Make narrow hallways look big

Adding mirrors and good lighting will make a narrow hallway look bigger than it actually is. Shutter photo

What you need to know:

  • For some people, a narrow hallway feels claustrophobic, and boring. But there are different ways you can make that narrow hallway look bigger and beautiful.
  • Work with windows.While there is no guarantee that this idea will work for all corridors, you can add windows where possible.

Having a narrow corridor is very challenging. Among the many thoughts that may go through a homeowner’s mind is how they will work with a small pace. It even gets worse if it is dark. However, this space of the house is very critical in enhancing your house aesthetically and function wise.
Ivan Kato, head of research and development with Tesifa Construction Company says: “If you are chanced to think about this before construction; at the design stage, then the basic principal in making your corridor look large is in having a low level ceiling over a narrow space.”
However, if it’s an already existing space, he and Adrian Nangosha of MacFaj Concepts share some design hacks on how to easily and economically make those narrow corridors look not only bigger but also appealing:

Lighting
It is a very central item in interior decor and is even more vital when your house has got narrow corridors. The general design rule is that the more the light, the bigger the space looks. The ideal lighting type however, is track lighting because you can custom-target it to illuminate the dark and deep corners of your corridor.
While this works well for the night, it will not offer the same effect in the day where natural light is used. So for the day, it will work best if the door that opens into the courtyard would be made wider, preferably, wall to wall to give a feeling of continuity of the living space flowing in to the courtyard and vice versa.

Pair with light colours
These are great as they allow for the reflection of all the light from them. With this, they lend to a narrow corridor the feeling of being bright and open. The most commonly used colour is white. Nonetheless, white is not all there is to your choice, venture into other light colours such as cream.

Mirrors
These have a reflective capacity and with that, they work beautifully to make a narrow corridor look bigger.
Take an example of some pharmacies where glass is used in their shelves and that makes the shelves look deeper than they really are.
You could place a large mirror at the end of a corridor to make it appear deeper or place it at the centre of the corridor to widen your sight lines.

Cubicles (cubbies)
For a house with a narrow entryway yet there is need for more space for shoes, adding wooden cubbies along the wall would be ideal. Just make sure that its width is narrow while the height is broad in order to achieve the illusion of lots of space. These cubbies will also avail you with extra storage space.

Art pieces
While these may seem tricky, you can nail the aspect by going for those with continuous features. These could include pieces having a road, an ocean as they lend the aspect of continuity to a narrow corridor.

A runner
These can also lend continuity to a narrow corridor but one has got to be specific about the colours.
A runner with light and bright colours running from the start of the corridor to the end is your friend here.
It suffices to say, avoid those whose colours run from wall to
wall.

Windows
Work with windows.While there is no guarantee that this idea will work for all corridors, you can add windows where possible.
These help in opening up the space and making that tight-spaced corridor look not only bigger but also brighter.