The smallest interior details, including lighting, can create the appropriate atmosphere in any room. It can visually increase or, conversely, reduce the area, emphasize advantages and hide disadvantages.
Good lighting in the hallway.
Zoning with light
Corridor lighting can be zoned, which is important for non-standard layouts. The primary zone is the place near the door, where basically all daily, shoes and seasonal clothing are located. This area should be well lit.
Lighting in the primary corridor area.
A mirror with lighting for the hallway is located in the second zone. Modern products are available with built-in spotlights. If this room has an antique mirror that you don’t want to part with, then you can attach small battery-powered lamps to it.
Illuminated mirror in the hallway.
The next area is furniture (cabinets, shelves, hangers). Here the lamps are built directly into the furniture.
Wardrobe with lighting.
In large rooms there is often a place to relax in the form of an original pouf, high chair or even an armchair. A floor lamp or floor lamp will help create coziness.
Pouf in the large hallway.
And the final zone is the corridor itself, which is decorated with decorative lamps located in any projection.
In the hall
A corridor or hallway is often a long and narrow room. Even if it is not long, then in any case it is small and not central.
Often there is a desire to expand the hallway with the help of competent lighting of a stretch ceiling. For this, it is best to use fluorescent lamps.
In the hallway, spotlights along the walls look beautiful, reflected in the glossy surface of the stretch ceiling. The central part of the hallway does not require bright light; the emphasis shifts from it to the walls.
Don’t be upset if your corridor seems very small and gloomy to you, take a look at the photo with examples of lighting suspended ceilings in the hallway. And you will again have the opportunity to believe in miracles and be inspired to renovate.
Colors and styles
An important aspect when landscaping a corridor is the combination of lighting and interior colors. In small hallways, light colors should prevail. In addition to light furniture, interior doors painted in bright colors will help distract attention and visually enlarge the area.
Hallway in bright colors with a bright door.
In the minimalist style corridor you can install classic chandeliers and sconces without additional decorations. The main thing is that they should have simple, clear forms. Classic black, white and beige colors predominate here. Natural materials are welcome.
Metal and glass are a high-tech style that is not alien to bright decorative elements, which is characterized by heterogeneity. However, this point does not apply to lamps, which should be plain.
A chandelier a la disco or consisting of various multi-colored glass shards - pop art. An ambiguous style, in which it is very difficult not to overdo it. Lovers of everything bright should take into account that such lighting equipment is only suitable for large hallways.
Hallway in bright colors.
Many apartments can only boast “Khrushchev” corridors. Regardless of the choice of lighting, the area is saved by a mirror surface installed on the cabinet door, light from devices aimed at one wall and various other techniques.
Ceiling lighting of the maximum area helps to expand a narrow corridor. The lamps are located along the line or can be installed in a checkerboard pattern. It all depends on the geometry of the corridor.
Lighting in a narrow corridor.
How to illuminate a long and narrow hallway
In most of our apartments the hallway has this layout. The right lighting will correct the location. The most suitable option for this is spotlights mounted in a suspended ceiling.
To install spotlights, you need suspended or suspended ceilings, which will also provide a reflective effect, which will provide additional light.
It is more correct to place them as follows: two lamps are installed directly above the front door, then one at a time along the entire length of the hallway at an equal distance. In addition, the lamps can be mounted in a closet.
With the help of a wall spot you can even achieve general lighting.
In a narrow hallway with a high ceiling, it is better to place the devices on the walls. This technique will visually expand the room and reduce the ceilings. If the corridor is very narrow, a sconce placed on only one wall will help correct this.
Local, local lighting can be installed on a wall, near a mirror, on a mirror, built into a closet, or illuminate a shelf or picture.
On a note. If you are going to place several lamps in the corridor, it is more correct to divide them into multifunctional categories. This will make it possible to illuminate the area that is needed for a given period. There should also be several switches.
This organization of space will allow you to quickly find the things you need and carefully examine yourself in the mirror before leaving the house.
Light as a means of correcting a corridor
Lighting can work wonders. It will correct any deficiencies in the renovation or original layout.
If the ceilings are high, then spots, the light from which should be turned onto the walls, will help distract attention from them. Another, more expensive option is to install suspended or suspended ceilings. The lamps will diffuse the light, creating the illusion of space.
LED strips or lamps installed in a row will help add zest to a dark corridor. Lamps of different shapes, but in the same style, can zone the space of an L-shaped corridor. In a large corridor you can hang a chandelier that will attract attention to itself and distract from the area.
Corridor with LED strips.
Backlight
Using lighting, you can zone the corridor, marking the boundaries of the entrance and transition to the apartment itself, and also regulate the brightness of the lighting at different times of the day.
