“Khrushchevkas” are the first houses of mass construction with small-sized apartments, low ceilings and poor sound insulation. They were actively built from the 60s to the 90s of the last century throughout the country, and many Russian families at that time acquired their own housing for the first time.

Those who today live in these small apartments, for example, with an area of ​​43 square meters. m, they are increasingly asking the question: how to draw up a design project for a two-room “Khrushchev” apartment? And what interior design ideas are there?

Layout features

“Khrushchevka” is easy to recognize among other apartments by its characteristic features, for example, wide double-leaf windows in the shape of a square. Or along small windows on the edge of the end panel in the kitchen.

What else distinguishes this type of apartment from the same “Stalin” apartments and other options:

• Availability of a passage room.
• Small kitchen - from 4-5 to 6 square meters. m.

• Combined bathroom: toilet and bathroom are located in the same room. A Khrushchev-era bathroom is usually so small that it cannot accommodate a standard bathtub 150-180 cm long.
• In Khrushchev's kitchens, housewives cooked on gas stoves.
• Many apartments have a balcony and a storage room, the latter being no different in size from an ordinary room in houses of this type. There are no balconies only in apartments that are located on the first floor of the building.

If we talk about the house in general terms, it has centralized heating, there is no garbage chute and there is no elevator. Such buildings usually have 5 or 7 floors, less often - 9 or 3-4. According to the layout, all apartments in the Khrushchev block face one side, except for the corner ones - their windows face the opposite direction overlooking the courtyard.

“Khrushchev”, from the point of view of planning, has advantages and disadvantages, but it is impossible to judge them objectively.

Among the advantages of such apartments are:

• Availability of a balcony and storage room.
• Typical layout: small corridor and kitchen, two approximately identical rooms.
• A passage room that often borders the kitchen and leads to a second room.
• The shared bathroom is another plus. It saves space in the apartment.

The disadvantages of the “Khrushchev” apartment include:

• low sound insulation or too thin walls;
• low ceilings - only 2.55 meters (some buildings have ceilings of 2.70 meters);
• a cramped hallway or its literal absence;
• small area of ​​the apartment as a whole: a standard two-room apartment in a Khrushchev building has an area of ​​no more than 43, 44, 46 square meters;

• small area of ​​the room - bedroom or nursery;
• lack of a balcony on the ground floor - there are practically no “Khrushchev” buildings with a loggia on the ground floor;
• a walk-through kitchen, which is combined with the living room and is so small that the equipment only fits a gas stove and a short countertop.

“Khrushchevka” can be located in a brick or large-panel house.

“Kopeck apartments” may differ slightly in area and layout:

• "Book" they call a Khrushchev house with rooms in a row - kitchen, living room, bedroom and a total area of ​​42-43 square meters. m.
• "Tram"– a two-room apartment with an area of ​​almost 47 sq. m and adjacent rooms, one of which is a corner one.

• "Improved"– a layout without a walk-through room, a separate bathroom and a tiny kitchen. The total area of ​​such an apartment is usually 43-45 square meters. meters.
• "Butterfly"– an apartment with a kitchen in the middle and two rooms at its edges. The area of ​​such a “Khrushchev” building is usually 46 square meters. meters. It has a separate bathroom almost in the kitchen.

The “book” layout is good because it has adjacent rooms that can easily be combined into one or the entire apartment - into a full-fledged studio. However, the disadvantage of this layout is that no matter what the redevelopment is, one of the rooms will remain a walk-through room. Only if you don’t put up a partition and create a corridor leading to the next room.

Regardless of the “original” layout, the “Khrushchev” can be changed and made functional - to combine rooms or increase the space of one of them.

Redevelopment options

The great advantage of a “Khrushchev” apartment is that it is easy to redesign: “move” walls or combine rooms to create more space. At least visually. Internal walls or partitions in a Khrushchev building are not load-bearing, which means they can be removed and the space of the room changed in agreement with government agencies.

Redevelopment of a Khrushchev building begins not only with the owner’s desire to remodel it, but also with obtaining permission for this procedure from the state. It is easy to obtain, provided that the living rooms and kitchen remain in their places, only the location of the walls themselves will change. Once the state gives the go-ahead to change the configuration of the space, we can begin.

Option #1

All Khrushchev apartments have small kitchens and bathrooms. One of the solutions that redevelopment can provide is increasing the kitchen area. Owners often remove the wall between the kitchen and the adjacent room (usually it is a passage room) and create modern kitchen-living rooms.

Classic “Khrushchev” kitchen 5 sq. m becomes a spacious living room with a cooking area with a total area of ​​up to 23 square meters, if the walk-through room is completely given over to the hall.

Such an apartment can be called a euro-“one-room apartment”: housing with an isolated full bedroom and a spacious kitchen-living room. The resulting “one-room apartment” is attractive because it becomes more spacious - the “extra” wall disappears, and additional space is freed up for furniture.

Option No. 2

A modest two-room apartment can be turned into a full-fledged studio if the internal partitions are completely removed. With the exception of the bathroom - bath and toilet, these two rooms need insulation.

A modern studio can be zoned– divide into functional zones using partitions or cosmetic repairs. Owners often use these two combinations: they create artificial thin walls between the sleeping area and the relaxation area - the living room. They “play” with the shade of the walls and the material of the floor: they lay tiles in the hallway and kitchen, and laminate in the living room and bedroom. This technique not only divides the space, but also visually expands it.

A studio apartment is suitable for a young family without children or a couple who prefer one large area together with small but isolated rooms. However, such a redevelopment is not suitable for a family with at least one child.

Option #3

The next option for redevelopment of the Khrushchev-era building involves moving the walls and preserving 2 isolated rooms. For example, you can expand the kitchen area from 5 square meters to 15 square meters (more or less, depending on the area of ​​the apartment and the location of the rooms). To do this, you will have to demolish the existing wall and build a new one in a new place, moving its boundaries.

Option No. 4

The “improved” layout of a 2-room “Khrushchev” apartment can be made even more functional if you combine the kitchen with a walk-through room and divide the larger room in half. This redevelopment is suitable for a family with one child who likes to receive guests. And those will have a place to stay - in a spacious hall with a dining table.

Zoning

Regardless of how large-scale the redevelopment was in the “Khrushchev”, it is still possible and necessary to use zoning techniques.

