You have in your arsenal many effective tools that, when used skillfully, can give your interior the most attractive and interesting look. One of them is a niche, a small recess in the wall. From a design point of view, this element belongs to the category of architectural solutions and directly affects the visual appearance of the room, favorably emphasizing its individual character. A niche in the wall plays a key role in this regard - and therefore the knowledge and ability of how to decorate it beautifully can become your main trump card when creating a bright and memorable room design. We offer a kind of digest of the best design ideas, with the help of which we will simultaneously reveal the main secrets of integrating this solution into a wide variety of interiors.
- 6 benefits of using a niche;
- How to design a niche with your own hands;
- Interior use;
- Interaction with lighting;
- Placement methods depending on the design style;
- Examples of photos in different rooms;
- Conclusion.
How to design a niche with your own hands
Before you grab the tool, you should accurately determine the placement of the future recess. To do this, you need to answer yourself at least two questions:
- why do I need a niche in this room;
- Will the created recess in the wall interfere with the holistic perception of the interior?
Do you know the exact answers to the questions asked? Great, you can start marking.
Marking
- Based on the intended depth of the niche, height and width, we apply the necessary marks to the surface of the wall;
- check the evenness of the lines with a level;
- We mark the places where the metal profiles are attached.
Creating a wireframe
This stage is very familiar to anyone who has ever decorated the walls of an apartment or house.
- fix the guide profile around the perimeter;
- we attach plates to give the frame the required depth;
- we connect both types of profiles, strengthen the joints with additional fasteners;
- If desired, we strengthen the structure with stiffening ribs from individual fragments of guide profiles.
Sheathing with plasterboard
- prepared gypsum board sheets are fixed to the frame with self-tapping screws;
- the joints are treated with a primer and sealed with sickle tape;
- The niche is puttyed and finally polished.
Finishing
Depending on the aesthetic wishes and role of the niche in the interior, the following can be used:
- dye;
- whitewash;
- wallpaper;
- decorative plaster (how to choose the right decorative plaster);
- ceramic tile;
- artificial stone (gypsum).
The immediate perception of the interior by your household and guests depends on how beautifully you can decorate a niche. Study the video below - you can find a lot of useful visual information in it.
Interior use
One of the advantages that a niche in a wall surface has is that it can be used as decorative
, and
applied
problems. And if you manage to decorate it unusually beautifully with the help of lighting, then it has every chance of becoming the most noticeable decoration of the interior. Beautiful and useful - you couldn’t say it better. Let's look at how this design move can be used to solve purely practical problems.
Library
Yes, the recesses created in the wall can be safely used as a shelf for books. This solution looks very cute and stylish, and also saves a lot of usable space.
For TV and other equipment
A popular way to solve the problem of placing a large television receiver. As time goes by, the diagonal is getting larger, and niches for TVs are looking more appropriate and more familiar in the interior.
By the way, niches for TV set-top boxes, audio equipment and other accessories that help make our leisure time more beautiful look quite organic in the interior. You can learn how to hide TV wires on the wall from this article.
Shelf for things
Can be implemented almost anywhere. Of course, the nature of the things and accessories that will be placed on it depends on the functional definition of the room:
- in the kitchen
- kitchen utensils; - in the bedroom
there are bottles of perfume; - in the bathroom
- bath accessories; - In the toilet
there is an air freshener and various hygiene products.
What types of false windows are there?
When creating false windows, mirror structures and ready-made “virtual” models are often used.
Photo wallpaper
The fastest and cheapest way to create an illusion is to use photo printing. Decorative window treatments are no exception. The advantage of photo wallpapers is not only in price and ease of application, but also in a wide range of subjects. Even if the desired landscape is not in the store, a printout of the image can be ordered individually.
Standard projects: overlooking a forest, beach, flowering field, city street, garden. Photo wallpaper can be used even in the smallest rooms, because, as you know, perspective visually expands the space.
Advice! To make the false window more realistic, add a voluminous window sill - it is used as a shelf.
In the photo there is imitation wallpaper and curtains
Mirror
A way to create fake windows in the interior that do not require repairs is through mirrors. There are two main implementation options:
- Take an old picture frame, sort the mirror cloth by size and shape, and attach it to the wall.
- Buy several mirrors in frames, connect them, fix them.
The reflective surface of the furniture will create the effect of depth and help expand the area of the room. This false window, unlike the first two, is movable, that is, when rearranging furniture, it can also move to another wall or to the next room.
The photo shows mirrors in window frames
Virtual
Artificial fireplaces inside the living room
This type refers to windows with false lighting. The original transport frame is equipped with an LED display and is complemented by a remote control. The control allows you to change the time of day and the landscape outside the window, adjust the time and season to suit your desired mood.
Unlike other models, the images in virtual fake windows are dynamic, as close as possible to the real view.
