The first thing we see when entering an apartment is the corridor. The interior of this small room is very important in the overall concept of home design. Most Russian apartments cannot boast of a wide, bright corridor. Usually this is a narrow small room into which almost no one penetrates. sunlight.

A well-thought-out design will expand this enclosed space and turn it into a cozy, attractive corner of the apartment.

• When decorating a narrow corridor, give preference to light shades, or even better, use pure white. This will not only increase the space, but will also make it much lighter. You can also use light green, beige, soft blue, lilac colors.
• The basic rule for the design of narrow spaces is that the ceiling, as well as the floor, should be several tones different from the walls.
• Use mirrors. One wide mirror on the wall instantly gives the feeling of a large space. You can also visually increase the area using two mirrors mounted on one wall. Opposite them, be sure to place a picture or several frames with photographs.

• Don't be afraid to use gloss. The ceiling, reflected from the light surface of the floor, is ideally suited for the purpose you are pursuing.
• Also great solution problems will serve suspended ceiling on several levels. One of them must be made square and equipped with a backlight. The light reflected from the shiny surface will give a feeling of wide space.
• Remember, a transverse pattern on the floor visually enlarges, while a longitudinal pattern, on the contrary, narrows it.
• Most best option for a cramped corridor, this is the complete absence of doors between it and the rooms it connects. In cases where you cannot do without them, use screen door options or interior curtains.

• You should take the lighting design seriously. Do not use heavy multi-arm chandeliers; they make the space narrow and heavy. Combine various types lighting fixtures. Spotlights, hidden in multi-level ceiling, will serve as an excellent addition to flat wall sconces. LED strip lighting is perfect for floors, shelves, and mirrors.
• A minimum of furniture is the key to success. Avoid bulky furnishings. A small wardrobe with mirrored doors, a narrow shoe rack or a small console, that’s all you can install in a narrow corridor.

If you are the owner of not a large, but, frankly speaking, a small hallway, this is not yet a reason for despondency. There are many ways to visually expand any room and the front room is no exception. From this article you will learn 7 techniques that are already actively used by designers from all over the world.

1. Mark the entrance to the apartment

“We marked the entrance to the apartment by simply decorating the area next to the door in white,” says designer David Kaihoi about his tiny one-room apartment in Manhattan.

2. Let the front one be multifunctional

The hallway shouldn't be a place where you just hang outerwear and leave the keys. Designer Robert Passal, for example, made a mini office out of the entrance to the apartment.

3. Make a “statement”

Bold, colorful wallpaper will make a pleasant impression on your guests and will create a boundary between the front room and the rooms without any partitions. Billy Baldwin once said that "it's worth starting with dark shades in the hallway and, moving towards the rooms, gradually brighten the apartment.” Don't get carried away, everything should be harmonious.

Follow the link to read our article on corridor design.

4. Expand the front with mirrors

The photo shows an apartment with an area of ​​110 square meters, the interior of which was designed by Philip Gorrivan. Although there is plenty of space, the apartments are a clear example how with the help of mirrors you can visually enlarge the hallway almost twice.

5. Frame the doorway

To give the entryway a distinct edge and separate it from the kitchen, Kelly Giesen framed the door along with adjacent cabinets.

6. Use the right furniture

This wooden console, coupled with the wallpaper, which from a distance resembles the color of a leopard, looks very attractive and appropriate.

7. Use bold colors

Bright and rich colors can certainly “awaken” your hallway and expand it, as they did in this Chicago apartment.

If you know other ways to visually expand the hallway, write them in the comments.

The main problem in many apartments remains narrow corridors . In today’s article, we’ll look at some tips for visually increasing the space of corridors in apartments with a variety of layouts.
Until now, the main disadvantage of old apartments (it should be clarified that in new layouts such corridors are quite rare) with narrow and long corridors is insufficient lighting, as well as dark walls that hide the space.

We offer five tips to help visually increase the space of a narrow corridor:

Tip #1. When choosing a paint color or wallpaper, you should pay attention to light shades . Ideal choice for a narrow corridor there will be a choice white for walls, it will help to visually expand the space and “brighten” it. The disadvantage of white is that it gets dirty very quickly, and if there are children or pets in the house, then such walls will not last long, so when choosing the main tone, you should pay attention to saturated colors with a high white content. Suitable options for the design of a narrow corridor there will be colors such as blue, coffee with milk, light green, pale lilac.

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Tip #2. Properly selected and designed lighting plays a big role in the interior of the corridor. Good lighting is usually universal solution for narrow dark corridors. To make a narrow corridor look more spacious, you should install several ceiling lights. These can be chandeliers, lamps, floor lamps or sconces. To achieve the desired result, one light source is usually not enough.

