Keep the furniture to one side
The bench and shoe cupboard form a shallow line along the same wall. The opposite side stays clear, so coming home does not involve threading between pieces of furniture.
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ROOM 99 · Other
The entrance that puts everything away
Published
A new-build flat with a narrow internal entrance and no window of its own
A hallway does not need much furniture. It needs the right depths, a place to sit and somewhere for the things that otherwise land on the floor. This windowless entrance starts there.
See the product sourcesTHE DESIGN
A bench can do a better job here than a console. It gives someone a place to sit while dealing with shoes, and its narrow top leaves the passage open. The neighbouring cupboard takes the shoes themselves. Both pieces stay on one wall, with the deeper coat storage contained in a recess opposite.
The cupboard’s oak and oak veneer sit beside the bench’s oak-coloured rubberwood top. They do not need to be a matching set. Black trestle legs and the irregular mirror frame give the pale walls a few definite shapes; the rust front door supplies the stronger colour. The floor remains mostly exposed, making the route easy to read.
This hall has no window of its own. Some light comes through the living-room opening, but the wall lights must do the work when that room is dark or closed off. The mirror helps someone check their appearance and shows a sliver of the adjacent room. Its value is in the view it returns, not a promise to manufacture daylight.
WHY THE ROOM WORKS
Keep the route open by giving the things beside it a proper home.
Colour palette
- Chalk
- Rust
- Oak
- Black
- Warm grey
Close the door on the shoes
A dedicated cupboard keeps pairs together without leaving a row along the skirting. Its top is high enough to act as a small landing place for keys.
Give the coat storage a recess
Flush cupboard doors use the deeper space beside the entrance to the living room. Coats and bags can be put away without adding a freestanding stand to the passage.
Light the hall on its own terms
Wall lights make the hall usable after the living-room daylight has gone. The mirror shows a glimpse of that adjacent space; it cannot replace a light source.
Make the door worth looking at
Rust gives the far end a clear destination. A small repeat on the bench connects it to the room, while chalk walls leave the narrow space visually simple.
WHAT TO BORROW
Measure the passage with the furniture in place and the doors open. A shallow bench and one closed storage piece often earn their floor space more readily than a decorative console.
THE PIECES BEHIND THE DESIGN
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