Entrance hall in Khrushchev: design tips and 6 real examples

A striking feature of the apartments of the 50-70s is tiny non-residential premises. Spectacular design techniques from photos from the Internet are not suitable for them, the main task is to place at least something on 2-3 square meters. But this does not mean that beauty should be forgotten. In this article, we tell you how to create a stylish and functional hallway design in Khrushchev, and get inspired by real photos of apartments.

Design Ideas

Peculiarities
Design Tips
— Colors
– Finishing
— Furniture
Real interiors
— In bright colors
— Cozy minimalism
— Storage room instead of a corridor
— Scandi
– Black and white interior
— Designer’s project

Design features of the corridor in Khrushchev

Since we are talking about typical development, all Khrushchev apartments have a similar layout, and their owners face the same problems:

• Narrow corridor — the design of the hallway in Khrushchev should be planned taking into account this feature. After all, the task is complicated by the fact that you will have to work not only with a limited area, but also with a very small width of the room.

• Inconvenient shape — in most typical layouts there is no hallway as such. Instead, there is a long corridor, which is often also bent at an angle.
• There is little space — the entrance area in such apartments, as a rule, occupies about 2.5-3 square meters. m, which greatly limits the choice of furniture. We have to look for non-standard solutions.
• There is no natural light — this is typical of almost all hallways in city apartments. So that an elongated cramped room does not seem dark and gloomy, you need to correctly plan the lighting.

Consider all these features when decorating a narrow hallway in Khrushchev. Properly selected colors and finishes, compact furniture, and in some cases redevelopment with a slight expansion of the area will help to make the space functional and comfortable.

Design Tips

Let us analyze in more detail how to design the corridor in Khrushchev, with photos of illustrative examples.

Palette

For small spaces, neutral light colors are optimal. The smaller the room, the simpler the palette should be. If you’re renovating without a designer, choose versatile base colors that go well together: white, grey, black (for accents), beige and brown.

You can also use dark colors, but do it wisely. For example, visually change the proportions of an elongated room using the palette. To do this, take a darker shade for long walls, a lighter one for short ones. This visually balances them.

Finishing

The main requirement for finishing the entrance area is practicality.

All street dirt and slush accumulate here, sand, earth and dust from shoes collect on the floor, puddles flow in winter and autumn. It makes no sense to decorate the walls with expensive textile wallpaper or lay parquet made of precious wood on the floor — such beautiful, but fragile finishing materials will quickly lose their presentation from frequent cleaning.

Which finish will suit:

• Floor. The main criteria — the material is wear-resistant, easy to clean, not afraid of aggressive household chemicals. Based on this, porcelain stoneware and ceramic tiles are best suited. Also good options are durable quartz vinyl and high-quality moisture-resistant laminate. Of the budget coatings, linoleum is suitable. If you got an apartment with a wooden floor in good condition, cover it with a protective moisture-resistant varnish.
• Ceiling. In a small room, give up complex multi-level structures and decorative elements. It is better to arrange a simple stretch ceiling in white or light gray or paint the slab. It should be 2-3 tones lighter than the walls or completely match them in color — this technique erases the boundaries and visually raises the ceiling.
• Walls. For finishing, choose plain paint or plaster or wallpaper with a small, non-contrasting pattern. To adjust the proportions, stripes or a simple geometric pattern will do. If you are painting or plastering the surface, use moisture-resistant coatings that are easy to clean. Wallpaper must be washable. Suitable non-woven, vinyl, fiberglass.

The finish does not have to be the same. To make the interior look more interesting, combine several materials. For example, part of the floor — at the entrance — can be laid out with porcelain stoneware, and then a laminate can be laid down the corridor. On the walls — combine wallpaper and washable paint or decorative plaster.

Furniture

Since the footage is limited, it will not work to fit all things in a tiny hallway — something will have to be stored in other rooms.

There are two main scenarios:

• Take out the closet to the bedroom or living room, and place a minimum of furniture at the entrance. For example, a shoe rack or a bench, a mirror, a pouffe.
• Put a single storage system for everything at once: clothes, shoes, household items.

The main problem of Soviet corridors is their complex shape and inconvenient dimensions. It is not always possible to buy a ready-made closet in the hallway in Khrushchev — standard dimensions are not suitable for these small rooms. Therefore, most often storage systems are made to order, according to the size of the room. Also pay attention to compact models — more and more collections for small spaces appear in furniture stores. Don’t forget to use the vertical space — hang shelves, hooks, baskets and organizers for small items.

Real interiors

And finally, let’s look at real photos of hallways in Khrushchev, as well as one bright design project that destroys all stereotypes.

