It just so happened that the concept of beauty in relation to a small apartment is considered unacceptable by many. In this article we will try to prove to you that this opinion is erroneous. We will provide you with interesting ideas for a very small entrance hall.
Is it possible to change a small hallway?
Do not forget that the design fantasy is endless, and in combination with new finishing materials that appear on the market, it can work wonders.
What personally come up with ideas for a small hallway? It is difficult to answer this question if you have a tiny square-shaped room or a narrow corridor, like a school pencil case, where there is nowhere to put even the most necessary furniture. This is where various design secrets come to the rescue.
Difficulties in the design
Even experienced designers do not deny that the design of small rooms in an apartment is not easy. It is difficult for a layman to cope with this task, although it is possible. Design ideas for a small hallway can be very different, but the whole point is that this room has some features that make it difficult to bring many of them to life.
For example, you can’t take advantage of the advantages that other rooms provide with natural lighting, because according to the standard layout, it does not provide windows. But the main problem, which does not allow to implement many interesting ideas for a small entrance hall in the apartment, is associated with an acute shortage of usable space. And even the vertical direction is sometimes difficult to use, since there are doorways in the walls that lead to rooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen.
Any ideas will require owners to have a competent planning approach. Moreover, you need ingenuity and a complete lack of fear of the upcoming reconstruction. Only in this case, you are guaranteed success in this difficult matter.
Interior elements you can’t do without
The hallway is often called the honorary title - the face of the apartment. It is quite justified: your guests get here for the first time, and their impression of the apartment as a whole and of its owners begins to take shape from it. But do not forget that this tiny room should be as functional as possible. Here households and guests put on and take off their outer clothing, put on shoes, store many things (sometimes not the most necessary). How can all this be placed without cluttering up the space?
Any idea for a hallway (including a small corridor) should include the presence of:
- a wardrobe for seasonal clothes;
- cabinets for shoes;
- places for storing shoe and clothing care products;
- shelves for hats, gloves, scarves;
- benches or ottoman;
- mirrors.
In addition, you will definitely need a shelf for little things where you can put keys, a handbag, a notebook, etc. Many of our readers, having read this list, will think that such ideas for the interior of a small hallway also occurred to them, but how to translate them in life on an area slightly larger than a matchbox?
Designers with experience recommend paying attention to multifunctional options. But we will talk about this a little later.
Wall decoration
In the meantime, let's discuss what the walls should be in such a room. It can be visually enlarged if the walls are light. Wallpaper for a small hallway should be selected very carefully. As a rule, such rooms do not have high ceilings, so paintings with vertical stripes (preferably not bright, but made by screen printing) are most suitable. This solution will help you kill two birds with one stone: to visually expand the room and raise the ceilings.
Do not think that ideas for a small hallway are limited to traditional wallpaper. The textured stucco of natural, light, pastel colors also perfectly smiles here on the walls. Very spectacular mirror tiles on the wall, opposite the door. It fills the space with light, increases it and at the same time there is no need to hang or put a mirror.
In recent years, a combination of smooth walls with processed (decorative) stone has become popular. There are several ways to achieve a visual increase in space in this case:
- The use of multi-level lighting.
- Mirrored cabinet doors.
- Decorative columns made of stone, which will significantly increase the height of the room.
Ceiling
For small rooms, a glossy ceiling is appropriate, although many designers are sure that gloss should be expressed moderately. As a rule, this is a tensile structure (if height allows), it reflects light and makes the room more spacious.
This option can be replaced with a more economical material - plastic panels. If you do not accept gloss at all, you can refuse it, but in no case can you reject light colors, warm colors.
Floor
It should be noted that when designing small hallways, the floor is extremely rarely made in dark colors. If this happens, then in this case everything else - ceilings, walls, furniture - must certainly be very bright, with small bright impregnations, accents.
Now, regarding the floor material used. We must not forget that the entrance hall is the most visited and actively operated room in the house. The floor has a special load, so the material for its manufacture must be high-quality and durable. It can be especially strong linoleum or porcelain tile. In this case, the choice depends solely on your financial capabilities.
