for clothes or there is a desire to increase the dimensions, you can purchase individual modules from the manufacturer.
Modular hallway with wardrobe
Radial
Such sliding wardrobes belong to the group of corner ones and are divided into 3 subcategories:
- Semicircular. Holds more things.
- Concave. Looks interesting in small rooms and takes up minimal space.
- Combined. A wardrobe that will suit any room. Guide profiles can have a wave-like shape.
Radius models are suitable for various designs:
- modern;
- classics;
- high tech;
- wenge.
Trapezoidal
They belong to the group of corner cabinets. They are a combination of triangular and L-shaped designs. Thanks to this unusual shape, the volume is much larger than that of triangular models, and the size is smaller than that of L-shaped ones. Corner shelves are added along the edges.
Suitable location for the superstructure
So, we’ve sorted out the materials, now we need to think about how our mezzanine will be located and what needs to be taken into account in order to avoid mistakes when assembling and placing it.
In order for the mezzanine to be used harmoniously, you need to choose a convenient place for it
As already mentioned, the mezzanine is located under the ceiling in any of the rooms in the apartment, but if it is a corridor, then the most frequently used and convenient place is above the entrance door to the kitchen. When installing the structure, consider some points that you should pay special attention to:
- be sure to think through the design, calculate the dimensions and amount of material required, ideally, create a drawing of the product;
- the depth of the product is also an important point that must be taken into account; if you make the cabinet too deep, it will be very inconvenient for you to get everything you need from it;
- if, nevertheless, you decide to make a fairly deep cabinet, then it is more convenient if you make it double-sided;
- make sure that the walls on which the box will be mounted are strong enough to withstand the load;
- for safety reasons for you and your household, the base material must be durable;
- the mezzanine should fit harmoniously into the overall layout and design of the room;
- the shelf under the ceiling should not interfere with access to the window and the free opening of the door above which it is located;
- be sure to find the location of the electrical wiring in the walls so as not to damage it during installation;
- design the structure so that there is no free space between the top of the drawer and the ceiling, otherwise this space will not be functional, only dust will accumulate in it.
There should be no gaps between the ceiling and the storage area
Deciding on the external design
Now you can move on to the exterior design. This criterion should be left for last, since the design of the structure is of great importance.
A cabinet with white glossy fronts is well suited for a small hallway
The best option for the external design of a hallway closet is mirrors. Such a surface will make the furniture as useful and functional as possible. In this case, you choose a 2 in 1 design, eliminating the need to additionally install a mirror.
A wardrobe with mirrored doors placed at the end of a narrow hallway will visually expand the cramped space
Doors for sliding wardrobes are usually made of glass, so any print will look good on such a surface. An interesting idea would be to display your photo on the cabinet doors. But this option is only made to order, and costs a lot of money.
Sliding wardrobe with a print in a modern style hallway
Frame wardrobe in the hallway with loft elements
For the hallway, you can choose furniture to match the color of the wood. Warm brown shades will add coziness to the room, making it soft and delicate. Beige, milky and peach shades look great. A white cabinet would be a great idea. The main thing is that it fits organically into the overall design. You can choose this option if the walls or floor are made in light colors.
An interesting idea for placing hooks for casual clothes on the doors of a closed closet
Using the proposed scheme for selecting a cabinet design for the hallway, you will be able to purchase the most convenient, high-quality and beautiful option.
The highlight of this hallway was the cabinet of radial design, installed in place of the partition
Tools and components for assembling the mezzanine
Before you begin assembling the mezzanine, you need to prepare all the necessary materials and tools that you will need during the work:
- tape measure and level;
- screwdriver (preferably a screwdriver);
- perforator;
- pencil;
- jigsaw;
- aluminum profile;
- wooden beam;
- screws and dowels;
- furniture fittings, hinges or guides (depending on the door opening design)
- facade material (wood, chipboard, MDF)
- material for the body (wood, chipboard, plasterboard, plywood)
You may need edges for furniture, gas lifts, if according to the design the door will open upwards
Internal filling of cabinets
The components of cabinets necessary for convenient placement and storage of items are quite diverse, these include:
- ordinary monolithic shelves made of chipboard or plastic;
- mesh shelves and baskets made of stainless steel or plastic;
- hangers with hooks or shoulder pads;
- shelves for shoes;
- trouser holders;
- tie holders.