Modern bright interior

Let’s start with an example of a simple and budgetary repair of a corridor in Khrushchev — the furniture cost the owners only 5,000 rubles. For the entrance area, a ready-made compact hanger with a storage system was purchased, a large closet is located in the living room. There is also a refrigerator here — it had to be taken out into the corridor from a small five-meter kitchen.

They chose a simple finish: high-quality linoleum on the floor (the owners plan to tile the area at the entrance), gray-beige wallpaper with a discreet pattern, the ceiling is a single-level stretch fabric with built-in lights.

In addition to the front door, they also installed an interior door — a mini vestibule was formed between them, which creates an air cushion. As the owner of the apartment writes in her blog, the decision is controversial: on the one hand, it turned out to be excellent sound insulation, on the other hand, this construction took as much as 80 cm, which are very important for a small room.

Cozy minimalism

The design of this narrow corridor in Khrushchev also did not require complex work and high costs. All furniture from IKEA, except for the shelves — they were bought on the classifieds site. The entrance area turned out to be very neat and minimalistic.

Near the entrance there is a compact shoe rack and a place for a children’s bicycle. A little further — a hanging console in the color of the walls. It is shallow and almost imperceptible, which does not create a feeling of tightness. The wardrobe is behind the door on the right, where there used to be a pantry. All other storage is open, on shelves with hangers.

The decoration was made as simple as possible: plain white walls and the same ceiling, wooden floor in warm brown. Open openings lead to the rooms without door panels, so a lot of natural light from the windows gets into the entrance area — so it looks spacious and cozy.

Storage room instead of corridor

The owners of this apartment made an interesting redevelopment: the passage to the kitchen was turned into a small pantry. A washing machine was placed in it and a utility closet was organized for convenient storage of all household items and a vacuum cleaner. The pantry is behind a mirrored door.

Thanks to this, the entrance area was designed minimalistically — there is very little space, and every extra piece of furniture leads to clutter. As a result, a small shelving and a high chair were placed to the right of the entrance for her daughter, so that it would be convenient for her to change clothes on her own.

The walls and ceiling were made in light gray to match. White doors and plinth emphasize the finish, and the black canvas of the front door contrasts with them. The floor is porcelain tile. A bright accent element is a mirror panel on the wall leading into the living room. There are no partitions between the entrance area and the living room — so the space seems brighter and larger.

Scandinavian style

A girl who designed the interior for herself lives in this two-room apartment. After the repair, the entrance hall in Khrushchev turned from a gloomy cramped nook into a bright Scandi space. The walls are painted in a cold light shade, which was achieved by mixing the standard gray with white in equal proportions. An additional effect is created by bright interior doors with glass inserts — during the day, sunlight passes through them and beautifully illuminates a narrow corridor.

All furniture, except for the chest of drawers, is from IKEA. To the left of the entrance is a two-tier storage system with a hanger, a little further to the right is a full-length mirror and a compact chest of drawers for storing small items. On it, the hostess of the apartment organized a decorative composition with a small mirror.

Bright black and white space

The owner of this apartment designed a bright hall with elements of Scandinavian style. The interior turned out to be bright and fresh, despite the fact that it is completely made in achromatic colors: black and white. Wallpaper with a small contrasting pattern, dark details and a door leaf painted with slate paint make the space dynamic and interesting.

Despite the small footage, there are enough different storage systems:

• Shelves and hooks.
• Open hanger.
• Compact shoe.
• Bench with a house for cats.

At the entrance there is a small stool to make it more convenient to change clothes, there is also a mini bag hanger, a hook for keys and organizers for small items.

designer project

And here is how a professional designer designed a small space. First of all, thanks to the location of the apartment on the first floor, it was possible to make redevelopment. The wet zone was moved to the left (you can change its location if there are no living rooms below) and got a direct passage to the kitchen.

An abundance of colors and textures immediately catches the eye: dark red, green and deep blue; carpet of tiles and several different wooden surfaces. It may seem that such a colorful design will tire, but the author of the project used an interesting technique. A bright kitchen with a window is visible from the corridor. The wall at the entrance was painted in a cream shade, the canvas itself was made white. As a result, if you look at the entrance area from the kitchen, it also seems light and light.

For zoning, not only colors were used, but also different levels of the floor. The space at the entrance is a little lower, visually it is highlighted by bright patterned tiles. To the left of the door is a neat wardrobe built into a niche and an accent pouffe. To the right is a shallow console and a large mirror. Further in the aisle, hidden storage systems were also installed to match the finish, and the door to the bathroom was also disguised. It turned out very textured, bold and unusual.