The entrance hall is an important area of any apartment. Here people change clothes when they leave the house and return. Therefore, the space should be arranged as convenient as possible for users. If the corridor is narrow, the task is complicated, because it is quite difficult to place all the necessary furniture in a limited area. We will figure out how to properly furnish such a hallway, making it beautiful and functional.
Features
It is not easy to arrange a very narrow corridor. We have to choose small-sized furniture so that there is enough space for free movement.
In addition to compactness, mini-designs must meet a number of requirements, including practicality, attractiveness and ease of use.
However, if you listen to the advice of specialists, you can not only successfully equip the hall, but also visually expand it.
- Give preference to laconic design without an abundance of catchy decor and prominent details.
- Choosing a closet, cabinet or chest of drawers, pay attention to the depth of the product. It should be small. When choosing designs with open shelves, consider their width.
- Whenever possible, use the height of the room effectively. Items that you rarely use can be cleaned in the mezzanine.
- Remember that swing doors require free space to open them. The best option in this case is a coupe model with a sliding mechanism.
- Do not miss the chance to visually increase the space with optical effects. (light colors, glossy or mirror surfaces).
- Think about the purpose of each element of the environment in advance. Ideally, there should be all the basic elements (shoe compartments, clothes hangers, shelves for hats, a place for sitting).
It is worth mentioning the need for good lighting in a small hallway. If it is dark in the corridor, even the most fashionable and high-quality headset will look plain and bulky.
It is also worth paying attention to the correspondence of furniture design to the style of the interior of your home.
Kinds
Depending on the design features, there are several varieties of furniture for the hallway.
Closed
If the owners prefer to hide wardrobe items and other things, they install a wardrobe in the hallway. Inside the structure there are various compartments for clothes, shoes and accessories. Manufacturers also offer concise modular sets of closed blocks in the style of minimalism. Often they are hung on the wall, due to which they seem even more compact and light.
Open
Option opposite to the first: a set consisting of open upper and lower shelves, as well as hooks for outerwear.
Combined
This is the most popular type of hallway, which is a wall with closed and open elements. Variations of such furniture are huge. For example, it could be a closet combined with a chest of drawers, drawers, a seat, and a panel with hooks. Or it can be a compact design, including a shelf, a hanger and a closed cabinet for shoes.
2 types of furniture sets are also distinguished, depending on their location.
- Angular. This option is not always obtained in a narrow space. However, if the layout allows, and the length of the corridor is small, the angular design may be a good choice. For example, it can be a small cabinet combined with a panel for outerwear and a mezzanine.
- Linear. Such furniture is located on one line. If the corridor is long, it will be possible to place all the necessary blocks at one wall. Closer to the front door you can place open hangers and a soft cabinet. Further there will be racks, a chest of drawers or a system of sliding wardrobes.
Equipment
When choosing furniture for the hallway, it is important to decide in advance which elements you need. To do this, consider the main options in more detail.
Cupboard
As already mentioned, the best solution in such a situation would be to buy a model with sliding doors. An even more rational choice would be the built-in hallway.
Due to the lack of a back, and sometimes side walls, the interior space of the furniture increases. Of course, you can’t move such a cabinet, but when you buy, you can save on material.
The internal content of the cabinet can be any. With a small size, it would be wise to consider modern mobile systems consisting of traveling rods, metal baskets and other compact elements.
Open hanger
If the room is too narrow, the cabinet cannot be installed even with the smallest possible depth. In this case you can purchase a design with a wall panel on which there are hooks. Often the panel is combined with a pedestal. Another option is a floor metal hanger. Despite the fact that the clothes are in full view in such cases, such constructions have a plus - being outdoors, things are aired.
Shoe compartments
Shoe racks are open and closed. The most convenient options are those that combine a place to store shoes and a soft seat located on the upper surface. Such an element can replace a bench or pouf. A seat is an extremely important part of the hallway, because such a piece of furniture allows you to comfortably put on and take off your shoes.
Storage systems for small items
It can be a high shelf, chest of drawers or a structure with a mirror and drawers below. In such pieces of furniture you can store bags, umbrellas, accessories, hats, as well as any other small things.
Mirror
This element in the corridor is a must. Before leaving the house, everyone can examine themselves, adjust their headgear, evaluate how the selected clothing looks in general.
If a wardrobe is chosen as the subject of the hallway, an ideal option would be to place a mirror directly on its door.