Zoning the kitchen-living room

If the walk-through room and the kitchen have become a single space, it’s time to divide it – visually. In the cooking area, equip a classic kitchen. If the width of the wall along which the cooking area will be located is not enough, extend it to a perpendicular wall and place it in a counter.

Thus, the rack will divide two functional areas both visually and in reality.

If the area of ​​the kitchen-living room remains small even after planning, a tabletop can be replaced with a full-fledged dining table. You can separate the cooking area from the living room with a sofa if you install it with its back against the wall along which the countertop with oven and stove runs. Or place between them a thin partition made of metal, glass, or wood. Install a shelving unit with shelves up to the ceiling. Or you can abandon this idea altogether and visually divide the kitchen-living room with the color and texture of finishing materials.

A good solution is to place floor tiles in the cooking area, in the living room - laminate or parquet. The texture of the floor will already divide the two combined rooms, even if the color of the walls in them is not different.

Living room zoning

If, during the redevelopment of the Khrushchev building, the number of rooms remained the same, and it was decided to give one of them as a living room-bedroom, then zoning cannot be avoided. Let’s say a family with children lives in such an apartment; the children were given a larger room, and the parents settled in the living room.

One solution is to divide the room with a thin partition., “hide” the double bed from prying eyes in the back of the room, near the window. In the area closer to the door, place a small sofa and dressing table, hang the TV and storage items on the wall, thereby maintaining free space for movement.

To get even more space in a Khrushchev apartment, you can choose a folding sofa instead of a bed and leave the room unchanged. During the day it will be a living room and receive guests; at night it will become a full-fledged bedroom with a disassembled sofa instead of a bed.

If parents are not ready to sacrifice a full bed in the name of preserving free space, they will especially like the following solution. In a small bedroom-living room you can install a folding bed, which during the day is “retracted” into the wall bed, and in the evening “reclines” to form a full-fledged sleeping place.

Popular styles

Choosing an interior design for a small-sized Khrushchev apartment is another headache for the owner.

High tech

A modern interior solution based on technological innovation, high functionality and prestige in its current interpretation. High-tech is characterized by plastic, glass and metal in furniture and decoration materials. If we talk about colors, they are calm, muted and monochromatic - white, black, all shades of beige and gray.

This interior style uses a suspended ceiling, but in a “Khrushchev” it may be inappropriate - the ceilings in the apartment are already low, and such a design will make them even lower.

It is better to pay special attention to the walls. Turn one of them into an accent one: decorate it with plastic, wood, stone or other panels. The accent will be created by contrasting wallpapers, but not colorful ones - they are of no use in high-tech.

Scandinavian

Think of the Ikea store with rational and, at first glance, simple furnishing options. This is the Scandinavian style. It is distinguished by its environmental friendliness - furniture and finishing materials, practicality - many hanging and multifunctional structures for storage.

The Scandinavian interior is dominated by light shades - white and beige, gray and brown. The emphasis is often on details – textiles and accessories.

Empire style

Luxurious style in the interior, which is characterized by large areas of both rooms, windows, doors, and high ceilings. Empire style is unlikely to be suitable for decorating a “Khrushchev” building, but some of its elements can be introduced into the decoration of your home. For example, ornaments: in furniture upholstery or on kitchen facades, in textiles or on a wall, but only one. An accent wall with royal-style patterns would be appropriate in a classic interior, which we will talk about later.

Classical

Classics are appropriate for “Khrushchev” - laconic furniture made of wood with elements of natural stone, restrained shades and textiles in a single range. A classic interior is not only beautiful, but also practical.

In a small bedroom or corridor of a “Khrushchev” building you can install tall cabinets– up to the ceiling, with facades in the color of the walls. They will not overload the already cramped space and will accommodate the maximum possible. If we talk about the color of furniture facades, give preference to light shades - beige, white, light brown, gray, olive color. Save dark colors for details - frames, chair frames and a small bookcase or shelving unit, if there is room for it.

A true classic interior is characterized by stucco. But in “Khrushchev” buildings it is unlikely to be appropriate. The maximum is a ceiling plinth, provided that the ceiling in the house is at least 2.70 m.

Country

It is dominated by natural shades - brown, green, olive, yellow.

It could be a kind of French Provence with aged furniture or an American direction - comfortable furniture, an abundance of natural materials in the decoration.

Room decoration

The standard design of rooms in a Khrushchev building is a European renovation with functional cabinet furniture. Regardless of whether it is an economy class renovation or an expensive designer one, it is easy to make a small apartment stylish - just choose the same style for all rooms in the house.

• Kitchen. In a standard “Khrushchev” kitchen of 5-6 square meters only a kitchen set will fit. To make it even more functional, choose wall cabinets that go up to the ceiling - they will fit more dishes and kitchen utensils.

• If the kitchen and living room occupy one room, then this is a great opportunity to make the interior even more stylish. The first rule is a single style and a single color scheme for the room. Light shades of walls and furniture will visually make it more spacious and lighter, and will be especially useful if the ceilings in the house are low - 2.55 m.

For a modest kitchen-living room, Provence is especially suitable - a rustic style with an abundance of wooden elements. Light wooden kitchen fronts can be combined with a dining table in shade and material. The contrast will be created by the overall luxurious chandelier, stonework in the cooking area and checkered textiles.

• Bedroom. The square footage of an ordinary “Khrushchev” bedroom can vary - from 8-9 to 19 square meters. m. If the room is small but isolated, it is worth placing a full bed in it. A good night's sleep is more important than any interior madness, so give preference to a bed instead of a sofa.

Storage space can be organized along one of the walls or in a niche of the room - install a wardrobe up to the ceiling. Even in a modest bedroom of 9 square meters there is room for a double bed and a closet covering the entire wall. The dressing table can be replaced with a functional headboard or hanging shelves above the head or on the sides.

• Children's room. The largest room is usually reserved for it. To save free space in the nursery, do not neglect wall cabinets - they are convenient for storing things that are not used often.

A mandatory element of a child's room is a bed: a full-size one, a design bed or an ottoman. And a wardrobe, preferably a wardrobe, so that the child can find his things on his own. For the nursery, choose calm shades, leaving bright ones for accents - interior details or toys.

