Recently, studio apartments have become fashionable. Everyone is quite tired of mass standardization. But in a unified space, as a rule, there is a need to delimit functionally significant zones of the home. To achieve the desired effect, specialists regularly develop and put into practice dozens of methods.
The superposition of visual perception on clearly defined boundaries, as if by magic, turns an unremarkable studio into a stylish home that meets all modern ideas about comfort. The isolation of the hallway raises the most questions. To highlight it from the general background, interior designers offer several options.
Furniture items
Any tall furniture module will help to separate the hallway from the living room, namely a built-in wardrobe, a shelf with decorative figures, photographs, books. A hedge of fresh flowers, placed in sections of shelving or on a low cabinet, will add aesthetics and at the same time serve as a dividing strip. A wardrobe facing the living room will look like a wall from the threshold, but on the other side it will look like a wall in full accordance with its functional purpose.
A sofa that can visually delimit the territory will cope with this task just as well. A similar effect can also be achieved using two chairs, especially if there is a stand with a tall aquarium between them.
Color selection
Correctly selected combinations play an important role in creating a harmonious design of the entire apartment. Since there are no windows in the hallway, the only light source is electric lamps. In artificial lighting, saturated and dark colors look even darker, so it is better to choose light shades. These can be light tones of gray, beige, milky, ivory, cream, peach, mint, light blue, etc. These colors are combined with many shades, and also highlight furniture and accessories.
If you want something brighter, you can choose shades of green. Light green or grass green goes well with white, golden, almost all shades of brown, orange, etc. Green is considered an energetic color that can invigorate and lift your spirits. The latter is especially important when you have to get ready for work or school early in the morning.
Wall or partition
It is quite possible to cope with the task using a low wall, which, of course, will have to be built. It is recommended to hang a picture or mirror on this wall. And if the painting can only act as an additional decorative element, then the mirror will also help to visually expand the space.
Instead of a fundamental wall, you can put a light partition or even a transparent screen. Thus, the hallway will not be completely isolated, but will still be designated as a separate room. The partition can be made of wood, plastic, or contain elements of frosted or colored glass. Stained glass inserts will serve as a wonderful decoration, giving the interior a unique personality.
Principles of hallway design
The corridor is the first room where household members and guests enter. The design of the hallway should be in harmony with the overall style of the apartment. It is best to choose a neutral design, durable materials, and non-staining colors. Various interior options for the hallway in a one-room and two-room apartment can be seen in the selection of photos below.
A classic hallway made of solid wood will fit perfectly into the interior of the corridor
Visual expansion of space
When choosing materials for wall decoration, it is worth using coatings in light shades - beige, milky, light gray, etc. This will make the corridor in a one-room apartment visually appear larger. To create the illusion of depth, the walls farthest from the door can be painted one or two shades darker.
Blue rolls against the background of white walls in the corridor significantly expand the space
To create the effect of a spacious room, glossy coatings, mirrored furniture facades, and large mirrors are suitable. The main thing to remember is that shiny finishing materials are not suitable for surfaces even with the smallest defects. The walls must be perfectly smooth.
Smooth white wall color is always a winning option for the hallway
Architectural details
If the hallway has smooth walls and is spacious enough, you can use moldings, stucco molding, and false panels as decorative elements. Such decor will add variety, diluting the monotonous interior. This finish will emphasize the sophistication of the design and will best fit into one of the classic styles.
Stucco molding in the hallway, decorated in a classic style
Important! To emphasize the correct geometry of the room, in addition to moldings on the walls, you can frame doorways.
More light
Most often, there are no windows in hallways, and therefore no natural light. For this reason, it is better not to skimp on lighting fixtures. A large amount of light along with glossy surfaces will create the feeling of more space than it actually is. For lighting, you can use a chandelier, complementing it with wall lamps, or spots installed along the perimeter of the ceiling.
A large stylish chandelier will not only provide a lot of light, but also decorate a small hallway
Decorative elements
It is believed that paintings, figurines and other objects of art are not suitable for furnishing a hallway in a one-room apartment. In a small room, too much decor will actually create a feeling of clutter rather than admiration for the beauty of the interior. If the space allows, you don’t have to skimp on the decor. Photos in a modern style will emphasize the loft or fusion style, frescoes with landscapes are suitable for Provence, and paintings with historical themes, ancient portraits, etc. will be appropriate in a classic interior.
In a studio apartment, you can highlight the hallway area with all kinds of decor on the walls.
