10 Clever Corridors That Do Double Duty
Don't waste the vertical space of a good wall, or the roominess of a wide hall – make your corridors multi-purpose
Susan Redman
27 November 2016
Houzz Australia Editorial Staff; writer, author, dreamer.
Hallway monitors and passageway pedestrians would no doubt enjoy their walks down the corridors and thoroughfares of the domestic kind if there was a little more movement and colour adorning the walls. Here are 10 nifty ideas that add extra functionality to hallways and corridors, some of which will hopefully surprise and inspire you.
1. Home office
Are you in need of a place to work at home, but don’t have an extra room in which to set up? Measure the width of a corridor or hallway and see if it can do double duty as a home office. Simply ask a carpenter to slot in a narrow work desk along the length of one wall, and turn that extra space into a mini-study. You could even make it a family affair with an adult-height desktop up one end, and a bench at which tiny tots and can stand and play at a lower height on the other end.
Squeeze in a home office anywhere
Are you in need of a place to work at home, but don’t have an extra room in which to set up? Measure the width of a corridor or hallway and see if it can do double duty as a home office. Simply ask a carpenter to slot in a narrow work desk along the length of one wall, and turn that extra space into a mini-study. You could even make it a family affair with an adult-height desktop up one end, and a bench at which tiny tots and can stand and play at a lower height on the other end.
Squeeze in a home office anywhere
2. Quiet zone
When planning a new build, consider maximising the space in hallways that connect living areas by working a built-in narrow settee to one side of the hall and recessed shelving to sit opposite it. The benefit of this clever design is that it creates a semi-private place in which to read or snooze, and one that is tucked away from noisier, open-plan areas.
When planning a new build, consider maximising the space in hallways that connect living areas by working a built-in narrow settee to one side of the hall and recessed shelving to sit opposite it. The benefit of this clever design is that it creates a semi-private place in which to read or snooze, and one that is tucked away from noisier, open-plan areas.
3. Discotheque
It must be impossible for the homeowner of this sleek apartment in London to walk down the hall without breaking out a dance move. To create the dramatic effect, he had an LED light installation integrated into wall panels that line the hall. Behind the panels is much-needed storage, concealing a boiler and various electrical appliances.
More clever lighting ideas
It must be impossible for the homeowner of this sleek apartment in London to walk down the hall without breaking out a dance move. To create the dramatic effect, he had an LED light installation integrated into wall panels that line the hall. Behind the panels is much-needed storage, concealing a boiler and various electrical appliances.
More clever lighting ideas
4. Art gallery
Are you an art collector running out of walls on which to hang your pictures? Use the vertical wall space plentiful in long corridors to hang smaller artworks, which don’t require the space that larger paintings do for you to stand back and view them. A narrow corridor hung with a gallery of mini-artworks will also inject colour and graphic decor elements into an all-white home, while creating a special zone that shows off your artistic or pop culture interests.
Are you an art collector running out of walls on which to hang your pictures? Use the vertical wall space plentiful in long corridors to hang smaller artworks, which don’t require the space that larger paintings do for you to stand back and view them. A narrow corridor hung with a gallery of mini-artworks will also inject colour and graphic decor elements into an all-white home, while creating a special zone that shows off your artistic or pop culture interests.
5. Hammock hangout
If you work from home and find yourself nodding off when there’s still a mountain of work to finish, don’t climb the stairs to bed – you may never come back down! Instead, string up a hammock to create a quick nap nook in a spacious hall. It will offer you the chance to snatch some shuteye to help refresh tired minds and put you in fine form, ready to tackle the rest of your workload.
If you work from home and find yourself nodding off when there’s still a mountain of work to finish, don’t climb the stairs to bed – you may never come back down! Instead, string up a hammock to create a quick nap nook in a spacious hall. It will offer you the chance to snatch some shuteye to help refresh tired minds and put you in fine form, ready to tackle the rest of your workload.
