Design Basics for Small Hallways

In each house, renovation serves as an indicator of a pleasant atmosphere, personality and style. The entrance hall is the first thing the guest pays attention to when entering the apartment. Very often it is not easy for the owners to ennoble the miniature hallway. However, this is not a sentence for the interior in the apartment or in the house. Many people encounter certain problems when designing style in standard Soviet buildings. The premises of the Soviet era are famous for their small size. In such areas, one, two or three square meters I want to put a capacious closet under clothes, hang a mirror, equip shelves for shoes, hats, and also a lot of other things.

There are many ways to save space and increase its visual size.

Creating a functional and comfortable interior of a small hallway is not an easy task. However, listening to the advice of experienced designers, taking into account your own fantasies and imagination, it is possible to get a unique, comfortable result.

Work stages

The design of a small hallway must be started with a clear planning of all subsequent types of work:

1. First, let's calculate the area. There are two options: leave the area untouched or expand by borrowing space from the next room.
2. The idea, the style of decoration of the room. It is important to decide what you like - functional or interior.
3. Subsequently, the designer or foreman makes an estimate of the cost of the primary work - increasing the area (demolition of the wall), leveling the wall, installing drywall, installing electrical wiring, etc.
4. The selection and purchase of building materials should preferably be done with an average price policy. Firstly, you can choose a good quality materials at affordable prices. Secondly, save money for the further purchase of furniture and interior elements.
5. During the repair or redevelopment, it is possible to encounter some difficulties arising in old houses. Some work may entail a series of follow-up work, which can make a big impact on your family budget. In new buildings, such consequences may not be. It all depends on the layout of the room as a whole.
6. The final step is decoration. The choice of furniture, accessories for beauty and comfort.

To decorate the hallway, it is better to choose materials with a smooth surface - those that are easier to wash and clean.

Hall in Khrushchev

In each hallway, a mandatory element is a wardrobe for outerwear, shelves for shoes and hats and a mirror. In the absence of the possibility of technical expansion of space, you can resort to the advice of designers:

• The color environment. Be sure to design in light spectra, with dark accents. For example, the ceiling and walls are light, the furniture and decor are in dark colors. It is not recommended to insert a white shade. Otherwise, all the dirt and dust brought from the street will certainly be striking.
• Many light sources. In addition to the usual chandelier on the ceiling, it is imperative to add various minimalistic light sources, such as spotlights in the mezzanines or around the perimeter of the mirror. In special cases, you can place mirrors looking at each other. This will give the effect of a significant expansion of space, it will seem more spacious.
  

  To ensure that the hallway without windows does not seem gloomy, it is necessary to provide good lighting in it

• Smoothing corners. Another trick to visually increase the scope. It is necessary to smooth, round off both the corners of the walls and the corners of the furniture. Another option is to replace the door of the entrance room with an arch. This will visually connect the hallway to the room. Great for critically small sizes.
• Minimalism. We give up a huge amount of decor and other accessories. We put only the necessary furniture, accessories of small sizes. Otherwise, the excess of objects will greatly load the space.
  

  An open hanger and shelves for small items - the most necessary attributes for a hallway

• Rational use of space. It is necessary to put a corner wardrobe. Such cabinets are quite roomy. If the corridor is too small, it is worthwhile to install shelves with hooks, a ottoman-transformer for shoes, mezzanines with spotlight.

Important tip. Keep the items you carry in your closet. Do not load the place with “unbearable” clothes and shoes. Firstly, space saving. Secondly, an aesthetic look.

A wardrobe for outerwear can be installed instead of the interior wall

Long and narrow hallway

The narrow and long hallway brings a lot of difficulties. This option does not fully realize their needs for functionality. But even in such situations, designers have found a way to achieve the desired aesthetic appearance and great functionality.

Even in a small hallway there should be several functional areas

Consider some of the tricks:

• Ceilings of different levels visually divide the corridor into zones.
• Correction of shape visually changes by combining light and dark tones. Long walls form in bright colors (painting or wallpapering). The short wall or the ends are formed in dark tones. If the ceilings are of different levels, then you can raise them by sticking a wall covering with a vertical strip pattern.
• For such options, you need a sliding wardrobe. In the narrow openings, the sliding cabinet door is just what we need! A transforming ottoman for storing shoes, a mirror with a side or bottom shelf, a mezzanine with spotlight spotlights.
• It is worth noting when in a narrow room the ceiling is too high, as an option, install moldings. Mounted at a distance of 25 cm from the ceiling. In this situation, the upper part is a continuation of the ceiling. It is painted in the same shade as the ceiling (preferably white). Down from the molding to the floor, the design should be a darker shade - beige or cream. In this combination, the ceiling will visually lower, acquiring a rational shape and position.
  

  The photo shows an example of such use of moldings for decorating the ceiling in the hallway

Decoration of small hallways

Design is not recommended to highlight strongly in the setting of the general interior of a house or apartment. In the decision to replace the doors of adjacent rooms with a decorative arch, a design similar to these rooms should be performed in order to visually enlarge the hallway, making a logical continuation of these rooms, despite the fact that in different rooms an individual set of functions.

First of all, the interior of the hallway should be attractive.