Budget models do not have a display or a changing image, but are supplemented with lamps - illuminated false windows serve as additional lighting, replacing the missing natural source.
Important! Any variety of this category is connected to an outlet - for greater realism, it should be hidden behind a frame so that the wires are not visible.
Artistic painting
Paint a decorative window with your own hands or entrust the work to a master - it depends on your artistic talent. One way or another, painting allows you to realize any fantasy, because the size of the picture, texture and palette are not limited in any way.
Schematically outline a window opening or create a complex multi-level composition depicting the sky, living trees, and flowers. 3D images create a complete illusion of presence, visually expanding the walls of the room.
There is only one drawback of drawing or printing: the lack of three-dimensionality. It’s not always possible to create it using a window sill or curtains, so if you need a full-fledged false window, take a closer look at the next two options.
The photo shows a painted volumetric fresco
False window with backlight
A window with false lighting will help create the effect of natural lighting in a dark room.
A window-shaped lamp can be equipped with energy-saving lamps, single LEDs or solid ribbons and garlands.
When choosing a backlit product, it is important to pay attention to the shade of the glow. Cool white light is similar to warm daylight: it creates a feeling of home comfort and complements the main source of artificial lighting;
Ceiling
Decorative window structures can be installed not only on the wall, but also on the ceiling. There should be no unevenness on its surface.
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You can mount such a window directly on the ceiling or make a more spectacular suspended structure that will create the feeling of being in the attic.
Installation of the suspended ceiling structure is carried out in three stages:
- Installation of a stretch ceiling with a prepared opening.
- Cover the window space with photo wallpaper.
- Installation of the frame with strapping and ceiling mounting.
False ceiling windows are installed in children's rooms, bedrooms or bathrooms.
With stained glass
An imitation window with glazing and LED lighting is suitable for rooms without natural light. This could be a hallway, a wall along a staircase, a basement, or an attic. The most impressively and harmoniously illuminated stained glass window will look in an arched product. The window can be one, full-size, commensurate with the area of the room, or smaller.
Interaction with backlight
If you decorate a niche beautifully using decorative lamps placed on it, you can get a charming light pattern that will help create a cozy homely atmosphere. Or introduce bold avant-garde motifs into the interior of the room. The nature of the lamps used depends on what effect you want to achieve. If there are enough objects on the shelf, but they do not glare too much, then it is quite possible to use diffused light with harmoniously placed accents. If the objects themselves are shiny, then the best option is several spotlights. They will help balance the glare properties of the placed accessories, as a result of which the lighting in the niche will not attract unnecessary attention and irritate the eyes.
What is a false window?
A fake window is a realistic imitation of a window on the wall, created using a design (on the wall or on wallpaper) or a fake window that opens from mirrors, old frames, glass, etc.
False windows have no gaps behind them and do not let in daylight. To create a more realistic simulation with additional solar lighting, choose models with built-in lighting.
Painted windows change the space in a slightly different way: using the designated perspective, they expand the space and create the illusion of being in any place you choose.
Placement methods depending on the design style
Currently, it is encouraged to place several recesses in one room at once - of course, if its dimensions allow this.
They can be placed:
- symmetrical to each other;
- asymmetrical;
- combined.
The latter option is still rarely used in design projects, although it accumulates the strongest decorative potential. Symmetrical
located niches are a sign of an interior that has been carefully designed to the smallest detail, in which there should be no surprises.
The dictates of strict geometry are more suitable for modern design styles: loft, contemporary, Scandinavian minimalism
. Calibrated lines, absence of any curves, brevity and effectiveness in one bottle.
The reasons for such popularity of such architectural solutions lie in their applied nature: in the design styles mentioned above there is no room for anything superfluous - every detail of the interior must be justified, every square meter must be organized.
Space optimization as one of the trends of not only this year, but also next year in action. Sequentially placed recesses in the wall and in the classic format feel quite comfortable, but this is rather an exception that directly confirms the rule. As for asymmetry
, it usually characterizes interiors in
Provence, shabby chic, and vintage styles
.
There is a predominance of forms rounded at the top and framing. An interesting detail: most often, paintings, family photos, archaic vases and other objects
, which directly hint at the taste preferences of the owner.
Interesting solutions
True connoisseurs of luxury place aquariums in niches. These can be either single glass squares or entire glass structures.
If it is beneficial to highlight the underwater world, then such a corner will become a real relaxation area after heavy emotional stress or physical stress.
- A bar is set up in the niches. Alcohol and more are placed in such recesses.
- They are decorated with a beautiful set of electric lamps.
- The space is decorated with flexible clinker or mosaic.
Very often they decorate the bar with antique putty so that the bar looks not only appetizing, but also solemn.
Examples of photos in different rooms
As we have already found out, you can beautifully decorate a recess in the wall in almost any room, even if its functionality is very limited. We invite you to see this with your own eyes.