If there are two children in one room, then choose a bunk bed: it will save space for games and activities, and maybe other furniture - a desk, a shelf for books and toys.

Often, repairs and redevelopment in “Khrushchev” buildings begin at the moment when it becomes impossible to live in the apartment: communications, floors and walls are worn out. The latter may not be able to withstand cosmetic repairs, and the idea of ​​redevelopment arises.

• Don't be afraid of redevelopment. It will allow you to increase the space of the corridor or bathroom if you sacrifice 2-3 square meters of another part of the apartment - one of the living rooms or the kitchen. With the help of redevelopment, it is easy to enlarge the kitchen if you combine it with a walk-through room. Or keep two isolated rooms, but reduce the area of ​​one of them for the sake of the kitchen.

A small Khrushchev with no room to turn around is not a death sentence at all. You can turn a small apartment into a cozy and functional home. This is not at all difficult to do if you follow a number of simple rules and tips.

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Apartment features

Two-room apartments in Khrushchev are small living spaces.

To others layout features relate:

• low ceilings (2.5 meters);
• tiny living sections (especially the kitchen);
• the bathroom and bathtub can be either combined or separate;
• apartments very warm;
• Most have (except for the first floors);
• fragile construction: external walls have a thickness of 300-400 mm, internal walls - 200-300 mm, partitions between rooms - 80 mm;
• partitions were created made from lightweight materials(gypsum fiber, gypsum), so their dismantling will be easy and will not affect the overall design of the panel or brick house.

A standard apartment consists of 2 rooms, isolated or adjacent, a storage room, a miniature kitchen, a bathroom, and a hallway.

In most cases, the rooms are adjacent, that is, one room is a walk-through room. Regardless of the location of the 2 apartment sections, one of them is very narrow.

Layout of Khrushchev building, 2 rooms

How to carry out redevelopment correctly

Any actions related to remodeling the apartment must be agreed upon with the housing inspection, which will avoid problems when selling or exchanging residential premises. The initial redevelopment project can be drawn up independently based on the apartment plan from the cadastral passport.

Allowed actions when reworking:

• combining a bathroom and toilet, increasing their area;
• expansion of area residential section due to the corridor;
• relocation of doorways;
• dismantling utility sections (pantries, mezzanines, niches) to expand the area.

Convenient redevelopment

Design Features

Having decided to change the design of a standard Khrushchev apartment with 2 rooms (area 43 sq m), you should consider the options that are optimal for this type of apartment:

• Complete redevelopment, including dismantling partitions, moving doorways, combined bathroom - maximizing the area;
• Creating free space through visual effects (lighting, color direction, mirrors, furniture arrangement).

When you need to completely redesign an apartment, you need to know about alterations, prohibited by the housing inspection. This includes combining a kitchen space with a living space, if gas is installed in the kitchen and a water heating boiler is installed.

If connecting apartment sections is necessary, it is worth replacing the gas stove with an electric one or installing sliding partitions between the combined rooms. Only a specialist can move the water heater.

It is prohibited to increase the area of ​​the bathroom and kitchen at the expense of residential sections, or to combine them; carry out alterations that block communications; dismantling load-bearing walls; extensions to apartments located on the 1st floor.

Before starting repairs, if it includes redevelopment, agree on a plan for changes to a two-room apartment in a standard Khrushchev-era building with the housing inspection.

Redevelopment ideas

You can select the most successful ideas for redevelopment of Khrushchev-era buildings, where there are 2 rooms, taking into account the characteristics of the people living.

Creation of a studio, optimal for one or two people. Partitions are dismantled, zoning is achieved by arranging furniture, lighting fixtures, color schemes, and sliding partitions.

For a small number of residents, the option of an “office” apartment is suitable, where space has been allocated for placing an office. The partitions separating one of the rooms from the corridor and kitchen are dismantled. This results in a spacious living section, where a small office is created in the living room area using sliding partitions. The second, narrow room is divided into 2 parts: bedroom and wardrobe.

When there is a baby in the family, you can use the idea of ​​​​redesigning 2 rooms of a Khrushchev house as follows: the kitchen, corridor and adjacent room are combined. Second room turns into a nursery with a spacious .

For a family of four, two of whom are school-age children, the layout of an apartment in a Khrushchev-era building is suitable, including the creation of 2 isolated rooms using the hallway. This results in a separate kitchen and two living sections. One of them turns into a children's room, where there is an extensive work area and a bunk bed. The second becomes a living room with a small wardrobe.

Planning

Remodeling an apartment with your own hands is not difficult. Initially, you need to decide what methods will be used to achieve its alteration: without redevelopment or with a complete transfer of walls and doorways; with which sections the work will be carried out - separate or adjacent.

When changing the design of 2 rooms in a Khrushchev building without redevelopment (economy class renovation), you need to follow several rules, when followed, the living space will be transformed:

• Throw away all unnecessary, old things. Every extra detail “eats up” space.
• Change color design: Light, pastel shades should predominate. Dark, bright colors are possible as accents (paintings, niches).
• Lighting solution. There should be as much light as possible, this visually increases the space.
• Abundance of mirrors.
• must be placed near the walls, it should be compact, not bulky. The optimal solution is to use furniture elements (tables, chairs) made of transparent plastic.

Complete redevelopment of a Khrushchev-era apartment, which has 2 rooms, depends on the needs and number of people living. You need to decide how many separate rooms are needed and for what purposes they are intended. First, you need to photocopy the apartment plan from the cadastral passport and make sketches of the future redevelopment on it. This decision will help to clearly determine the purpose of the residential sections, placement of furniture and household appliances.

When choosing a design for a 2-room Khrushchev house with adjacent sections where the family lives, you need to take into account the number of its members and their preferences. If 2 people live, you can create a studio. For a family with a small child, the optimal solution would be to combine a kitchen, a corridor with an adjacent room and a separate nursery. A family with schoolchildren requires the creation of 2 separate sections, which is achieved by lengthening the corridor and moving doorways.

Basic redevelopment steps

The most important aspects of the remodel are the creation of a kitchen-living room and a combined bathroom.