You can put beautiful figurines, vases, old books or memorabilia from travel on the shelves. Indoor plants also look good; they enliven the interior of the hallway. Pots can stand on the floor, shelves, or hang from the ceiling in planters.
Potted shade-loving flowers will look good on a shelf in the hallway
Harmony of styles
The hallway is the first thing people see when they enter an apartment. The furnishings of this room create the initial impression of the house. Therefore, it is important that the interior of the corridor does not deviate too much from the style of the apartment itself. It is not necessary to use the same color scheme for decoration as in the living room, but it is worth following the general design concept.
Hallway in Provence style
Flooring
It is very convenient to divide the apartment into separate areas using various types of floor coverings. Moreover, in this case a double effect is achieved. An appropriately sized rug, laminate, or tiled area will help create a boundary and also keep street dirt from getting into the living room.
Surface finishing
The hallway is the most trafficked and dirty place, so the materials chosen for finishing should be as practical and durable as possible. The floor and walls should be easy to clean, not accumulate dirt, and withstand accidental impacts and scratches.
Flooring
The most budget option for finishing the floor in the hallway is linoleum. This material is affordable, environmentally friendly, durable and easy to clean from dirt. However, it is best to install ceramic tiles or stone on the floor. These materials are the most durable, they are not afraid of water, chemicals, mold, fungi and pests, as, for example, is the case with wooden coverings. The tiles are easy to clean and can withstand significant loads.
Ceiling
In small hallways it is better to avoid multi-level structures, large chandeliers or voluminous decor, such as beams. Simple light plaster or paint always looks appropriate. If the height of the ceilings allows, you can install tension fabrics or suspended plasterboard structures.
Suspended ceilings allow you to hide surface imperfections and mount lamps anywhere. Most often, lighting is installed along the perimeter of the room, and a compact chandelier is installed in the center.
Walls
Light plaster or wallpaper will visually make the corridor in a one-room apartment wider. When choosing wallpaper, it is better to choose vinyl or acrylic - they are denser and more durable, which cannot be said about paper. Colors that are too light are not suitable for finishing walls and floors; stains will be immediately visible on them. Dark shades are also unsuitable for the corridor, as they make the interior gloomy and oppressive.
Sliding doors
These doors are great space savers. They are practical, comfortable and beautiful. When open, they create the illusion of increased living space, and when closed, they provide a complete sense of privacy.
What is the difference between a corridor and a hallway
The hallway is a room that is located immediately after the front door. This is where a person ends up coming from the street. Guests leave their outerwear and shoes here and then move on.
Hallway room in green color.
A corridor is a long and often narrow passage that connects several living rooms.
These premises have one similarity: they are both non-residential.
Long corridor in the apartment.
Why might you need room zoning?
Zoning a hallway or corridor serves several purposes. One of them is a comfortable existence in a particular room. In essence, this process involves their conditional division into functional parts, each of which has clear boundaries.
Dividing rooms into clear boundaries.
Zoning also has another purpose - to create optical illusions that will decorate the interior or increase space.
Any room can be divided into zones. And the hallway with a corridor is no exception. There are several ways to do this.
Zoning increases space.
How to separate the hallway from the hall
Author: Angstrem Furniture The construction of small-sized buildings leads to the problem of small rooms.
Small rooms set the tone for narrow furniture and special interior techniques. In this case, the solution seems to be a combination of rooms, namely an entrance hall-living room instead of a narrow corridor and a small hall. This decision may be dictated by personal preferences, as it has a number of significant advantages and, with the right approach, looks impressive. Obvious advantages of combining the living room and hallway areas:
- There is more space for design maneuvers. You can use voluminous furniture and place more objects. A cramped hallway, where it is difficult to place things and where it is difficult for several people to get ready to leave at the same time, is a thing of the past.
- The room looks brighter and lighter. Thanks to the presence in most typical living rooms of a source of natural light - windows - the hallway takes on the appearance of a more “breathing” room.
- Modernity, fashion and style. Such decisions always indicate that the owner devotes time to thinking through the design of the apartment. The result looks stylish and modern.
The solution has a number of disadvantages:
- More pronounced noise from the entrance. This drawback is solved by soundproofing the door leaf and, in principle, is not always relevant.
- The cold now goes directly into the living room. A noticeable inconvenience, compensation for which requires costs - a high-quality door and additional measures during finishing (special attention to insulating the space near the door).
