corridor

The entry to a house establishes the mood and sets the tone for the rest of the home. The hallway is the first impression the visitors have of your home. It is the first area they can see upon entering, and as such, it should be as inviting as you can make it.

Not all of us are fortunate enough to have large entrance halls. Many of us have to make do with narrow corridors. Even these corridors, however, with a little taste and planning, can be made into attractive entrances for the home.

This week, our featured corridor doubling as an entrance belongs to one of the older apartments in Gulshan 1. To begin with, we had a very narrow entry path. This we remedied by breaking down a wall and taking it one foot backwards. We also moved the servant room entry door, which was part of the corridor, a little forward and then sideways. The resulting passage was thus much bigger, more spacious and looked more inviting.

The floors we revved up using smooth porcelain off-white tiles, in which we added pieces of decorative maroon marble to create an interesting visual effect.

A two-layered false ceiling of garjon wood and Burma teak was installed, bordered by the group line, and in this we added spotlights. We also placed wall lights to highlight the corridor walls. Lighting can be used to really open up a space and create a hospitable environment for visitors. Through the use of proper lighting design, a dark and cramped entryway can appear spacious and become a warm and comforting area for guests.

The main focal point in our featured corridor is its special textured wall. Smooth or rough, hard or soft, polished or distressed, texture makes a room visually unique, and invites you to linger. Perhaps that's why textured materials like rustic brick, rustic tiles, and sandstone are popular choices for wall décor. We threw special focus on one of the walls where we used some rough textured bricks of two different colours, separated by a curved line. An accent light was placed right over the brickwork, and a sleek open display cabinet right in front of it. The cabinet looks thin and light, and the glass cabinet is for displaying some choice objects. Since the theme for this display corner is “Shape and form”, we selected some quirkily shaped glass vases from Hallmark, and filled them with colourful marbles and set them on show on the shelves.
The resulting corridor is more than just a thoroughfare for the house; it's a welcoming area that really puts guests in the mood for some fun.

Nazneen Haque Mimi
Interior Consultant
Journeyman
E mail: journeym@citechco.net
Photo: Hasan Saifuddin Chandan