By combining the living room with the kitchen, dismantling the partition between these two rooms, you can achieve zoning using simple techniques:

• Color, texture. The walls of the kitchen and living room should be painted with different colors or shades of the same color, but with different textures. It is necessary to highlight the apron (textured, mosaic, printed tiles). It is better to choose flooring in different colors.
• Furniture will help to zone areas. It will help to separate the kitchen from the living room small bar counter; a small table with chairs located between the living room and the kitchen (mini-dining room).
• Correct placement of light due to different ceiling levels.

When combining a bathroom with a toilet in a 2-room apartment in Khrushchev, it is optimal to replace the bathroom for the shower cabin. This solution saves space and allows you to place a washing machine and large cabinets for bathroom accessories. Color accents are used for zoning. The ceiling is too low, “raised” by tiles with a vertical orientation. The horizontal direction of the tiles will help to visually increase the area.

Interior styles

When decorating the interior for a Khrushchev-era building, you do not need to use abundant decor and many colors. Such a decision to reduce space will create a feeling of chaos and bad taste. Best styles are:

1. Minimalism, which is characterized by: a minimum of decor, light colors, the use of natural materials, natural textures. The “highlight” of the interior of a living room in a Khrushchev-era apartment consisting of 2 rooms in a minimalist style can be extraordinary furniture, original shape or material (marbled, transparent plastic).
2. Ultra-modern high-tech, characterized by light, pastel colors, plenty of metal, glass(or its imitation), art objects, light accents. Furniture should be of restrained shapes, monochromatic colors, shelving, glass shelves, tables made of transparent plastic and metal are used.
3. Scandinavian style. The restrained, laconic direction is characterized by: furniture elements of simple shapes, natural colors, pastel tones of the cold group (blue, white). Particular attention is paid to the lighting solution: it is used abundant artificial, daylight.

Design of Khrushchev 2 rooms in pink

Furniture arrangement

To correctly arrange furniture in a two-room Khrushchev house, you need to take into account plan features:

• Studio. Furniture should be arranged in “islands”, which allows you to zone the room.
• Design of a Khrushchev house, where there are 2 adjacent rooms. This option involves the placement of furniture elements near the walls(especially important for a walk-through room). Furniture should be uncluttered and multifunctional: folding sofas, sofas, rolling coffee tables, bean bag chairs that can be moved to any place.
• Two isolated. The principle is the same as the adjacent ones. A small area requires placing furniture near the walls. It is optimal to use folding furniture elements and tables with glass tops. Instead of walls, you can use special racks that do not visually reduce the space.
• Kitchen-living room and isolated room. The kitchen and living room area in Khrushchev suggests arrangement of furniture in “islands” to emphasize the isolation of each section. In an isolated room, elements are placed against the walls.

Turning 2 rooms into 3

One of the rooms is divided by a movable partition made of translucent plastic. The solution allows you to turn one room into two and makes it easy to move around.

Important! Translucent plastic does not give a feeling of “heaviness”, does not visually limit the space, effectively separating zones.

The room is divided by a plasterboard partition with a door or arch. The lack of lighting is compensated by multi-level lighting of the walls and ceiling.
Useful video: review of the redevelopment and design of a 2-room Khrushchev house

It is not difficult to transform a small apartment into a functional, comfortable room, regardless of whether you want to completely remodel it or make an economy class renovation. Act progressively, follow simple tips and soon you will get the home of your dreams!

The main problem with such buildings is small kitchen area and, therefore, Khrushchev apartments are inconvenient for large families. Many owners of apartments in these developments are forced to put up with discomfort, because they are confident that the only solution to their problem can be complex repair work with the demolition of partitions, and it is necessary to collect documentation to legitimize the redevelopment, as well as coordinate repair work with neighbors. In this article we will talk about how to turn a small apartment into a comfortable place to live.

Redevelopment of a Khrushchev building (2 adjacent rooms): preparation options

Redevelopment of a Khrushchev building into 2 adjacent rooms is not a cosmetic renovation, but a serious process that requires a responsible approach. Before proceeding directly to changing the configuration of the apartment, it is important to take care of the approval of the redevelopment. It is necessary to draw up an accurate plan indicating all the details.

Advice! Many residents, having decided to redevelop, consider its legalization unnecessary. This is a big mistake, because without approval of documentation for any changes in the layout of the apartment, in addition to justified complaints from neighbors, you may encounter problems during the sale of the apartment.

It is also worth noting that without a preliminary examination, even experienced builders will not be able to accurately distinguish between load-bearing walls that support the weight of the floors and self-supporting ones. That is why, having started serious changes in the structure of the apartment, it is worth inviting professionals for examination, who will conduct an assessment and offer profitable redesign options.

Depending on the complexity of the work being carried out, the number of documents may increase significantly.

Options for redevelopment of a Khrushchev building into 2 adjacent rooms

Each family member needs personal space, which is why for their comfort it is necessary to turn an adjacent apartment into a separate one. The main advantage of Khrushchev apartments is that in most cases they have load-bearing walls only between apartments, and in the rooms themselves there are only partitions. This allows you to demolish barriers, expanding the space.

It is worth connecting rooms with each other using. This gives quick and easy access to each of the rooms. This increases the size of the existing corridor. In the newly formed room, you can build a dressing room in which the whole family’s belongings will be stored, which will save space in the living rooms.

A room for adults must be arranged in a room with an exit to, which can be turned into. This configuration provides additional space, especially since a comfortable recreation area can be arranged on the loggia.

Redevelopment of a Khrushchev house into 2 rooms, the options and photos of which make it possible to choose the most interesting plan, also takes into account changes in the structure of the bathroom. Often in Khrushchev buildings it is separate. For a large family this may be a plus, but to increase space it is worth considering. If necessary, you can separate zones in such a bathroom using.

Selective combination of rooms

The problem of lack of space can be solved using the classic combination of rooms. At the same time, for the convenience of apartment residents, some rooms are still divided and represent functional zones. A standard housing structure with this plan looks like this:

• The hallway is combined with. This, first of all, significantly expands the area, while combining two rooms with one functional purpose. With help you can save space under. The balcony should be located in this room, which will visually enlarge the living room, while creating a new place to relax. If the balcony is made warm, it can become an excellent loggia for welcoming guests at any time of the year.

• Combining a toilet and a bathroom solves several problems at once. Often, Khrushchev-era apartments have lying bathtubs, which is impractical given the small area of ​​the room. First of all, it is worth installing a shower area. This area is good because it takes up very little space. It, unlike the booths, does not have additional platforms, but is fenced with plastic or glass plates. If the kitchen area and its furnishings allow, then The washing machine can be installed in this room, freeing up space in the bathroom.