In a situation where all the doors in the house lead into the hallway, it is useful to select them of the same shape and pattern, with glass elements. If the doors open inside the corridor and at the same time there is a chance that they will beat against each other, the rational solution is to install sliding compartment doors. So you can save the space for installing additional furniture and decor elements that perform certain useful functions.

Original ideas will make the interior of the hallway memorable and exclusive.

It is necessary to calculate and prepare in advance places for the electric meter, switches, sockets, intercom, etc. When decorating the interior, there are often situations when they simply forget to do it.In the future, it may happen that you have to "sculpt" them, spoiling the aesthetic appearance.

Hallway Furniture

In the long hallway, when the butt goes into the wall, you can make a mini-locker room or a pantry. It is likely that you will need to slightly move the doorways, but the room will take the form of a square, will be more active.

In a narrow entrance hall, it is necessary to maximize the use of the space near the front door

For narrow corridors, this option is suitable - furniture is placed near one large wall. Opposite it, it is recommended to hang a huge mirror that visually enlarges the space. Furniture is selected in a light shade with a shiny glossy surface. At the entrance, it is recommended to put a shoe cabinet or pouf with the appropriate departments. At the end is the main wardrobe or chest of drawers.

Mirrored cabinet door successfully replaces bulky dressing table

With a fairly shallow hallway, there is no option for placing cabinets and chests of drawers. In this version, a banal shelf for hats, with hooks for outerwear is hung. Small shelves and an ottoman transformer are installed. At the same time, the hanger is located near the front door, and then the pouf and so on. Such a sequence is aesthetically important for a particularly small hallway!

For a custom-shaped hallway, it is more advisable to order furniture according to individual sizes

White color for hallway

White color fits perfectly into the interior of small hallways, as it has the property of visually increasing the volume of premises. Gray and black accents or décor elements are recommended for a perfect complement to a bright interior. Other multi-colored inserts with grace will fit against a white background. But do not forget that such a color scheme needs constant care. After all, everyone knows that the house begins with a hallway, just like the idea of ​​the owners creating coziness.

White is ideal for small spaces, as it visually pushes walls and raises the ceiling.

A snow-white room will become a model of order and cleanliness, and dark elements will dilute the cold interior

Gray tones for the hallway

The calm and neutral gray color is suitable for the interior of a laconic design. Properly designed lighting, chrome inserts will remove unnecessary monochrome and give a more lively style. Also, the presence of gloominess will help to remove the inserts and decor elements in white.

Painting the walls in gray switches attention from the form to the content and the small room seems larger than it actually is

Bright decorative objects will remove the feeling of gloom

Beige color for the hallway

Many designers consider cream, milk-coffee and almond shades of beige to be very cost-effective and practical. Furniture and decor in beige tones harmonize perfectly with any modern or retro style. Warm, cozy, unobtrusive color will give a comfortable atmosphere and at the same time increase the space. Perfectly combined with beige tones inserts of light green, burgundy, dark brown tones.

Beige shades are loved for their practicality.

Milk and coffee tones are suitable for any style of interior.

Wallpaper selection

In this case, you should choose a wall covering, based on the size and shape of the hallway. In any individual moment, the effect is given by different options. So, for example, design for hallways of a square shape will look ridiculous in narrow and long corridors. This is an important aspect when choosing an interior.

To decorate the walls in the hallway, I often use wallpaper for painting

Recommended

• Dull, muted tones. Leadership among the color schemes for small halls have shades of beige. It can be ivory, cream, cappuccino, almonds, linen, smoky snow and so on. The choice of cold tones is another design trick to visually increase the space.
  

  You can paste one wall with beige wallpaper, and the other painted in a contrasting color.

• Promising murals. It is customary to glue this type of wallpaper on a continuous wall of a long corridor for visual expansion. Alternatively, apply this wall covering to the end of a small hallway.
  

  With the help of photowall-paper with a perspective, you can create a feeling that you can go to the garden at the end of the corridor

• Miniature drawings. For example, a floral ornament or geometry. Such visually increase the corridor. While huge and very voluminous drawings in a narrow or mini hallway crush and reduce the hallway.
  

  An example of the successful use of wallpaper with a small geometric print

• Liquid and vinyl. They have the necessary miniature pattern. The advantage of this wall covering is also that they are easy to apply and are suitable even for beginners.
  

  Vinyl wallpapers are fairly easy to clean.

Not recommend

Too bright or dark gamut of wallpaper. They will maximize the small size. At the same time, all cabinets and decor will give a cluttered effect. Also, large, pronounced patterns and ornaments are not recommended. This option creates an effect similar to that described above.

The rhythmic pattern on the wallpaper expands the narrow space

List of not recommended wall coverings:

1. Plastic panels. This coating, although it is a solution when hiding the roughness of the walls, but also greatly reduces in this case a small space after installation.
2. Imitation stone. This cover will simply turn a narrow hallway into a kind of cave passage, which will be very ugly and unconstructive.

Conclusion

If you approach the design of the small entrance hall wisely, there is enough space for storage of things in it, and the interior will delight you for many years

Any hallway is individual in its own way. And some miscalculations and shortcomings are inherent in any room. It is important to know that in any situation you can find one or another solution. Based on the experience and advice of designers, you can rationally use the available space and create a unique interior design.

Video on how to plan a small hallway

Hallway photo ideas