Today, many apartment owners do not like to make their living quarters extra cabinets for storing things. The storage room in the apartment is a unique room. Even if you have a small odnushka at your disposal, it is better not to refuse additional space. There is always a place to store an ironing board, a vacuum cleaner and other cleaning devices, as well as for winter blanks. It is convenient to store sports equipment in the pantry (skates, skis, rollers, etc.). You can place construction tools or work clothes in it.
Not every typical project provides for a utility room. Therefore, many today are interested in how to make a pantry in an apartment with their own hands. In this review, we will consider the main options for arranging the utility room.
What is a pantry?
Let's dwell on this in more detail. Architects of the past generation often provided an element such as a storage room in apartments. In Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnevka, such a thing as a closet is still found. The entrance to it was usually located in a room or hallway. Today, many apartment owners prefer to demolish partitions, combining the space of the pantry with the living area.
Today the fashion for closets is gradually returning. Even a small space, similar to a cabinet, can significantly facilitate the storage of overall objects. Having a pantry at home, maintaining order and frequency will be much easier. Lucky for those who have a design for a dressing room. However, if you do not have such a space, this is not a reason to be upset. It is quite possible to equip the pantry in the apartment yourself.
As a rule, in an apartment building for a closet, a place is allocated near the kitchen, bedroom or hallway. In a private house, allocating a place for such a room is much easier. It is convenient to use the space under the stairs to store food, household goods and other things. Here you can place many items that could not be found elsewhere.
Another purpose of the pantry is a warehouse for unnecessary things. You can hide anything in it, from winter jackets to a bicycle. Many people use this room to store canned food and other food products.
Layout
Despite the fact that the pantry in the apartment is a small room behind a closed door, do not clutter it with unnecessary items. You can save the aesthetic appearance of a room if you divide it into zones and arrange things. Do not try to fill every free corner. Try to organize the pantry space so that any thing has its place. In the pantry, as in the whole apartment, there is no place for trash and garbage. Try to get rid of unnecessary things in a timely manner. Otherwise, the mess you can not avoid. If a thing is not needed, it is better to give it away or throw it away.
In a large country house, organizing a place for a spacious pantry is much easier. The main thing - even at the construction stage to think about how the internal space will be used. In the pantry, every centimeter of the area is important.
How to store things?
To a small pantry in the apartment does not turn into a place to store trash, you must follow a number of rules.
Here are some of them:
- To keep the shoes better preserved, each pair should be stored in a separate box. You can sign them so that when changing the season you don’t see everything in a row. Ideally, print photos of shoes and stick pictures on the end of the box. Installing corner shelves will save space.
- Frequently used items should be placed on medium shelves. It can be sports bags, laundry baskets, construction tools. Special drawers for things should be placed at arm's length.
- A vacuum cleaner, suitcases and large household appliances should be placed under the shelves in the lower part of the pantry.
- If it is necessary to store non-seasonal clothes in the pantry, it will be necessary to place a bar along one of the walls. This is best done at a height of 1.7-2 meters. Provide also a separate shelf for hats.
- The upper shelves are best used for storing Christmas decorations and artificial Christmas trees.
Partitions are the most practical and rational way to organize space. The optimum depth is 40 cm. The width of the shelves may vary depending on the layout of the room. It is not necessary to use all shelves of the same size. Also consider what the load on each section will be. If you install the shelves on special rails, they can be moved, swapped, reducing and increasing the size of the sections.
Pantry Dimensions
So what do you need to know about this? What dimensions can storerooms in an apartment have? Photos of utility rooms in typical "stalinka" confirm that they can be very spacious. In addition, in these houses often found in two pantries. True, often apartment owners prefer to dismantle partitions to expand living space.
The pantry in an apartment in a panel house is usually much smaller. In standard "Khrushchev" the area of this room is only one square meter. It is usually used to store ironing boards, household appliances and cleaning products.
The dimensions of the pantry in the "Brezhnevka" can quite equip a full wardrobe in it. According to the project, such rooms are most often located next to the bedroom or in the corridor. In the latter case, you can use the space to store outerwear.
In modern multi-storey buildings, storerooms on floors are often provided. Such a separate utility room next to the apartment is very convenient. If necessary, you can bring a baby stroller or bicycle there without staining the floors of the house.
Location
Let's dwell on this in more detail. Most often in the projects of apartment buildings the pantry is located in the hallway. There are also options with pantries in the stairwell. However, if you do not have a specially designated storage area at your disposal, you can organize it yourself. For this, it will be necessary to use any free corner of the apartment.
It will be easiest to equip the pantry in the following areas:
- Dead end in the corridor: in apartments with a long entrance hall, you can cut the free space and allocate a couple of square meters for the pantry. The room can be separated using false plasterboard walls with a doorway. In this case, you can rationally use even such a small space. It will be easy for you to store household items and various accessories here.
- Part of the living room, if the area of the room allows: it can be separated using a design similar to a sliding wardrobe. The space inside can be used to store household appliances and personal items.
- A free niche in the kitchen: a great option for placing a pantry. In such a room you can store bulky kitchen appliances, rags, buckets, dishes, preservation, ironing boards and so on. For sponges and cleaning products, special door holders can be made.
- Shelves above the doorway: usually this technique is used in a panel house in the absence of free space. The doors of such a small pantry can be made of the same material as the kitchen. An additional place to store workpieces and utensils in this case will not be evident. It is not always convenient to use the space under the ceiling, but if there are no other options, then this method is quite acceptable. Even a small shelf can free the kitchen from unnecessary items.