If there is no cabinet, you can hang this element on the wall or choose a kit for the hallway with a mirror built into the panel.
Materials
Most often, furniture for the hallway is made of Particleboard and MDF. The materials are similar to each other, but the second is a bit more expensive and better. In the production of the first option, substances harmful to humans are used. Although it is officially believed that the fumes from such furniture do not significantly harm the health of residents at home, still most consumers try to purchase products from MDF.
Such furniture is more durable. In addition, aesthetic indicators are higher.
Thanks to modern decorative coatings it becomes possible not only to imitate natural wood, but also to recreate the texture of the stone, giving the products an iridescent gloss or metallic sheen. This allows you to choose a furniture set that fits perfectly into the existing interior.
Color schemes
As already mentioned, light colors for narrow spaces are the most successful. White furniture is a great option. It looks good on any background and has a unique optical effect. White as if fills space with air and light.
No matter how big the headset may be, in this design it will seem light and compact.
White can be combined with any tones, achieving the desired result. White and gray combinations look perfect. The expressions of the white hallway can add bright touches. If this color seems too cold to you, combine it with beige and brown shades. Such an entrance will seem spacious, bright and comfortable.
The beige color is suitable for those who consider white furniture impractical. A neutral pastel tone creates an atmosphere of home warmth. Such furniture, unlike the first option, is not striking, but as if dissolved in space. The best companions for beige are caramel, coffee, chocolate shades. Often, two colors are combined in one product.
Completely brown furniture is a risky choice. In a narrow space, it can seem massive and gloomy. However, if the headset is small, and the room is decorated in bright colors, this option is also acceptable.
Black furniture for narrow corridors is rarely taken. In extreme cases, it can be a mirrored wardrobe in a black frame, a graceful console, open hangers on a small panel. In this case it is important to pay special attention to high-quality lighting in every corner of the room. It is also advisable to make the walls white or milky. So you get a spectacular contrast and you can avoid the feeling of crowding.
Bright hallway headsets are not too popular. Of course, yellow, turquoise, blue, pink and other rich tones cheer up. However, in a confined space, a riot of colors can produce the opposite effect. To avoid this, it is better to include rich colors in the interior of the hallway dosed. For example, it can be a yellow niche in a snow-white wall or red stripes that frame a cabinet of a milky hue.
In an extreme case, you can take colored furniture of a muted, not flashy color (light peach, pale mint, etc.).
Of course, wall and floor decoration in any of the above options should be made in neutral colors.
Style solutions
Furniture design is selected depending on the interior style of the apartment. If you are a supporter of minimalism, the snow-white modular design consisting of opaque or glossy blocks will become an ideal option in your case. For hooks in such models, chromed metal is used. The design is as concise as possible, no decor. Many options are not placed on the floor, but are mounted on the wall, which makes the atmosphere elegant and airy.
You can purchase a combined version (for example, white-beige, white-gray or white-brown). Contrasts and vivid details are acceptable. Built-in backlight is appropriate.
A mirror on a wall may not have a frame at all. A closet will fit well in such a hallway. Doors can be laminated, made of frosted glass or mirrored.
If you prefer a classic or a neoclassical trend, choose a milk or beige set with a wood look. Bright colors are not allowed here. Gamma should be calm and noble. Combinations with brown are possible. For the decoration of panels and seats, genuine or artificial leather can be used. As a decor, carving is often used.
Accessories must have a vintage shape. Metal imitates bronze.
If you adhere to a strict reading of the classics, a wardrobe will be inappropriate. Doors should be oar, because the whole situation should recreate the atmosphere of past years. If you like neoclassic more, the number of design options increases.
You can decorate the mirrored design of the coupe with gilding, elegant patterns, or you can restrict yourself to an open headset with a soft leather seat and a large wall mirror in a twisted metal frame. Also in this case, the possibilities of color design are expanded. You can combine the white color of the furniture with a pale purple, light yellow or muted mint tone.
Provence is another beautiful vintage style. White, beige or light gray furniture with a painted wood texture are preferred here. There is no gilding and exquisite decor, as in the classics. The design is as simple as possible, sometimes the technique of artificial aging of surfaces is used. The padded seat is made of foam upholstered in fabric (often floral or striped).
It’s impossible to enter a sliding wardrobe harmoniously into Provence. Only models with swing doors are allowed. Therefore, often the owners of the house are limited to a chest of drawers, an open hanger and a cabinet for shoes. By the way, some choose wrought metal sets for the entrance hall in the style of the French village.