• As for separate rooms in a combined layout, this must be a bedroom and, if desired, a kitchen. In terms of its functionality, it is intended primarily for recreation, so it is important to take care of its reliable insulation. This planning solution will be a godsend for a family with an infant, as it will protect the baby from external noise. As for the kitchen, it should be insulated to prevent extraneous odors in the living room and other rooms.

A modern one will come to the aid of any layout multifunctional furniture, which will provide the space missing for the Khrushchev buildings.

How to visually expand the space?

Obviously, large-scale changes to the apartment plan entail a lot of construction work, and therefore high costs.

Advice! In order for expensive redevelopment to be carried out efficiently, it is worth turning to professionals for help.

Renovating small rooms in a 2-room Khrushchev house with one window and an inconveniently located door is a real test of imagination. Nevertheless, even a room in a Khrushchev building can become very cozy. The main enemy of small rooms is clutter and clutter. No creative chaos, minimum decor, furniture, color.

Rules for choosing colors

You can often hear that in modest rooms it is better to avoid dark color accents, but this statement is somewhat exaggerated. Light shades should really predominate, but if the entire decor is done in pastel colors, it will become a single faded spot, uncomfortable, uninteresting, without character. The general palette (color of walls, floors, furniture, textiles) should complement each other.

Designers advise choosing three colors: one will be the main one, the second will be an additional one, and the third will become a link between the first two. It should play a supporting role; you can choose a brighter, more accent one.

Advice! Soft diffused light filling the entire room will create the necessary visual volume and comfort.

For an area of ​​about 10 square meters, one flat chandelier will be quite enough, one or two sconces are placed near the bed, another lighting fixture on the ceiling or wall is placed near the closet or dressing table. The sconces by the bed can be replaced with small tall table lamps. Fans of extraordinary solutions can choose small lampshades lowered above the cabinets from the very ceiling.

Decoration and accessories

The window in a Khrushchev-era bedroom is usually small. Curtains made of plain fabric would be more appropriate here; if the window is on a short wall, a horizontal stripe would come in handy. You should avoid bulky curtains and canopies. In the pictures the interiors look cozy, but in practice they make the atmosphere heavy and dusty. As for the method of fastening, it is better to give preference to traditional cornices. An original solution could be a shelf above the window. It will visually raise the walls and provide some space for collecting various trinkets.

If you abandon the radiator under the window opening, you can use the space around it in an interesting way, for example, turn it into a mini office or library. To do this, a shallow built-in wardrobe is installed around it, the window sill is converted into a tabletop, or a small bench with pillows is built directly under the window.

The decor, as already mentioned, is minimal. It is better to leave open shelves half empty, this will make the atmosphere lighter. Chaotic hanging of many photos of different sizes has become very popular; in this case, it is better to replace them with one large picture or choose a modular one.

In conclusion, I would like to note that designing a two-room apartment in a Khrushchev-era building is not the easiest task even for professionals. For those who make do on their own, various computer programs will be excellent helpers, in which you can create an almost accurate picture of the future interior. But the colors, as a rule, are very distorted, so it’s better to look at the palette in a photo on the Internet.

The times when apartments were given away for free are irrevocably gone. And not so long ago, when the country began to recover after the war, in the era of large-panel housing construction, starting in 1955, they tried to provide housing, if not for everyone, then for many. Of course, these apartments, which the common people casually call “Khrushchev”, are far from perfect: the walls are too thin and uneven, low ceilings, inconvenient layout, sound and heat insulation are not at the proper level. But they built quickly, and the Khrushchevs completed their task in full.

In just 9 years, a quarter of the country's population was provided with housing. And to this day, Khrushchev buildings make up a significant part of the housing stock. They give way to new houses only in the central districts of the capital and other large cities, while in the provinces Khrushchev buildings will remain for a long time. Their service life, previously 50 years, was revised and increased to 150 years, subject to major repairs. So, of course, there is a point in thinking through the design of the Khrushchev-era building and making major repairs to it.

Yes, in Soviet times they were happy with such apartments: even if it was housing with only 1 room, and it was small, but it was their own. Living space standards were calculated not for reasons of comfort, but taking into account only the necessary minimum for human physiology. Now, when the needs have changed, the owners of Khrushchev-era apartment buildings want to somehow transform their housing in order to achieve comfort and functionality.

There are actually quite a few design options for a Khrushchev-era apartment, especially if they involve redevelopment, for example, dividing one uncomfortable room into 2 rooms that perform different tasks, or expanding narrow and small rooms due to passage areas. Some options are more successful, some less so, but one thing is true for sure, even an apartment of such a small area with low ceilings can become a modern home.

Redevelopment

Perhaps, an interesting design in a Khrushchev building can only be created if competent redevelopment is carried out. The apartments do not have a large area, but their significant drawback is that the rooms are often narrow, uncomfortable, with a walk-through area and non-functional corridors. This problem can only be eradicated by resorting to redevelopment.

Khrushchev buildings were built according to designs of several standard series. They differ quite slightly from each other, but they have one thing in common - a small area:

• One-room apartments – 29–33 m2,
• Two-room apartments – 30–46 m2,
• Three-room apartments – 55–58 m2.

When drawing up a redevelopment project, you will need to solve a number of problems. One of the problems will be related to the legalization of redevelopment, since not every design “flight of fancy” can be implemented legally. First you need to get permission for redevelopment.

The first difficulty may arise with the determination of load-bearing walls. Fortunately, in almost all Khrushchev-era apartment partitions, interior partitions do not perform a load-bearing function, but only divide the apartment space into rooms, so they can be easily demolished when making major repairs. However, there are exceptions; in panel Khrushchev buildings you can also find load-bearing walls inside the apartment. Just in case, we need to talk about how to determine the load-bearing wall in an apartment:

• According to the apartment plan. You can obtain this kind of document from the BTI. You will be provided with a standard apartment plan with the designation of load-bearing walls and partitions.
• Visually:
  • The load-bearing wall will be thicker than the partition. In Khrushchev-era buildings, the thickness of the load-bearing wall will be at least 12 cm without finishing.
  • Interfloor ceilings will always rest on load-bearing walls.

