A guide to choosing wardrobes for your hallway.

How to determine the best location?

The correct location of the cabinet is largely determined by the initial parameters of the hallway: the area of the room and its geometry.

The easiest way is if there is a niche in the room – then the structure is simply built between the walls, closed with doors. In this case, the wardrobe will be large in a large hallway, and compact in a small one.

If the hallway is long and narrow, the storage is located along one of the elongated sides. In this case, the depth is more important than the length of the furniture – to freely move around the room, take things out or put them in the closet, you will need at least 1 meter (preferably 1.2-1.4 m) of free space from the door to the wall.

In a square hallway, you can also occupy one side, turning the room into a rectangle, or install a corner closet.

Advice! In studio apartments, a sliding wardrobe can act as a partition between the hallway and the living room.

Which type of wardrobe is better to choose?

Sliding wardrobes mainly differ in shape:

Straight

A classic model located along one line. It can be of absolutely any length, depth, height.

The photo shows a two-door wardrobe with mirrors

Corner

The wardrobe is placed not on one, but on two walls – while it occupies an equal distance from the corner or stretches along one of the sides. Corner sliding wardrobes are divided into L-shaped, trapezoidal, radial.

The first ones look like two items joined at an angle of 90 degrees – they hold the least things in comparison with the next two. Trapezoidal and radial are larger in size, the former have a beveled corner, the latter have a rounded contour.

The photo shows a corner wardrobe

According to the installation method, there are built-in, semi-built-in, and free-standing varieties.

• As the name suggests, built-in wardrobes use the walls of the room as the side and back walls, the ceiling acts as the lid, and the floor acts as the bottom. In essence, this is a niche with shelves, closed with doors.
• In semi-built-in ones, usually one of the side or back walls (in partition cabinets) is replaced by a piece of furniture.
• Freestanding ones do not depend on the walls, floor and ceiling – their main advantage is that when rearranging or moving, the wardrobe can be easily moved or transported to a new place.

Freestanding ones, in turn, can be custom-made or modular. The former are made individually, taking into account the size of the room, its features. The second type is assembled from ready-made modules of standard dimensions.

The advantage of modular systems is price and speed – mass-market products are cheaper, and you can buy and assemble sections in literally 1 day (you don’t have to wait for production!).

Recommendations for choosing the size

The size of the wardrobe is affected only by 2 things: the area of the hallway itself and the required volume of interior space.

You will have to put up with the first parameter, because in most cases it will not be possible to change the layout of the hallway. Therefore, just use the most logical way to determine the size: the furniture should match the room. The more spacious the hallway, the more space the “storage room” can take up.

To determine the required volume, you need to understand what exactly and in what quantity will need to be placed in the wardrobe (this will also help you correctly design its contents yourself or while working with a designer).

If there are not so many things, you should probably completely abandon the idea of a sliding wardrobe and replace it with something more compact, mobile – a pencil case or a chest of drawers.

What color pick up?

A sliding wardrobe should fit into the interior of the hallway not only in size, but also in shade. In fact, the entire color range is divided into dark and light colors.

Dark wooden furniture is a classic. Brown shades of oak, walnut, wenge or cherry look expensive, will fit best into traditional or classic styles – classicism, English, colonial.

The photo shows a dark wardrobe

In modern apartments, natural wood or its imitation is used less often, so dark wardrobes can have gold, black, dark gray or any colored facades.

However, in the 21st century, various light colors are used more often – beige, cream, pearl, snow. White color looks visually lighter, so even such a massive structure as a sliding wardrobe will not clutter the room.

Facade options

The main role in the design of the wardrobe in the hallway is played by the doors, because basically only they are visible.

In most cases, mirrored facades are used. They not only hide the contents of the wardrobe, but also perform a useful function – you do not have to place an additional mirror in the hallway.

In addition, reflective surfaces visually expand the space, so the models are suitable even for small hallways. Mirrors can be left unadorned or designer.

There are several ways to decorate:

• Frames, baguettes. Stylish strips decorate the ends of mirrors or “divide” them into sectors.
• Sandblasting. Any design you like is applied to the surface using a special device.
• Film. If you want to make the mirror unusual — dark or colored — just stick “tinting” on it.
• Special paints. Stained glass painting on glass on sliding wardrobes is rarely used, but in special cases it looks very harmonious.

See a detailed comparison of facade materials.

The photo shows the decoration of mirrored doors

Furniture fronts can be not only mirrored. Today’s trends are leaning towards minimalism: blind glossy or matte doors made of modern materials (MDF, chipboard) look more expensive than decorated mirrors.

Important! Light gloss, like mirrors, visually increases the area. Use individual techniques or a combination of them to make a small hallway more spacious.

A technique that has become widespread recently is slats. The reference to the design of the middle of the last century has firmly established itself in the top trendy solutions today.

What to consider when organizing the filling?

As mentioned earlier, you can choose the perfect sliding wardrobe only if you start from your personal needs. Therefore, before making a custom order or purchasing modular elements, describe what exactly you are going to store inside, if possible, measure each item (for example, a vacuum cleaner, a suitcase, the width of the hangers).

The compiled list will not only allow you to understand the depth of the closet and the dimensions of the compartments, but also to develop the correct filling, and therefore – to guarantee order in the future:

• clothes (vertical method), hats-scarves, small items (like shoe polishes) can be stored in drawers;
• boxes, shoes, bags should be placed on open shelves;
• a rod is used for seasonal placement of outerwear.

Important! It is more convenient to store outerwear while wearing on open hooks by the front door, and put it away in the closet only for a long time.

A good wardrobe differs from a bad one in ergonomics, which is mainly reflected in the height of storage of certain things:

1. The placement of the rod depends on the height of the owners – the shortest person should be able to reach it with an outstretched arm. The standard height is 190 cm. If you need to install it higher, a pantograph will come to the rescue.
2. If you can’t reach the shelves without a stool or stepladder, this is already a mezzanine. Rarely used things are stored on it – spare blankets, New Year’s toys, seasonal accessories (skates, fins and a mask).
3. The lowest shelves, to which you have to bend, should also not be cluttered with something often used. Use them for organizing shoes.

An original idea for increasing the usable space is to equip the doors themselves with hooks. However, sliding doors are not suitable for this, only hinged ones. Place accessories on the inside of the doors – glasses, bags, belts, scarves, shawls.

The photo shows a version of the wardrobe filling

Examples of interior design

Designers are increasingly abandoning classic sliding doors in favor of hinged ones. Yes, the design on the tracks does not require space in the front for opening – but it will have to be left one way or another, because otherwise you simply will not be able to use the wardrobe. This means that ordinary hinged fronts will fit – louvered, slatted, blind, mirrored.

The following examples of sliding wardrobes for the hallway literally scream: furniture should not look like a wall! If necessary, leave an open shelf on the side or make a niche in the middle of the closet, inside which a mirror, shoe rack or console with an ottoman will conveniently fit.

Depending on preferences, the sliding wardrobe is made deliberately emphasized or hidden. To create invisible furniture, the facades are painted to match the walls, making them absolutely smooth and even.

Do blind hidden doors seem boring? Decorate them with wooden moldings, original handles.

Thinking about organizing storage in the hallway? See ideas for hallways with a sliding wardrobe in our photo gallery!