Such models are also good, although their advantages are more aesthetics. The functionality of such furniture is usually low.
Modern is a cross between minimalism and classic. There are no strict rules. The headset may have an original shape and color. Often, customers choose models that combine beige and chocolate shades. A good solution would be to combine an open design with a sliding wardrobe (if the corridor area allows).
The cabinet can be decorated with photo printing or sandblasting, but you should not be diligent with the decor. Remember that in a narrow space, an abundance of even beautiful details can create a sense of chaos.
Dimensions
The task of choosing furniture for a narrow hallway is often complicated by the small footage of the room. In this case, there are restrictions not only on the length of the headset, but also on its width. The maximum depth of chests of drawers and cabinets in this case is 50 cm. The same applies to the width of the open shelves.
If the corridor is quite tiny, it is better to find an even more compact design. It is good that modern manufacturers take into account the features of small-sized apartments and produce modules in sizes of 35, 30, 28 and even 25 cm. These are wall panels with shelves, drawers and a built-in seat, as well as minimalist blocks mounted on the wall.
If you can’t find a suitable option among the finished products, you can order a headset on an individual project. This solution is very convenient, because you can not only get furniture that fits perfectly into your hallway in size, but also choose the material, color, design, and equipment.
Of course, there is a minus. The price in this case will be higher than what you would pay for a similar finished model in the store.
Where to place?
It is not enough to pick up the necessary elements of the hallway. It is important to place them correctly in the room so that it is most convenient to use. At the front door it is advisable to put a soft bench or pouf. This will allow you to take off your shoes immediately at the entrance to the room, without spreading dirt along the corridor. You can also put heavy bags in the seat when returning from the store.
An open coat hanger should also be located close to the entrance so that outer clothing can be quickly removed and hung. The mirror should not be far removed from the door, because it performs not only an aesthetic, but also a practical function. Although if space is limited, this element can be located in any free space.
Other elements (chest of drawers, console table, wardrobe, bookcase, etc.) can be placed after the items listed above. If in your hallway there is only a closet in which all the clothes are hidden, of course, it should be placed next to the door. In this case, it is important to think through the internal content in advance.
The bar for coats, jackets and fur coats should be the first from the entrance.
Selection tips
When choosing furniture, several points should be considered.
- Design. Think about what type of headset you would like to see in your hallway. It can be a laconic strict model or an unusual design option. In any case, the furniture must match the style chosen for the design of the room. It is advisable to purchase all the elements in a single set. Then they will make up the perfect composition. If you buy items separately, carefully select them, taking into account the design, color, appearance of accessories. All elements must be combined with each other.
- Color. As already mentioned, it is better to give preference to light colors. When choosing between white and beige, you should consider which colors are closer to you (cold or warm). You can also take into account the situation of other premises of the apartment.
- The size. Estimate how much space for furniture you have. Consider that there should be enough space for free movement.
- Destination. Decide which items you need more than others. Add the rest of the items in decreasing order of importance. If there is very little space, try to choose multifunctional modules.
Interesting examples
An elegant set in neoclassical style includes an open coat rack, soft top shoe rack, mezzanines and a narrow console table. Opposite the hooks is a mirror in a beautiful decorative frame. Mirrored wardrobe visually expands the space.
The white and beige gamma of the interior, ideal for narrow rooms, also helps in this.
A combination of beige and brown is also a good option. The main thing is that light tone prevail, as in this example. The corridor is decorated in a minimalist style. All things are hidden from prying eyes in the wardrobe. The door provides a comfortable place to sit.
A strict industrial style is emphasized by graphic black and white murals and a mirror of an unusual shape. Wooden furniture for shoes, combined with a wall panel on which the hooks are located, was chosen as furniture.
A black cabinet is an unexpected addition to light colors. However, this makes the atmosphere original. Blackness is repeated in the design of ceiling spots, the decoration of the front door and mirror. Therefore, the composition looks harmonious and complete.
White gloss is liked by many fans of modern interiors. The whiteness is in perfect harmony with the shade of the walls and leather upholstery “coffee with milk”. Successful bright touches are paintings and decorative pillows.
Beautiful two-tone narrow hallway set includes a compact hanger, a chest of drawers, a curbstone, a mirror and a pencil case. Chromed metal, glass and gloss make the kit even more sophisticated. At the same time, the design is quite concise, which allows you to fit furniture into almost any modern interior.
See how to plan a narrow corridor correctly.