If the wall is still load-bearing, then the opening will need to be strengthened with metal or wooden supports. Redevelopment, which involves partial dismantling of the load-bearing wall, can only be carried out with the permission of the housing inspectorate, strictly observing the approved project.

Even if load-bearing walls are not involved in the redevelopment, a number of other problems may arise. For example, if the redevelopment is associated with the expansion of the “wet zone”. According to the law, the bathroom and toilet can only be expanded at the expense of non-residential premises, i.e. hallway, kitchen or pantry. The only exception is for residents of the first floors, where these restrictions do not apply.

Khrushchev-era apartment buildings often have a small, ineffective corridor connecting the hallway and the kitchen, which would be convenient to expand the bathroom. Here it is in the diagram:

In fact, this is a corridor, but on the plans this area is designated as a residential zone, so you can either put up with this or act in two stages: first, separate this area with a partition and formalize the redevelopment of the living space into a corridor, then obtain permission for another redevelopment - expansion bathroom and fill out all the documents again according to all the rules. Those. You will first have to arrange a redevelopment of this type:

By the way, enlarging the bathroom due to the passage will require additional waterproofing.

If you plan to combine the kitchen and living room to create a spacious living-dining area, then you may encounter another limitation: combining the living space with the kitchen in the presence of a gas stove is not allowed. There are two options: change the stove to an electric one, or install a light movable partition (after the commission arrives, it can be dismantled).

It is worth thinking about solving a number of other issues, which are discussed below.

Insulation. Since the insulation in Khrushchev-era apartment buildings is insufficient - it is hot in summer, cold in winter, the walls in corner apartments often freeze - the thermal insulation of the walls should be strengthened. Moreover, internal insulation in Khrushchev-era buildings is not applicable, since the implementation of this method leads to a shift in the dew point inside the walls. As a result, the walls begin to collapse, especially brick ones. Insulation is available by cladding the external walls with polystyrene slabs or by using sheathing and mineral wool on the first floors of the building.

Glazing replacement. It is advisable to replace old wooden windows with new plastic ones. Here you will have to face some difficulties. Firstly, some Khrushchev (panel) buildings do not have window sills, and secondly, the window opening is most likely to be uneven. If you contact an experienced company, there will be no problems with window installation, since they have accumulated experience in replacing windows in Khrushchev-era buildings. Some things to think about carefully:

• how wide will the window sill be,
• how to insulate a window.

Usually they try to make the window sill wider so that there is room for indoor plants. In Khrushchev-era buildings, where there were originally no window sills, this should be avoided. On the one hand, the support area for a wide window sill is insufficient, which means that the structure will be very unstable, on the other hand, a wide window sill will cause a disruption in heat transfer. By the way, the plaster slopes must be completely dismantled.

Redevelopment ideas

So, the main problems of redevelopment and repair in Khrushchev are identified. Now about specific redevelopment ideas.

One-room Khrushchev apartments

It would seem, what can you come up with, having as initial data a one-room Khrushchev house? It turns out that you can enlarge the bathroom and make a separate bedroom; at least, making the redevelopment more convenient is quite possible.

The typical layout of a one-room apartment in Khrushchev is a corridor leading to the kitchen and an “arch” to the living room. In some episodes, the “arch” was built up, and the passage to the room was located directly opposite the front door. Sometimes the project included a storage room. In the corner apartments there was another window on the long wall of the living room.

Redevelopment option	Description of the redevelopment
	This is a redevelopment option where the “arch” is built up and turns into an ordinary doorway; the functionality of the living room in this case increases, since, for example, a sofa can be placed along the wall that has increased in length. The door to the toilet has also been moved; due to the rounding of the space, the hallway becomes more spacious. Now a corner cabinet can fit comfortably here. The kitchen remains unchanged.
	Here you can see that all interior partitions, including bathroom partitions, have been completely demolished. The space is being completely rebuilt. The bathroom is expanding due to the hallway; now there is enough space to install a washing machine. The sink, by the way, is moved to the opposite wall, which will require a sewer line. The partition between the living room and the kitchen is dismantled, the wall between the bathroom and the kitchen is lengthened by building up the old doorway: a full-fledged kitchen unit can be placed. The disadvantage of the redevelopment is that the area of ​​the hallway is reduced, but it is now convenient to place a wardrobe in the living room, especially since there is space for a hanger and a shelf for shoes in the hallway.
	Another option for transforming space through a passage. In this case, the orientation of the bathroom changes - it increases slightly in area, but the main emphasis is on increasing the kitchen area. It is partially combined with the living room due to a wide opening in which sliding partitions can be installed.
	Here, a lot of attention is paid to storage space, and there is also room for a double bed; it is in no way separated from the living room area, but is located in a cozy nook. The kitchen is combined with the living room, and there is a separate niche for the refrigerator. You can beat the kitchen, living and sleeping areas with the help of design. Pay attention to the bathroom. The entrance to it is moved from the hallway to the passage, due to which the door is removed from the narrow hallway. Replacing a bathtub with a shower cabin allows you to free up space and install a washing machine.
	In this option, by moving the doorway into the kitchen, the bathroom, or rather the bathtub area, is expanded, part of the wall is beveled, resulting in a full-fledged doorway into the living room. The kitchen space is not significantly optimized.
	Here the partition between the hallway and the living room has been demolished. There is a closet in this place. The partition between the living room and kitchen is partially missing. The bar counter serves as a space divider. By moving the dining area from the kitchen to the living room, the kitchen has become much more spacious. The kitchen set in this version is located in the letter “L” and occupies not only a long wall, but also a wall with a window. Perhaps we should note the lack of storage space and the small bathroom, which is not being rebuilt, but instead of a bathtub a shower and a washing machine are installed.
	Even such a small apartment as a one-room Khrushchev can be converted into a two-room apartment if necessary. For example, in this plan you can see that a bed and a bedside table have been placed in the far corner of the living room. The bedroom area is separated by a partial partition to allow access to natural light, since the bedroom has no window. The kitchen and dining area are united by a single countertop. Zoning was carried out using flooring. There are storage spaces both in the hallway and in the living room.
	In corner Khrushchev houses, where there are two windows in the room, there are more options for redevelopment; more precisely, from one room you can make two full-fledged bright rooms with natural light. This plan shows that the partition between the kitchen and living room has been demolished, but a new partition has been erected, which now divides the room into two parts. The result is an excellent apartment with separate rooms: a living-dining room and a bedroom. The redevelopment does not affect the bathroom area.
	This redevelopment option is similar to the previous one, but the entrance to the bedroom is from the living room. But you can order a large wardrobe for the bedroom, which will solve the problem of storage space.