Shelf for hats
Bracket for jackets
Scarf holder
Shoe shelf
Pull-out section
Iron holder
Installation instructions for a stationary mezzanine
Step No. 1 - make markings and attach the support
Before you begin work on marking and installing the mezzanine between the walls, you should determine the location where the electrical wiring runs. Without doing this, there is a high probability of unpleasant consequences if you touch the cable during installation.
If it is not possible to visually locate the cable passage, use special devices, for example, an indicator screwdriver. Or better yet, use a special finder, which can be purchased at a hardware store. It will probably come in handy in the future if you decide to renovate your apartment.
First you need to make the correct markings and use them to attach the support to the place where the mezzanine is mounted
After you mark the location of the electrical wire, you can safely begin the main work. Using a tape measure and a building level, we draw a line on the wall, focusing on which we will mount the main fasteners to support the drawer.
As fastenings, you can use a wooden beam or a metal corner of the required length. Drill holes for self-tapping screws in the fastening element in increments of 15-20 cm. Attach the part to the line marked on the wall and mark the places for fastenings in the wall through the drilled holes.
We fasten the support
Drill holes in the wall using a drill, insert dowels and attach the guides to the wall with self-tapping screws. The same manipulations must be performed symmetrically on the opposite wall and above the doorway.
If you plan to cover the mezzanine with plasterboard, then you will need additional logs made of aluminum profiles. The finished frame can be sheathed underneath with plasterboard or any other lightweight material, such as plywood, fiberboard or even plastic panels. Inside there should be a solid base that can support the weight of all the things you plan to load the shelf with.
Step No. 2 - install the base of the superstructure
Using a jigsaw, you need to cut out the bottom of the future superstructure from a sheet of the material you have chosen. Today, construction hypermarkets offer the buyer a large selection of ready-made slabs of different sizes. If you have chosen chipboard, then you have the opportunity to choose a product not only by size, but also by color and immediately finished with an edge, which makes it easier for you to decorate the sawn edge. If the product still needs to be filed, make sure to purchase edge tape in advance.
We fix the bottom
Place the bottom in place and secure it to the corners or wooden slats (if you used them) using self-tapping screws. Provided that you still have the edge of the product sawed off, without an edge, then when attaching the bottom to the guides, move it forward, literally a few millimeters, to make it easier to decorate the edge. And use glue to glue the edge plastic tape, thereby covering the unsightly end.
Edge Tape Options
Step No. 3 - assembling the door frame
The next step is to make the side posts and the top of the box, on which the doors will subsequently be hung. Measure the required height from the bottom rails to the intended top of the mezzanine, or to the ceiling. By analogy with the bottom slats, attach the side posts to the walls, but use wooden beams as the material. And the last step in making the box will be the top bar, which can be attached using corners to the side posts.
Next we attach the side racks and the upper part of the mezzanine
Step No. 4 - hanging the door leaves
When the base and box of our mezzanine are ready, we just have to solve the issue with the doors. Let's look at what door options you can come up with. There may be several of them:
- swing;
- sliding;
- with lifting mechanism.
You can purchase the door leaf itself at a furniture manufacturer, or buy it at a construction hypermarket, fortunately there is a large selection. If the proposed dimensions of the finished products do not suit you, you can cut a sheet of chipboard to your dimensions and cover it with edge tape made of PVC or laminated film.
Door designs can be completely different: lifting, hinged and even sliding
The PVC edge, as mentioned above, can be glued using glue. If you take a laminated edge, you can connect it to the plate using a regular iron. The fact is that hot-melt adhesive is applied on the back side of the edge tape. All you need to do is heat a regular household iron to 180 degrees, apply the edge evenly and iron.
When the doors are ready, we will decide on which hinges we will hang them. There is a wide range of door hinges. But for the mezzanine, card ones are quite suitable for us. They do not require additional cuts, unlike overhead cuts.
We fasten the doors
Although, if you have the skill and tool to cut a niche for a hinge bowl, then this type of fittings will also be an excellent option. Attaching the facade to the card hinges is quite simple: we fasten it with self-tapping screws to the side posts using a screwdriver.
Finished mezzanine with hinged doors
If you decide to make a door that opens upward, then mezzanine hinges would be the ideal option. They, like card ones, are fastened with self-tapping screws, but thanks to the spring included in their design, they allow you to fix the door in the open position.
Another good option is a folding one - for convenient opening of the door upwards and installation of a gas elevator - a system thanks to which the doors will open and close smoothly and be securely locked in the open position.
