Top ideas for narrow spaces

You can still often find them in old apartments: Narrow rooms with high ceilings. Either you feel like you're in a palace or the tightness makes you depressed. So that the narrow room does not become a trap or to balance the proportions, there are a number of things to consider when designing the room. For example, do not make the room too crowded or keep it in shades of similar colors. Setting up narrow rooms - these are our tips:

Create room zones in narrow spaces

A loft looks spacious if you can see it. A long, narrow room, on the other hand, looks like a hose that lacks a feel-good atmosphere. It helps to divide the narrow space into several areas: Here, for example, a wall cleverly separates a rear niche. The design of the staircase is clever because - instead of climbing straight up - it first runs across and then around the corner.

Floor coverings should visually cross a narrow room better than fade away in the longitudinal direction. Of course you can also lay out a narrow-track carpet lengthways; this should then have at least one cross-oriented pattern.

All's well that ends well - and goodbye the hose look: a wall separates a mini retreat, which thanks to warm light looks like a place in the sun.

Photo: Raphaël Bétillon and Nicolas Dorval-Bory

Whiten the walls - this gives narrow spaces a sense of space

Why are so many apartments painted white? Because the color optically recedes and not only creates a feeling of freshness, but also the expanse. How well this works can be seen in this hallway: the ceiling and walls have been completely immersed in the light tone, spotlights intensify the effect. But be careful: white is not white! The color should be minimally tinted, otherwise there is a risk of a cool hospital look.

White suits narrow, high rooms well: narrow, white corridor with a view of classic 1950s chairs and illuminated, red table lamp in the adjoining living room.

Photo: Living4media / Claessens, Bieke

Go to the ceiling

A few decades ago, it was common to put a second ceiling in high rooms and thus to lower the ceiling - a trick that seems almost out of date today. The contemporary variant also looks different: with many of the same lights. These are - loosely staggered at different heights - distributed as a cloud under the ceiling. It doesn't have to be expensive: it stays cheap with large white Japanese balloons.

Emphasize the narrow side

Every fashion-conscious woman knows that horizontal stripes make everything appear wider than it really is. How cleverly this effect can be used for narrow rooms can be seen here: In this extremely narrow bedroom (the bed hits the wall directly on the left), a gaudy stripe pattern attracts everyone's attention. Cleverly distracts, almost forgetting the overall situation. You can simply paint on such a pattern in your favorite colors, or you can paper a similar stripe look with the “Keila” model from tapetender70er.de.

Small bedroom with fixtures and stripes above the bed.

Photo: Living4media / Simon Maxwell Photography

Light is also a magic tool when a room lacks space. The more, the better, is the motto here. This applies not only to artificial lighting, but also to daylight. Windows should therefore not carry heavy and dark fabrics.

Divide the room

Originally, it would have been difficult to set up a nice dining area in this lovelessly cut hose room. But a wall that has been retrofitted makes it possible. The highlight: it does not separate the kitchen and dining area from each other, but forms a generous hatch in the room. The advantage of it? No feelings of oppression on both sides, but more comfort and intimacy in the room.

Black dining table in front of the serving hatch to the open kitchen.

Photo: Living4media / Maulini, Pier

Turn your closet

Who does not know that: You open the fridge door in a narrow kitchen - you need time - and behind you a second person squeezes past cumbersome. Not a big everyday problem, of course, but if you could defuse this situation, it would be pleasant. Maybe it works like this: Just turn the refrigerator 90 degrees, then you can look at it with the door open. A partition shields on the side - so nobody can see whether you are nibbling …

A self-made room divider hides the fridge very elegantly in the modern kitchen.

Photo: Living4media / Rizzi, Laura

Pick up the shape

Sometimes less is more: This narrow room gets by with a handful of carefully selected furniture. The individual cupboard elements are very slim and high - they visually correspond to the cut of the room. Seating and coffee table remain very delicate - so that the narrow room does not appear cluttered. And a rather dainty lamp that swings from the ceiling on the long cable makes it clear that there is still room for improvement.

Less is sometimes more.

Photo: living4media / Rizzi, Laura

Stack up consciously

Also a means of design that has almost been forgotten: the installation of a pedestal. Just don't plan it too low, but pull in the space as a kind of large platform - which can even easily reach the window reveal. The best way to ensure that the construction is stable is to have it built by a specialist. He can also plan cabinets underneath that offer a lot of storage space.

Build bridges

Living in a box in a different way: Because the feeling of being in a shoe box lying on the side quickly arises in the extra-high room, an airlift was cheekily drawn in here. It emphasizes the transverse axis and creates an intimate cozy zone in the rear area. If there is still a bright flood of light radiating up over the bridge, this prevents an overwhelming impression.

This room appears smaller and more cozy thanks to the hanging ceiling.

Photo: Living4media / View Pictures

Rich colors distinguish: if the front wall of long rooms is painted dark brown, for example, it functions as an optical stop sign. Who doesn't like color? Take pattern wallpapers!

Unfold the furniture

Space there! If you not only want to eat on your narrow loggia, but also want to flick on the lounger, you need furniture that can thin in no time. Here, too, you can achieve more than usual with a little know-how: Here, for example, a simple folding table was fitted with an additional strut by the carpenter below. It serves as a reinforcement that can easily accommodate several of the foldable and light chairs.

A foldable wooden table also fits on the smallest terrace.

Photo: Living4media / Gallo Images

Thoroughly clean up

Disorder causes visual unrest - fatal in narrow, mostly small rooms, because they completely lose the feeling of well-being. But what can be done to ensure that tidying up is not more important than living? Reduce furniture, decorations, etc. to a minimum. And be sure to plan enough storage space, for example on a narrow sideboard with large doors, behind which chaos can easily hide away.

Use custom work

Standard furniture often has little to do with tricky layouts - and unusual room dimensions quickly become a problem, particularly in the bathroom. Since finished washbasins hardly fit, individual solutions are required. A washing area was built into the niche here. It has a shallow depth, but the pool was placed higher than usual. A front panel hides storage space, the mirror is cut by a glazier.

In unusually cut rooms, custom-made furniture is an advantage.

Photo: Living4media / Claessens, Bieke

Photo: iStock / Katarzyna Bialasiewicz