At night time
To implement lighting at night, it is recommended to arrange dim lighting instead of bright illumination. A good option is to run an LED strip in the floor, the light from which will be controlled separately, but it is more expensive than installing separate sconces.
Mirror lighting
When installing mirror lamps in the hallway, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- The light should be placed above the mirror or on the sides of it.
- Placing the light on the opposite wall is undesirable, because the light will fall from behind and the shadow will not allow you to do good makeup or fix your hair before leaving the house.
- Lighting should be chosen yellow, soft, diffused, so as not to dazzle the eyes (alternatively, you can use spots to regulate the direction of the light flux).
The height of the lighting fixtures will depend on human height.
How to choose lamps
Among the variety, the choice of lamps should be based on several things. Products must match the style of the room. In this matter, the main thing is the idea of the atmosphere that the owners want to give to the corridor.
Maintain scale. Even in such a small room, lamps should not be lost among the interior. Lighting fixtures are installed so that they do not interfere with movement. When choosing them, you should pay attention to the material from which they are made. And the main thing is not to forget that light is always divided into decorative and technical.
Which lamps to choose for rooms of different shapes?
The main rule is: you cannot select large lampshades for small corridors, and vice versa, it is not recommended to use small lamps in spacious halls.
For a small hallway
In most apartments, hallways have a small area, but they also need to provide general lighting and install local lamps. Despite the presence of the main lamp on the ceiling, additional ones will be needed, for example, at least one wall sconce suspended from the mirror. If the mirror is installed to the full height of a person, then the lighting in a small hallway should be such as to illuminate the reflection from head to toe.
To visually increase the dimensions of a small hallway, you can use light directed at the ceiling - modern chandeliers are available with shades that distribute diffused light upward. It’s good if the apartment has suspended ceilings with a glossy surface - their reflective ability will allow you to play on the dimensions of the room, multiplying glare and creating a feeling of space.
For square and L-shaped corridor
A square corridor is the easiest to decorate - you can install one ceiling chandelier with a design in accordance with the interior style of the hallway, and it will illuminate the entire room. In this case, you can do without local light bulbs, especially if the square corridor is small. To accommodate large areas, a chandelier or pendant lamp in the center of the ceiling and several local lamps (for example, spotlights mounted in the ceiling) are required.
As an option, in a square hallway you can run an LED strip along the perimeter of the ceiling and do without a chandelier.
With L-shaped corridors the situation is more complicated. Here the task arises of illuminating the entire space without leaving dark areas. In this case, the optimal solution would be to divide the corridor into two zones with the selection of a separate type of lighting in each zone. The requirements for light are the same: lamps should be mounted so that the light reaches even the far corners of the hallway. And here local lighting or decorative lighting of furniture, paintings or mirror framing comes to the rescue. You can arrange it this way: at the entrance to the corridor, the local light turns on, and then the general chandelier lights up.
In a narrow and long corridor
Narrow and long corridors are good because they can be divided into an entrance area and a hall. In addition to design finishing techniques (wide stripes or tiled flooring patterns, slatted ceilings, the panels of which are installed transversely rather than longitudinally), you can use one-sided lighting.
It should be remembered that installing one ceiling chandelier in the middle of a long narrow corridor will not save you from twilight, and too many spotlights installed will provide too bright light. A good option is to stretch an LED strip along one of the long sides of the ceiling, hidden behind a plasterboard structure.
Another way is to use spotlights or spots. The former are built into the ceiling and provide bright, good light, while the latter can be either built-in or on adjustable brackets. It must be remembered that there should not be too many spotlights.
If the corridor is long, then for convenience you can install 2 switches - one at the beginning, the other at the end. To save energy, you can replace simple switches with smart home systems equipped with motion sensors.
Photo gallery: Lighting in the hallway. Types and types of lighting
Expert Yulia Kovtunova (Author, content manager) Work experience: 3 years, since 2020.
No. 5. Decorative lighting
Decorative lighting is not mandatory, but its presence can transform the hallway and correctly place accents in it. Often for these purposes, LED strip , which is laid along the perimeter of the floor or ceiling, visually expanding the space and blurring the boundaries. Moreover, floor lighting will be useful at night, when you don’t want to turn on the main light, and the LED strip will create soft, but sufficient lighting to see everything. In addition, if there are any irregularities in the hallway, such as steps, podiums, etc., then floor lighting becomes even a necessary thing.
Hallways that lead into long corridors are usually decorated with paintings or photographs, and these are the ones that can be highlighted with the help of light. Spotlights, spots and sconces are suitable for this. Also, a light accent can be placed on niches, columns, arches, vases and other elements that distinguish the hallway from a number of others.
An interesting option is to place a stained glass window on the ceiling or wall , behind which you can organize lighting . In this way, you can not only get a unique decoration for the hallway, but also create an imitation of natural light entering the room.