Two-room Khrushchev apartments

The typical layout of a two-room Khrushchev apartment provides more design opportunities, especially if all the walls in the apartment are not load-bearing.

In a typical two-room Khrushchev house, you can significantly expand the bathroom due to the passage, and organize a spacious dining-living room. In addition, you can actually make a “three ruble” out of a two-room apartment. There are three common standard layouts of two-room apartments in Khrushchev-era apartment buildings, which are popularly given loving names: “book”, “tram”, “mini-improved”.

Redevelopment option	Description of the redevelopment
	The partition between the room and the living room is simply demolished. The space of the former passage is now divided between three rooms: hallway, bathroom and kitchen. There is a wardrobe in the hallway, a washing machine in the bathroom, and a niche for a refrigerator in the kitchen. The doorway to the storage room is closed. It turned into a dressing room with an entrance from the bedroom. The kitchen is combined with the living room.
	Similar option. The difference is that in the hallway there is no niche for a closet, but in the living room, opposite the front door, there is a workplace. The entrance to the wardrobe is not from the bedroom, but from the living room, next to the workplace.
	Here the redevelopment mainly affected the kitchen and living room. The wall between the living room and kitchen was demolished and replaced by an island kitchen sink. The dining area is now in the living room: the dining table is adjacent to the sofa. Behind the sliding partition there is a double bed, which we managed to fit in thanks to the extension of the wall between the hallway and the living room. From the bedroom area you can enter a spacious dressing room hidden behind a sliding door. The bedroom became a nursery for two children.
	The disadvantage of this redevelopment is immediately visible - it is too long and narrow a corridor, but, nevertheless, this option has a right to exist. After all, it allows you to make separate rooms, expand the bathroom through the corridor, and highlight a storage area. Both the bedroom and the living-dining room are separated by partial partitions, which serve as space zoning and highlight a relaxation area.
	In this option, at the passage site there is a niche for a refrigerator or wardrobe. The partition between the kitchen and living room is only partially removed, only to make a new entrance. The living room turned out to be dark; light comes in only thanks to transparent inserts in the partitions. But the new bedroom turned out to be very bright and with a balcony.
	This redevelopment option is also possible. Part of the pantry and bedroom become a common space with the living room, the partition between the living room and hallway is moved deeper into the room, and the kitchen partition is dismantled. It turns out a very spacious living-dining room, a small bedroom and a full-fledged dressing room.
	The kitchen and living room are not combined here, as in most previous options, but the bathroom is also expanded due to the passage. A partition in the bedroom divides the room into two bedrooms - one with a window, the other without it. The wall is made in a zigzag shape to leave space in both rooms for deep built-in wardrobes.
	This option is similar to the previous one. The bedroom here is also rebuilt in such a way that it becomes two separate rooms, but the bathroom is not rebuilt; in the passage there is now a dressing room and space for a built-in wardrobe in the hallway. The partition between the living room and the hallway is moved further - a comfortable workplace is organized.
	An interesting option is a diagonal redevelopment, as, for example, seen in this plan. Thanks to this approach, it was possible to fit a corner bath into the bathroom and combine a washbasin and washing machine under a common countertop. The kitchen is not expanding, but its design is changing significantly. First, the partition is demolished. The table is replaced by a bar counter. Secondly, the sink is moved to the side of the wall with the window. The partition between the bedroom and living room is moved to install built-in furniture. The highlight of the project is the dressing room, on the sides of which you can place corner cabinets.
	There is also a diagonal hallway here. But the bedroom is significantly expanded at the expense of the living room. In fact, it turns out to be a three-room apartment, but the living room is small and separated from the kitchen by a low partition.
	A similar project, but the hallway is a little larger. There is a niche for a closet. The bathroom has been enlarged.
	Two-room Khrushchev house on two sides. The rooms here are adjacent. And the main task is to make them separate. The door to the bathroom is moved from the narrow hallway, and by reducing the area of ​​the living room, it is possible to allocate space for a pantry or dressing room. The bedroom is divided by a through shelving, thanks to which the illumination is not significantly reduced, but the space is zoned into a bedroom and a living room. Instead of the former living room there is now a children's room.

Three bedroom apartment

In a three-room Khrushchev house, the redevelopment tasks also come down to solving the problem of adjacent rooms and their small area.

The typical layout of a three-room apartment involves a small kitchen and a walk-through living room, from which there is an entrance to the bedroom, one bedroom is separate. This could be a book-type layout:

Or the “tram” layout:

Redevelopment options	Description of the redevelopment
	This plan shows that the entrance to the bathroom was moved and made at the junction of the walls, the partitions of the kitchen and hallway were dismantled. The pantry has been converted into a walk-in closet and has been slightly expanded to include a passage.
	In this option, there is no partition between the living room and the living room. The bathroom is combined. The partition between the living room and kitchen is partially removed, but remains opposite the bathroom. The entrances to one of the bedrooms and the wardrobe are located in the form of a semicircle.
	There is a large and comfortable dressing room, which is entered from the bedroom. In the living room there is a special round niche for the TV, which has become the central element. The living room also has a dining area.

Photos of redevelopments

Video: remodeling a bathroom in Khrushchev

Video: combining kitchen and living room

Hallway design

The hallway in Khrushchev has several disadvantages:

• miniature;
• long and narrow corridor;
• inconvenient layout in the shape of the letter "G".

To avoid lack of space, the hallway can be expanded to include a bathroom or living room, at least to install a wardrobe. The fact is that even a narrow closet in such a hallway will be inappropriate, because often the situation is aggravated by the bathroom door opening into the hallway. If you do not plan to enlarge the room, then you will have to resort to various design tricks to prevent the hallway from feeling cluttered.