Installation of such a mechanism is not difficult, since it always comes with instructions that describe the installation diagram for fasteners. All you have to do is, after checking the diagram, fasten the fasteners to the frame posts and the inside of the sash at the required distance according to the instructions. And after installing and securing the facade, install gas lifts.
Hinged doors are also equipped with specific fittings
Another possible way to open the doors would be a sliding version. But it is not the most convenient, since access to the contents of the locker will be limited to one of the doors. For such an opening mechanism, you will need to install special rails and attach the rollers to the door leaf.
The installation of a double-sided mezzanine will be similar. The only difference is that the opening above the kitchen door is not blocked with bricks or false panels during renovation, but remains open. Subsequently, when installing the superstructure in the corridor, doors will be hung on it from the kitchen side, which will make the mezzanine end-to-end on both sides.
Option for designing a through mezzanine in the corridor
Curtains are also an idea
If you don’t want to bother installing the doors, but the open version of the shelves doesn’t suit you, then the best option, as well as the most economical, would be curtains, of course, provided that they fit into the overall design of the room.
To hang a curtain, you need to choose a suitable piece of fabric, with a margin of width so that it hangs in beautiful folds. Also take the length with a reserve, since the bottom of the curtain will have to be hemmed, and the top folded and stitched, or sewn on curtain tape.
The mezzanine can be hung with an ordinary curtain that matches the style of the interior
Next, you can hang the curtain on a fishing line, threading it through the fold and securing it with self-tapping screws to the side posts of our design, or you can hang a rail and hook it onto the curtain tape with hooks, creating cute folds. The advantage of curtains over doors is that they are easy to replace with new ones if you are tired of the old ones.
A few ideas for decorating door leaves
If you don’t want your mezzanine to blend in with the furniture, you can take note of the idea for decorating doors.
- You can cover it with artificial leather, laying a layer of foam rubber as a filler. We secure it to the back of the door using a furniture stapler. And if you want your doors to look more pretentious, create the effect of a carriage tie using the same stapler, only from the outside. Decorate the paper clips with leatherette-covered buttons or plastic rhinestones.
- If you glue a mirror sheet to the door, the space in your corridor will visually appear larger and higher. The mirror can be glued using special glue or silicone sealant.
- If you still decide to decorate the doors with wallpaper, then cover them with a layer of PVA glue, which will create a protective film and prolong the beautiful appearance of your product.
The mezzanine with transparent doors looks stylish
For a small corridor
If the hallway is small, it is better to install a narrow wardrobe up to the ceiling, with mirrors on the sliding doors, which will visually expand the room. In furniture stores you can order models of non-standard sizes.
Custom-sized wardrobe with huge wall-length mirrors
You can read more information about mirrored sliding doors in the detailed article.
Another option for a wardrobe for a small corridor is a corner model. These wardrobes are equipped with radius doors that look unusual. To save space, you can buy a thin L-shaped model.
To choose a design for storing things in a room with limited space, you can read a detailed article on our website “Narrow wardrobe”.
What not to do when constructing a mezzanine
It’s not difficult to make an add-on for storing household belongings, but to make the product convenient and functional, you should still take into account the advice of experienced craftsmen:
- you should not place the superstructure lower than two meters above the floor level, otherwise your household members or tall guests risk getting injured when passing by the structure;
- when decorating your new shelf, you should not cover the doors with wallpaper in the same color as the walls, otherwise the design will visually clutter the space;
- in addition, the wallpaper quickly gets dirty, scuffs appear and its attractive appearance is lost;
- at the stage of hanging the sashes on gas lifts or mezzanine hinges, do not open downwards, this option will be extremely inconvenient for use at height, since the ability to get the necessary thing from the depths of the superstructure is limited;
- the mezzanine doors should not touch the chandelier and interfere with the opening of doors to other rooms.
You cannot place furniture too close to the mezzanine, which will interfere with its opening
Selection rules
Choosing lamps for the hallway
However, most of the positive qualities are lost when the outer laminated coating is damaged, so in this case, over time, the entire part will have to be replaced. It is also not recommended to heavily load long shelves and carefully drive in nails that do not hold well in such material.
When choosing, it is necessary to control the quality of the material, as it may contain harmful resins.
MDF is a denser and harder material, but contains harmful resin compounds that can only be neutralized by a sealed coating.
Wood is the most environmentally friendly material, allowing you to create slabs of any size, but when exposed to temperature and humidity it can become deformed and has a high price.
