A narrow entrance hall is a serious problem for most city apartments. The outdated layout in Soviet-built houses does not indulge in spaciousness, so residents need to use the maximum of their design abilities to get out of the situation. Thanks to the correct decoration, good lighting and well-chosen furniture, even a limited area can be made comfortable and beautiful.
How to design a narrow hallway interior
The entrance hall is the first thing we see when entering the apartment. The first impression of the house depends on the proper interior design, so the design of the room needs to be thought out to the smallest detail. The main disadvantages of the hallway are its small area, disproportionately elongated shape and a large number of doorways leading to other rooms. In this limited space you need to place quite a lot of furniture: a shoe rack, a hanger for outerwear, a pouf or chair, a mirror, shelves or drawers for storing small accessories and keys.
To make the space look harmonious, you need to try to make the shape of the hallway close to the square. This can be achieved through proper furniture placement. To save the already limited wall area, the mirror can be placed on one of the doors. However, this should be done carefully: you can’t just hang an ordinary mirror on the door, it should only be a one-piece construction made specially.
The minimum width of the aisle should be between 80 cm and more, otherwise it will be difficult to walk through the narrow hallway: on your way you will touch all the cabinets, chests of drawers and racks, and people with large physique will experience even greater difficulties. In a small room it is extremely difficult to find a place for a cabinet, so it is better to choose a format with sliding doors. There are few design options in this case: most sliding wardrobes are designed according to a single project and differ only in the filling and coloring of the wings.
In a narrow hallway, it is recommended to actively use optical illusions and various visual effects. For example, a large pattern on the wallpaper will make the room seem more spacious, vertical stripes will make it higher. If the room has high ceilings that create the feeling of a well, you can stick a decorative molding on the wall, stepping 30 or more cm from the ceiling. This strip should be painted in the same color as the ceiling. To make the room wider, use more shiny surfaces, such as lacquered furniture. In addition, visual effects can also be created on the floor with carpet or transverse laying of parquet boards. Rugs with wide stripes or a clear graphic ornament will decorate the decor and expand the narrow room.
The floor should be made light, and if possible, then glossy: in this case, the light will be reflected and make the hallway more spacious. Of course, caring for such a surface is a little more difficult, but the interior will look elegant and spacious.
Color spectrum
The design of the narrow hallway will benefit if you use mostly light colors in the decoration. The ideal color of the walls in this case is white and its nearest derivatives, they will help to make the space wider and more voluminous. However, this finish has its drawbacks: the white walls get dirty quickly, and if the house has children and pets, the process takes place in a matter of days. In this case, it is recommended to pay attention to more practical, but still light shades of gray, blue, powdery, light green and pale lilac. To keep your surroundings fresh, add contrasting accessories, such as black handles on furniture or a dark mirror frame.
Mirrors in the hallway
A mirror is an integral part of any hallway, and located in a strategically correct place, it add a little volume to the narrow hallway in the apartment. It is not at all necessary to hang a huge mirror from floor to ceiling, and a medium one located at chest level is enough. Hang it on a long wall, and the room will instantly become visually wider. It is not recommended to place dark cabinets or other objects opposite the mirror: the dark color reflected in the mirror surface, on the contrary, will make the corridor even narrower.
Art objects in a cramped entrance hall
Large paintings depicting perspectives are also able to visually expand a narrow hallway. Choose canvases with painted landscapes, city streets, roads, and bridges that go into the distance, sea horizons and mountain peaks. The picture can be real, hand-drawn by the artist, or simply printed on a color printer - it depends on personal preferences and income. If the picture is placed opposite the mirror, the effect of the expansion of space will intensify several times. The photo below in the narrow hallway shows how you can arrange and beat the picture.
Proper lighting
Properly selected lighting plays an important role in arranging a narrow hallway. As a rule, this room is devoid of daylight, so lighting should be used as widely as possible. Several ceiling lights located in one longitudinal line will uniformly flood soft light throughout the room, making it much more spacious. For the ceiling, you should choose small light or transparent chandeliers, so as not to take away excess space. Such a design of the fixtures will make the interior light and airy. The main light is desirable to complement the sconce. If you use paintings and mirrors in the design, the ideal order will look like this: hang a picture on the wall, put special lighting over it, and install a mirror on the opposite wall. Thus, light and perspective will be reflected and multiplied, and the narrow entrance hall will look wider.
Storage system
Hooks and hangers are a good solution for a narrow corridor, but it is far from ideal from an aesthetic point of view. This arrangement of things makes space untidy, cluttered and even more cramped than it really is. For various things, it is necessary to provide an integrated storage system: shelves for hats and other accessories, boxes for keys and various small items, a hanger for clothes, a shelf for bags, as well as a shoe rack.
For things of different purposes, compact ergonomic furniture is required, which can accommodate all the necessary items. The design of the narrow entrance hall (photo above), when a small but roomy closet equipped with open and closed shelves, drawers and an outer clothing compartment was used for the arrangement, is a vivid confirmation of this. Thanks to this storage system, all things are at hand and available at any time, and the hallway gets a neat appearance.
Shoe shelf
At first glance, it might seem that such a regiment is not needed: why take up free space when it is already extremely small. However, a compact shoe rack in a narrow hallway allows you to store shoes located in several rows, which means that there is much more space on the floor. The most suitable option in this case is a tall cabinet with doors and special shelves fixed at an angle. In this design, the shoe is only a few centimeters wide, looks stylish and even elegant.
Clothes hanger
If there is no room for a full-fledged closet, you can limit yourself to an open hanger. This design should be multifunctional: in the lower part it is necessary to provide boxes for shoes, and in the upper - shelves for hats, scarves and other similar accessories. In the middle part, hooks for outerwear should be located, and below them - smaller hooks, on which keys are usually hung. Such filling of the hanger will allow you to place almost all the things you need daily so that they are at hand and not lost. To save some more space, the hanger can be equipped directly on the wall: fix the hooks at the desired level, hang a shelf above them, and put a small shoe rack on the floor.
Wardrobe in a narrow corridor
An ideal option when in a narrow hallway you can place a wardrobe. This type of furniture allows you to freely arrange not only casual shoes and outerwear, but also a significant part of the wardrobe, spare pillows and blankets, a picnic set and other similar items that you rarely use. A narrow sliding wardrobe in a hallway up to the ceiling is usually equipped with sliding sashes that do not take up extra space when opening. The surface of the door should be designed in a minimalist style: the decor creates a sense of clutter, and simple straight lines do not allow the look to catch, so the room seems larger. When installed in a narrow hallway, the depth of the cabinet should be no more than 45-50 cm: this size will allow you to hide everything you need and leave a sufficient passage.
Proper arrangement of furniture, thoughtful decor and laconic decoration will help expand the boundaries of the hallway and make it more spacious. If it is impossible to move the walls, simple visual effects will come to the rescue: light shades, plenty of light, reflective surfaces, paintings with voluminous, perspective images. Ergonomic furniture will allow you to store things in perfect order, while occupying a minimum of space. Thanks to such design techniques, the entrance hall will become much more comfortable, neater and will acquire a stylish appearance.