Design techniques that will make the interior as uncluttered as possible:

• Minimalist furniture. This applies not only to the design of furniture, but also to its quantity. The hallway should contain only the essentials. These are, for example, places for shoes and clothes. Moreover, you should avoid open hangers, since even a couple of sets of winter clothes on it will create the effect of chaos. Still, you need to try to allocate space for the closet. This could be a small corner cabinet with a mirrored door. Nearby you can hang a small shelf for small things that should be at hand. In general, corner structures and mirrors should be used in the hallway of a Khrushchev building. But hanging a mirror opposite the door is not recommended according to Feng Shui.
• Will help expand the space competent selection of interior colors. It is known that light colors visually make the interior more spacious. This is also true for the hallway. However, if you follow this advice, choose materials that can be washed. For example, for walls it could be paint, for floors it could be tiles or ceramic tiles. Avoid materials with a porous texture; in a cramped hallway they can easily get dirty, but it will be difficult to return to their original appearance. Color accents will distract from the cramped hallway, but don’t overdo it – there shouldn’t be too many of them. As for the ceilings, they must certainly be light, no experiments with dark shades on the ceiling, otherwise the ceiling will feel very low.
• Lighting. Of course, the design of the corridor should include carefully thought out lighting. In a hallway, which is a priori deprived of a natural light source, this is extremely important. The best option would be a glossy stretch ceiling with spotlights. Their number should be sufficient. For example, lamps are often placed along the entire ceiling along the center line or along the perimeter of the walls in two rows. Additional wall lights can be provided. The switch must be positioned so that it can be reached from the threshold. It is completely inconvenient when it is located in the center of the hallway. You have to cross part of the hallway in the dark in dirty shoes, coming from the street, just to turn on the light. By the way, if the corridor is long, then it is advisable to install a pass-through switch, with which you can control the lighting from different ends of the corridor.
• Zoning. In a miniature hallway, zoning will probably be inappropriate, which cannot be said about a long corridor. Some designers advise dividing the space of such a corridor into two, maximum three zones using arches; you can also use color schemes.

Photos of hallway interiors

Living room design

When designing a living room, you will have to face the same problems as in the hallway: low ceilings, little light. In addition, the living room is often a passageway, which is why a significant part of it cannot be fully used. Some problems can be solved with the help of redevelopment, as mentioned above; some can be solved by using competent design ideas.

• laconic design, absence of protruding decorative elements;
• minimum amount of furniture,
• neutral colors, it is possible to use contrasting colors to transform the perception of space, but a professional approach is required.

Most likely, you will have to order furniture according to your measurements, since it will be difficult to choose something ready-made.

The best move would be to replace heavy curtains with light curtains that will allow maximum natural light into the room. In the evening, good artificial lighting should be provided. These can be the same spotlights in combination with a glossy light stretch ceiling, a plasterboard ceiling with niches that are well lit around the perimeter, or a so-called floating ceiling, implemented using LED backlighting.

Of course, you can make a separate bedroom in a Khrushchev-era building, but if you don’t want to sacrifice free space for the sake of placing a double bed, which will be a “dead weight,” you can choose transformable furniture as a solution. Now on sale there is not only a bed that transforms into a small sofa, you can buy corner sofas in combination with living rooms that turn into full-fledged beds at night.

As for style, with a skillful approach, you can decorate the living room in almost any style direction, at least you can use individual style elements. Here, for example, are living rooms in shabby chic and high-tech styles:

Bedroom design in Khrushchev

Bedrooms in such layouts as “book” and “tram” are narrow and long. In terms of area, they seem to be not so small, but this does not add functionality to them. If redevelopment is not carried out in the bedroom, then you should strive to bring the shape of the bedroom closer to a square with the help of furniture. This is easy to do if the layout is “book”. You can make a spacious dressing room or a spacious wardrobe. With the “tram” it is more difficult, but there is also a way out. As you can see above, with the help of redevelopment you can combine a living room and a bedroom in one room.

As for lighting, choice of furniture and colors, all the recommendations that were given for the living room and hallway apply to the bedroom. Separately, it is worth mentioning that in bedroom design it is better to avoid using cold, saturated shades in large quantities; however, bright contrasting shades in large quantities are also inappropriate here. The bedroom should be conducive to rest and peace. Use finishing materials and textiles in the bedroom mainly in light pastel shades, combining colors. You can even choose white as the main color, creating something in the Scandinavian style.

There are specially designed color schemes for interior design that can be successfully used when choosing the color of furniture, trim and accessories.

Do not use complex decorative elements with elaborate curved lines. If there is very little space, limit yourself to one bed. A mirror will be functional in the bedroom, especially if there is room for a small dressing table and a dressing room next to it. A chandelier is often hung in the bedroom. It’s better to give it up and limit yourself to spot lighting, but if you really want to, then choose flat models.

Kitchen in Khrushchev

There is too little space in the kitchen in the Khrushchev-era apartment, it’s literally impossible to turn around. You must either remodel or try to transform the space so that it becomes functional and comfortable.

The main move is custom-made furniture. A minor point, but two or three centimeters here and there sometimes decide the “outcome of the battle.” Having carefully thought through the placement of the kitchen unit, or rather all the sections, drawers and household appliances, you can literally implement a European-quality renovation in a Khrushchev-era kitchen. Built-in appliances will serve well: microwave, oven, hob, dishwasher, which can be small. Even refrigerators can now be purchased built under the countertop: it seemed like a cabinet; but no, if you open it, it’s a refrigerator.

It has now become fashionable to move the kitchen sink to the window, so you can place a tall refrigerator in the corner. You'll have to tinker with the sewer system, but it's a worthwhile solution.

You don’t have to move the sink if you don’t see the need for it, but simply use the window sill as a countertop. Some people connect the work area and the bar counter with a single tabletop, which makes the interior more seamless.

As for textiles, choose short, light curtains for the kitchen, or better yet, horizontal blinds located directly on the sashes of plastic windows - very convenient.

The sewer and gas pipes in the kitchens are not very conveniently located in the Khrushchev-era apartments. Gas pipes can be moved if desired by contacting the appropriate authorities. Or you can disguise them with furniture or a plastic box, or assemble a box from plasterboard.

We hope that our advice will help you independently develop the redevelopment and design of your beloved and dear Khrushchev. And finally, we suggest you look at a selection of photographs of the design of Khrushchev buildings.

Design of Khrushchev buildings photo