- Street dirt. There is an opinion that in this version her path to the living rooms is shorter. This is not entirely true, since the textures and surfaces of the flooring are responsible for the spread of debris. In order to minimize this disadvantage, it is enough to choose a flooring material that is easy to clean and cover the space near the front door with it. A solution would be to use a small rug or path in the hallway area.
If there are equal numbers of pros and cons, a merger can be seen as a beneficial move. Disadvantages are compensated for with the proper approach, and the advantages are obvious and constant.
Dirty and clean zones: how to properly separate them
The hallway is divided into two zones: dirty and clean. With the reconstruction into the hallway-living room, the division is transferred to a new room format. Zoning can be easy and obvious. Easy - when decorative items, color and texture solutions are used to demonstrate that an area belongs to a different type. Obvious zoning is the creation of partitions from walls, furniture and floors.
In addition, from a psychological point of view, it is more comfortable for a person to feel a barrier between the entrance to his home and his place of rest, so it is recommended to zone the space in one of the following ways:
- The difference is in the floor covering. The separation can be color or texture. For the dirty area near the entrance, easily washable materials are suitable: laminate, tile, stone. For the living room, you can choose any of the nice coverings. Or the hallway area - dark laminate, the living room - one tone or more lighter.
- Step from below. This method of division means that the space is divided by a rise. One part of the room remains at the same level, for example, the hallway. While the living room goes up a small step.
- Step from above. The ceiling is used as a method of zoning if the difference in the design of two different zones is obvious. There may be suspended structures and beams.
- Walls. The standard scenario for combining rooms is this: the walls are simply demolished. But you can not do this completely, by playing with one of the design solutions. For example, the wall remains in place, but a large window is cut inside, used as decoration and a shelf. We are not talking about a more functional use of space, but it adds advantages to the space. There is an option to demolish the wall, leaving a small full-height piece (for example, 50 cm wide). Here there will be obvious zoning and more opportunities to rationally use the resulting area.
- Furniture. A very convenient way to separate zones: a light shelving unit, a narrow chest of drawers or a closet act as a kind of border. Functional and simple.
- Decor. Some decorative elements can act as delimiters: large vases, figurines, floor and wall slides with flowers. This also includes a screen and shelves built into the wall, the border of which lies where the hallway area ends and the hall begins.
Useful tips
To make your stay in the kitchen-living room as pleasant and comfortable as possible for the whole family, various household details should be thought through before the renovation work begins. It is hardly possible to foresee absolutely all situations, but some important points are quite controllable.
Noise
Due to the lack of solid partitions, it is unlikely that it will be possible to avoid double sound load. And while you can still put up with a TV or stereo system in the living room (sometimes you even like it), the meaningless hum of kitchen appliances can be tiring. To avoid this, it is advisable to buy equipment with a minimum decibel level. This is especially true for the refrigerator and hood.
Lighting
By combining the kitchen and living room, the problem with natural light is solved: even one window opening is enough, so the other can be hidden behind the kitchen unit or completely walled up.
But it is very important to provide high-quality artificial lighting. It doesn’t have to be the same - for relaxation, a ceiling-mounted chandelier and several muted sconces in a warm white spectrum are quite enough, but in the kitchen, the work surfaces of the countertops and, preferably, the shelves should be equipped with bright spot lighting
One large chandelier or several hanging lamps are usually hung above the dining area.
Smells
The aroma of food spreading during cooking is not always appropriate in the living room, which means that in an open kitchen you cannot do without a powerful hood. It is better to choose textiles, including for the recreation area, smooth synthetic ones rather than fleecy ones, so that they absorb less moisture and odors.
Room layout
In most multi-storey and private houses, the corridor is long and narrow. That is why it is difficult to make it stylish and comfortable. Often it is impossible to even place furniture in it. And if this can be done, then the same chest of drawers or ottoman simply blocks the passage.
However, according to the designers, a narrow and uncomfortable corridor, as well as a small hallway, are not a death sentence. There are many options for their design and arrangement.
Zoning a small room.
Many people decide to redevelop. Remodeling a room to your liking is quite difficult. This is a long process that requires considerable financial costs. In addition, there is noise and an abundance of construction debris. It is much better to pay attention to cosmetic zoning methods.
You can change the appearance of the hallway with the help of unusual colors, proper arrangement of furniture and lighting. You need to start work by dividing the room into several functional zones.
Unusual color design of the hallway.