6. Creative kids’ space
Make a hallway leading to children’s rooms work double-duty by turning it into a creative zone. By painting the cupboard doors in this hallway with chalkboard paint, little ones are encouraged to sit in comfort on a hall runner carpet and draw pictures to their hearts’ content, without messing up their bedrooms. As there is no furniture in a hall to move or negotiate around, vacuuming or mopping up any chalk dust after play can be a fairly quick affair.
Make a hallway leading to children’s rooms work double-duty by turning it into a creative zone. By painting the cupboard doors in this hallway with chalkboard paint, little ones are encouraged to sit in comfort on a hall runner carpet and draw pictures to their hearts’ content, without messing up their bedrooms. As there is no furniture in a hall to move or negotiate around, vacuuming or mopping up any chalk dust after play can be a fairly quick affair.
7. Back-up bookcase
In the house plans of any new build, check out the hallways for their multi-purposing potential. Recessed shelving could become a feature of a generously wide hall, which you could use as either a back-up bookcase or a place to safely display treasures and trinkets.
Browse more spaces for books
In the house plans of any new build, check out the hallways for their multi-purposing potential. Recessed shelving could become a feature of a generously wide hall, which you could use as either a back-up bookcase or a place to safely display treasures and trinkets.
Browse more spaces for books
8. Music studio
Fill your home with music by squeezing a piano, organ or other musical instrument into a wide hall or alcove. Just add a comfortable seat for an accomplished player or committed beginner to take up residence and you may soon be hearing sweet sounds floating down the hallways of your home.
Fill your home with music by squeezing a piano, organ or other musical instrument into a wide hall or alcove. Just add a comfortable seat for an accomplished player or committed beginner to take up residence and you may soon be hearing sweet sounds floating down the hallways of your home.
9. Plein-air passageway
Maximise the green space in a small home by building a corridor that connects the main living areas on the outside of the house. Running the length of the building pictured here is a open-air and decked passage. It not only connects the rooms, but pulls in lots of sunshine into the interior while offering a pleasant green wall of plants without sacrificing privacy.
See more of this great terrace
Maximise the green space in a small home by building a corridor that connects the main living areas on the outside of the house. Running the length of the building pictured here is a open-air and decked passage. It not only connects the rooms, but pulls in lots of sunshine into the interior while offering a pleasant green wall of plants without sacrificing privacy.
See more of this great terrace
10. Mirror image
A long narrow corridor needn’t be devoid of style and functionality. Here a hall has been lined with mirrored panels on one side and a wallpaper depicting a silvery forest on the other, creating a chill-out zone or the perfect place to contemplate the deeper questions of life – or at least whether you are developing any lines on your face…
More scene-stealing hallways
A long narrow corridor needn’t be devoid of style and functionality. Here a hall has been lined with mirrored panels on one side and a wallpaper depicting a silvery forest on the other, creating a chill-out zone or the perfect place to contemplate the deeper questions of life – or at least whether you are developing any lines on your face…
More scene-stealing hallways
TELL US
Do you have a hallway or corridor that you have used for double duty? Tell us what you’ve done to multi-purpose this space in the Comments.
MORE
Browse a gallery of hallway photos
Do you have a hallway or corridor that you have used for double duty? Tell us what you’ve done to multi-purpose this space in the Comments.
MORE
Browse a gallery of hallway photos
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We have ended up with quite a long hallway (actually two passages meeting at the entry) in our new (yet to be built) house. So it will be put to good use; at the kitchen end will be a whole wall of hooks for storing school bags, swimming gear, hats and other bits and pieces, as well as space for the kids to display artworks, in the entryway will be a feature wall with hooks for visitors' coats, and the bedroom end will become a library, with a low, screened window into a south-facing garden, which can be left open to cool the bedrooms in the summer. Plus, of course, it will have a linen cupboard and places to hang art!
I was originally worried about how much hallway we would have (I've designed our house and one of my aims was to make it as large as necessary and as small as possible). However, we also wanted to make all the bedrooms and living areas north-facing, so that dictated the length of the hallway. Once I started to think of the hallway as a functional room, rather than merely a thoroughfare, I realised that it wasn't just wasted space but will actually really enhance the functionality of our home.
Love the mirror wall but the papered wall still needs some thing to break up the bareness.