From cluttered surfaces to overstuffed shelves, there’s nothing like a cramped hallway to make your home feel claustrophobic.
Luckily, if you want to make your hallway feel bigger, there’s an easy way to do so. Max Wilson, storage expert and co-founder of Pocket Storage, has shared a quick 15-minute fix that could make your hallway feel twice the size.
The key to making a space feel bigger, Max explains, is paying attention to your hallway’s floors. ‘You can’t move the walls in 15 minutes, but you can do a “Visual Floor Reset” that tricks the brain into seeing double the square footage,’ he says.
‘The way we see space is based on the amount of uninterrupted floor area we can visually consume. By changing your mindset from “cleaning” to “visual volume”, we can rethink how the architecture breathes.’
Here, Max breaks down the 15-minute method into three five-minute tasks...
1) Focus on the floors – 5 Minutes
‘The distance on the floor between the walls is how our brains measure the width of the hallway. You are essentially making your walls smaller by several inches when your hallway is filled with shoes, bags, and umbrellas. Spend five minutes clearing every single item off the floor. The hallway will appear wider to the naked eye once the floor space between the skirting boards is clear,’ Max says.
2) Simplify your surfaces – 5 Minutes
‘Surface clutter such as keys, mail, and loose change creates “visual noise”, which can make an already narrow space feel chaotic,’ explains Max. ‘Strip your console table or shelf completely bare. Replace the clutter with a single item such as a vase or tray. A clear horizontal surface reflects light and creates a clean “vanishing point” which makes the space feel longer, not cluttered.’
3) Re-evaluate those coat hooks – 5 Minutes
‘Overloaded coat hooks are the biggest “space stealers” in British homes,’ Max declares. ‘If an overloaded coat hook is carrying three thick winter coats, it is essentially consuming almost a foot of physical width. Take off those heavy and out-of-season coats and store them in a hidden cupboard or loft space during these five minutes. A hallway with two sleek raincoats is like an art gallery; a hallway with ten is like a wardrobe.’
This simple 15-minute fix is one of the quickest ways to make your hallway feel bigger. Space isn’t just physical – it’s psychological, too – and it’s remarkable what a fast clear-out can achieve. As Max explains, 'Size is a feeling, not a measurement. You can’t change the square footage in 15 minutes, but you can remove the "visual weight" that makes the walls feel like they are closing in.'
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