Furniture selection
So, we continue to consider interesting ideas for the hallway. Design in a small apartment needs special furniture. The ideal option is kits made to order according to the size of your premises. Narrow furniture with a glossy surface should be preferred.
As a rule, small hallways are a narrow and elongated rectangle. Designers recommend using this difference when creating an interior. Furniture must be arranged so that the room is as close as possible to the square.
It is convenient to store outerwear, shoes, hats and gloves in a small closet — a compartment. Well, if he will have a mirrored door. Often the room is so small that there can be no talk of installing a cabinet. In this case, it can be replaced by a dresser with a shelf for shoes with hinged doors and drawers for the necessary little things and accessories.
A more affordable option is modular furniture. Such furniture sets are now very popular. The entrance hall, composed of several lockers, looks very stylish and modern. It is advantageous to make such furniture to order, then the problem with the selection of modules will disappear by itself.
Today, factories are developing different collections of cabinets and shelves, hanging cabinets and pencil cases, cabinets and hangers, benches and chests of drawers. All of them are made in the same style, but differ in size. From such a “constructor”, you can easily assemble what is most suitable for your specific case.
Whatever the design ideas for the small hallway (we posted some photos of this article in this article), you can’t do without a mirror. Therefore, if you put a chest of drawers in the hallway, be sure to hang a mirror over it.
If there is absolutely no way to install a cabinet or even a chest of drawers, a hanger on the wall will suit you. On it you can store the outer clothing that you use daily, hats, as well as umbrellas and bags.
Furniture arrangement
To pick up the necessary pieces of furniture is only half the story. The main thing is to arrange it correctly. It is more advisable to install a small bench or ottoman near the door, here they also usually put a chest of drawers. What if the small hallway is very elongated?
In this case, the furniture should be placed against one wall, leaving a passage with a width of at least eighty centimeters. A hanger for outerwear is installed at the front door, a shoe rack can be placed under it. It can also be used as a seat for changing shoes. Next, you can put a cabinet, and behind it - a chest of drawers, of course, if there is still room for it.
Lighting
Today, designers offer various ideas for a small hallway. Each of them focuses on lighting. Properly selected and placed fixtures can visually enlarge even a very small room. Experts strongly recommend that you do not save on light sources, since the entrance hall, devoid of natural light, will be too gloomy. We are talking not only about the decorative characteristics of the room, but about the elementary inconveniences associated with the fact that it is difficult to find the necessary thing in a dark room.
When exploring ideas for a small hallway, we recommend that you pay attention to options involving at least two light sources. The main one is a chandelier common to the whole room. It should be noted that in rooms with low ceilings, you should not install a traditional chandelier on a long cord. For such rooms, it is recommended to install lamps that are mounted directly to the ceiling.
Additional lighting is a wall lamp above a mirror or sconce. It is better to choose a lamp with an adjustable direction of light. This will highlight the necessary area in a small entrance hall, and the apartment owner will not need to install several lamps to illuminate the entire room well.
Now about the light itself. Given the specifics of this small room, yellow or bright white light is most suitable. Blue and green shades will be insufficient even for such a small area.
Small corner entryway
I would like to dwell on one of the most complex hallway options. In this section, we will talk about corner corridors, the design of which for many owners seems completely hopeless. Many believe that nothing interesting, and even more original, cannot be created here. We will try to dissuade everyone who believes the same.
To begin with, give up the idea that the existing ledge or corner is a minus of this room. Treat it as an original feature. In such a hallway, for example, there is no need to measure the depth of the cabinet - its angle has already prompted you. In addition, in the niche formed by the corner, you can put a chest of drawers and an ottoman for shoes.
To summarize
I would not want to repeat the banal phrase that there are no hopeless situations in life, but the topic of our today's article obliges us to do this. We appeal to all owners of tiny and not yet comfortable hallways - do not be afraid to experiment and introduce your own original ideas into the design of your home. The whole apartment will benefit from such experiments, and in addition to a comfortable room you will receive an incomparable sense of moral satisfaction from the work done.