- Balcony: if you do not plan to use the space of the loggia as a study or relaxation area, then the free space on it can be used to organize a pantry. It is enough to put a small cupboard here, or install shelves and close them with doors.
Decor
This aspect should be emphasized. How to arrange a pantry in the apartment? Here we are talking more about a functional rather than an aesthetic component. The purpose of the pantry also plays an important role. Before proceeding with the design, you must decide what you will post here. You can use the free space as a place to store household appliances, a dressing room or a small grocery warehouse. Depending on the task, it will already be possible to decide on the necessary finish.
When decorating a pantry, it is important to adhere to the principle of practicality. It is better to choose simple and durable materials, when working with which it will be easier to maintain cleanliness and order.
Consider the most popular finishes:
- Painted plaster: a simple and effective way. It will look good if the walls of the adjacent room are also covered with decorative plaster.
- Wallpaper: the easiest and most economical option. It is better to give preference to washable materials. Then in case of pollution it will be enough for you to wipe them with a damp cloth.
- Plastic panels: a practical and convenient option. Such material is easy to clean.
- Drywall: A good, but not practical option. Scuffs, chips and scratches quickly appear on the surface.
- Floor covering: usually for finishing the floor in the pantry the same type of covering is chosen as in the adjacent room. The most practical options are tile, laminate and linoleum.
Typically, the pantry in an apartment in a panel house has small dimensions, so it is better to use light shades for decoration. This will visually expand the space. If you plan to use the pantry as a laundry, it is better to choose moisture-resistant materials. The door according to the stylistic design should correspond to the entire interior of the apartment. On the inside, additional shelves and hooks can be placed on it. From the point of view of practicality, it is better to use folding or sliding structures.
Lighting
When planning a repair of a pantry in an apartment, think in advance about all the nuances associated with lighting. Then redo the lights or swap the lamps will be quite difficult. And looking for the desired item in the twilight is extremely unpleasant. If it is not possible to post to the storage room, you can use spotlights or LED strip on the batteries for lighting. And the built-in lighting on the shelves and ceiling will make the room more convenient and cozy.
Ventilation
Many people are interested in what should be a pantry in an apartment in Khrushchev so that fresh vegetables can be stored in it. Here, first of all, care should be taken about ventilation. Even if the room will only have clothes and shoes, he still needs ventilation. Properly thought out ventilation system will get rid of high humidity and unpleasant odors in the room. To prevent pests and insects from entering, the ventilation openings will need to be covered with a mosquito net.
Space saving
How to organize storage spaces correctly if you have a small pantry in your apartment? Photos of ready-made options will help you solve this problem. Tall racks can double the usable area. It is best to use inline designs. They do not take up much space and make the interior more comfortable and spacious.
How to make a pantry in the apartment with your own hands? You can install the shelves yourself, there is nothing complicated about it. To do this, you will need shelves and corners themselves. Corner and U-shaped structures will help to place several times more things. To make the pantry roomy and functional, you can try to make a system based on a rotating corner block.
Custom application
What is the pantry for the apartment for? In addition to the most common options, there are quite unusual solutions. Non-standard original ideas will help to use even such a small space as efficiently as possible.
If you work at home and you need a working corner, then you can convert the pantry for this purpose. It’s easy to place a table and chair outside the door, and comfortable shelves on the walls. On the door itself you can place several hinged structures. However, this method of arranging the pantry is suitable only for very neat people who can afford to refuse additional places to store things.
If the do-it-yourself pantry in the apartment was made not far from the bathroom, it can be used as a laundry. The main thing is to allocate here a place for a washing machine, shelves with household chemicals, a small dryer and baskets with clothes. This placement option will significantly save space in the bathroom or kitchen. To make the room more functional, a folding ironing board can be placed on the door of the pantry.
How else can a storeroom be used in an apartment? We have considered far from all the options for non-standard use of this room. In a small utility room, if you wish, you can arrange a library or a workshop. It all depends on your preference.
What can I do with my own pantry in the apartment? Photos of ready-made solutions will allow you to choose an interesting and functional option. It is only necessary to decide for what purposes you are going to use the room, and what things you will store in it. If the pantry is designed for a study or workshop, then in the far corner it will be rational to place a countertop. Small shelves and drawers can be installed on the sides of the walls. The design of the pantry in this case should coincide in style with the interior of the next room.
If you intend to use the pantry exclusively for storing food, then you will need a large number of convenient containers. It is better to give preference to transparent products. The lids should be tightly closed so that insects pests could not get to food. Ventilated drawers are best suited for storing fruits and vegetables. They prevent the accumulation of moisture, which can lead to rotting products. At the bottom of the box you can lay plywood or cardboard. It is better not to store household chemicals near food.
To organize the space of the pantry in the apartment in a panel house, you can use designs with drawers. So it will be more convenient for you to search for the right products.
You can streamline the storage system in the kitchen using special rotary structures and shelves on the doors. To store small things, you can provide drawers. It is convenient and practical. To facilitate access to the upper shelves, install a mobile ladder. With it, you can easily get any things. It is convenient to use special fastenings on a door for storage of a mop or a broom. The pantry of a semicircular shape will look unusual and spectacular.
Conclusion
In this review, we examined in detail what storage rooms in an apartment can be. Photos of ready-made solutions and recommendations on the organization of space are also available in the article. With a competent approach, you will be able to use even a very small room as efficiently as possible. Do not be afraid to experiment with the design of your apartment! Create all conditions for a comfortable stay!