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Tip #3. When we're talking about about the design of any long and narrow rooms, the main rule to remember is that you should avoid longitudinal stripes , since they not only emphasize irregular shapes rooms, but also visually distort them, narrowing and stretching them even more. A narrow corridor will seem more spacious if the floor and walls are kept in light colors. Ideal option there will be a glossy floor that reflects rays of light and at the same time makes the space wider and more voluminous. Caring for a light-colored floor is, of course, much more difficult, but you will gain in volume, since a light-colored floor visually significantly increases the space. If we talk about carpets and runners, then two or three rugs with wide stripes or a clear graphic design will visually decorate and expand a narrow corridor.

Tip #4. Noticeable visual extension corridor is achieved thanks to mirrors located on the walls. A mirror is an integral part of the design of any apartment and it does not have to be huge; a small one, at eye level, will be quite enough. And a mirror becomes a real lifesaver in those parts of the apartment where you need to visually expand the space, for example in a long narrow corridor.
A variety of wall decorations in the hallway, such as photographs, paintings or posters, will also look good.

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Tip #5. Hooks and hangers great solution for placing things in the corridor. All kinds of sliding wardrobes are now at the peak of popularity, but if the corridor is very narrow, then there is simply nowhere to put such furniture, and things need to be hidden somewhere. Hooks and hangers do not take up much space, but you can still hang outerwear on them.

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Often, even in the most successful and comfortable layouts of spacious apartments and houses, small corridors or hallways are designed. This minor flaw can be easily corrected with the right decor and visually “expand” even the most narrow hallway.

When the light is on, the room is filled with the mysterious magic of warm amber lighting. The soft light flowing through the slits and , perfectly relaxes and does not strain your eyesight like a strict cold one.

Idea 2. Mirrors

Mirror - one or more reflective surfaces - capable of “revealing” almost anything small space. They will be of great help in visual magnification area of ​​a narrow corridor.

Idea 3. Paper wallpaper

Hyper-realistic wallpapers depicting a panther before a jump, the spray of Victoria Falls and meadows of blooming mountain lavender are best left for the screensaver on your laptop desktop. Indispensable for the walls of a narrow corridor, decorative contour map or an image of a flower, tree, fish on a white background.

Such paper wallpaper will add a bit of festiveness to the atmosphere. This is an excellent alternative to multiple decor, large paintings, photographs and other objects of visual art.

Idea 4. Chalk board

If you turn one of the walls in the corridor into a surface chalk board, can be given to space additional features. Instead of sticky notes posted all over the house, you can write messages to your family, recipes for interesting dishes, wishes Have a good day or friends' phone numbers right on the wall.

And this is also a real freedom for younger family members - they can happily draw on the walls without looking back.

Surprisingly, many designers don't consider narrow corridor problem. On the contrary, a narrow corridor is a bright individual feature, which, with the right approach, will make the interior of this room original, unique and creative. Let's look at a few basic techniques for designing a narrow corridor.

In order to visually expand the space of a narrow corridor, it is best to use light colors and shades - white, coffee, blue, pale green, light lilac, etc. True, such a design has one significant drawback- the walls will quickly get dirty, especially since a narrow corridor in itself implies frequent mechanical impact on the walls - with elbows, shoes, bags, etc. Therefore, when choosing finishing materials You can pay attention to more saturated colors, but with a higher white content.

However, in some cases narrow corridors accept more or less dark colors(burgundy, purple, sapphire), which especially applies to classic interiors.

If we talk about the choice of finishing materials, then for narrow corridors materials with a fairly high resistance class are suitable: wallpaper (it is better if they are washable), wall panels, decorative stone, tiles, laminate and linoleum must have appropriate indicators.

If there is a storage room in a narrow corridor, it is better to remove the door to it and give the opening some interesting shape - arched or curved. This technique will visually expand the space of a narrow corridor.

Mirrors located on the walls will help to visually expand the narrow space of the corridor. This can be either one or several mirrors. IN in this case should be adhered to next rule: large mirror surfaces are permissible only in those narrow corridors that are several meters long; in not very long narrow corridors it is better to use several not too wide mirrors, since in this case they give more effective visual illusions.

Rugs will help visually change the geometry of the space. This solution is suitable for narrow and long corridors.

Lighting plays an important role in the design of narrow corridors. As a rule, narrow corridors are quite dark, which is why it is recommended to install several lamps in them. It could be like ceiling lights, as well as all kinds of chandeliers, sconces and lighting.

As for furniture, cabinets with open shelves and racks, narrow wardrobes with translucent, mirrored or frosted doors, as well as combined cabinets that combine both of these options. As accessories for a narrow corridor, preference can be given to paintings, photographs, figurines and decorative vases, installed on high and narrow podiums or two-legged consoles.