5 tips for designing a long narrow room

Furniture in a long narrow room

The arrangement of furniture for a room of the wrong size should be done individually, based on the characteristics of such a room. In order to visually give the room the correct geometric shape, cabinets, sofas, tables and other large furniture should be placed along a short wall.

If the dimensions of a long room allow you to divide it into several zones using partitions or cabinet furniture, then you need to use this trick. This will allow you to have several useful areas in the room, and there will be no feeling of a long corridor.

How to choose lamps for a suspended ceiling - suitable types, recommendations for their installation and selection tips (120 photos)

You should not place bulky furniture parallel to long walls. This will further emphasize the already narrow room, in addition, the furniture will block the passage, and the lighting will be distributed unevenly.

Windows, doors and floors

We should also talk about windows and doorways in narrow bedrooms or living rooms, as well as suitable floor coverings. When designing, follow the following recommendations from experienced designers:

If your doorway is located on a long wall, it would be better to widen it and use spectacular swing doors with two leaves; the platbands should be as wide as possible. If you do not need a closing door, you can design the opening in the form of a wide arch; it is better to finish its edges with materials contrasting with the wall decoration, and choose a different color and texture.

Windows located on a longer wall are also better to be visually enlarged; the opening itself can be made into a bell with an extension towards the room. If the window is on a small wall, the opening should be strictly rectangular.

If you decide to visually expand the space in a narrow room, it is better to use tiles, laminate or linoleum with a rectangular geometric pattern for the floor. The flooring should be laid so that the pattern is parallel to the narrow walls.

Furniture arrangement

Today it is no longer common to simply place all the furniture around the perimeter of the room. So the narrow room becomes even more elongated. But use a few tips:

When arranging, use only the most irreplaceable furniture - this will make your room more spacious and brighter.
Try to arrange items in groups in certain areas, avoiding even distribution of them.
Consider the technique of asymmetrical arrangement - combining furniture of different heights always looks interesting in the interior.

Related links: Pros and cons: all about the combined bathroom

Ways to expand space

It is unlikely that it will be possible to change the layout of a narrow apartment. But you can work on the design of a small, narrow apartment to visually expand and enlarge the space. To do this, you can use some very effective techniques:

— The color scheme for apartments with irregular shapes should increase the space by painting long walls in light colors and narrow walls in darker colors. It is not necessary to use solid colors. You can paint the walls, for example, in two colors, which will smoothly smooth out the transitions between the color palette. You can add dynamism and contrast to the room by using textures that imitate brick or stone. But the ceiling, unlike rooms with correct proportions, needs to be painted to match the long walls. Thus, you can achieve a more voluminous interpretation of space.

Design of a 3-room apartment - 115 photos of the best ideas on how to decorate a beautiful interior

— If the design of a long narrow apartment involves wallpapering the walls, then you need to opt for wallpaper with rich colors. But, only long walls need to be covered with such wallpaper, which will remove the emphasis from narrow walls when visualizing the room. Particular attention should be paid to lighting. In order for the lighting in a narrow room to be in the same style, it is necessary to use combined light sources. If a certain theme is created in such a room, then you can use photo wallpaper, but they must create volume, then the narrow room will not resemble a tunnel.

— Furniture that fits the width of the wall will help to visually shorten a long room. If you are lucky and have a beautiful view from the window, then under no circumstances should you close it.

— If you install mirrors on the walls of the room that will reflect light rays, you can achieve a blurred transition of boundaries between long and narrow walls. But remember, in order not to overload the room with mirrors, you need to abandon decorative details.

— If there are windows on long walls, then you need to enlarge them as much as possible to illuminate the space with natural light. Doors on such a wall also need to be expanded as much as possible, for example, due to arches and wide doorways. It is recommended to paint the door frame in a bright color.

Narrow long room: what to do?

A narrow, long room (popularly known as a “carriage”) can pose a serious problem when designing interior design for an apartment or private house. If you do not take measures to correct, at least visually, the proportions of such a room, then it is unlikely that you will be able to create comfort and a cozy atmosphere in it.

Let's look together at options for getting out of such a difficult situation.

Photo: ratatum.com
What the developers were guided by when they planned the “carriage” rooms is not clear, but the fact remains: simply a huge number of residents of old houses have to put up with long narrow rooms.

Although, of course, it is not necessary to put up with it: on the contrary, every effort should be made to make a comfortable and, importantly, attractive room out of the notorious “carriage”.

Photo: ratatum.com

The most effective design technique for “shortening” a room is known to many: focusing on short (end) walls.

The desired effect is achieved by using brighter colors in the design of the end walls than the finishing of the longitudinal walls: bright walls are perceived by the human eye closer than they actually are.

The desired result can also be achieved by combining patterned decoration on the end walls of the room with a plain finish on the long walls.

Photo: ratatum.com

Another accessible technique for visually changing the proportions of a long, narrow room is arranging furniture along short walls.

Many “the old fashioned way” prefer to place large furniture, such as sofas and wardrobes, along long walls, but in a narrow “carriage” room, this approach only aggravates the situation: the room seems even narrower and longer and looks like a corridor.

But if large-sized pieces of furniture are placed closer to the end walls, this will help make the room more “square”.

Photo: ratatum.com

A more sophisticated solution to the problem of a narrow long room is proper zoning of space. It is useful, for example, in a narrow long room to use different floor coverings for different functional areas or to build a podium in one of the zones.

You can also divide the space of such a room into zones by using different wall finishes in each zone or by using different ceiling finishes. Finally, you can build real partitions for zoning “carriage” rooms, as an option, glass ones, decorated with a matte pattern.

Combination of wall color intensity

Usually, trying to visually enlarge a room, owners of narrow rooms choose wallpaper without a pattern for the walls or paint them using one light tone. But for a long room this is not an option. Then you need to focus on the shortened walls. Choose a more saturated color for it, which will reduce the length of others. That is, cover elongated walls or at least one of them with a light color.

Related links: How to arrange a living room with two windows