How to finish a niche in the wall and in the partition

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

Decorative partition with a niche

In those rooms where a niche is a structural element, it is most often used on the practical side: some for the pantry, some for the built-in closet or washing machine. And few people think about the importance of a niche in home design.
But in vain! Finishing a niche in the wall can be the main decoration of the interior, and help free up the room from excessive furniture.
In our article, we will talk about how to equip a niche with your own hands, and how to decorate it.

The value of a niche in architecture

The main purpose of the niche is to emphasize the style chosen for interior decoration. Therefore, it is not only its decor that matters, but also the configuration.
So:

• The Asian style is characterized by the use of lancet and arched forms. Such a niche can be decorated in tone with the walls, and decorated with lamps.
  As one of the options, the presence of national patterns and drawings is possible in its design.

Asian interior with lancet niches

• Turning to the Rococo and Empire styles, we will see niches trimmed with intricate stucco molding and patterns, paintings and flowerpots, draped in fabric. Modern niches came to our everyday life from the style of minimalism.
  They are able to replace the most cumbersome furniture - racks, cabinets and bookshelves, as in the photo below.

Niches replacing cabinets

• To all this, a nicely finished niche is a fashionable way of decorating walls. This is especially beautiful when it has an unusual geometry, successful lighting and original decoration.
• In the layout of standard apartments, a niche is provided extremely rarely, and, nevertheless, it can be equipped in the process of repair or redevelopment.
  It will not work to use load-bearing walls to build a niche; you can only make a recess in a brick interior partition. Is it worth it?
• In this case, you have two options to get what you want. In the first of them, you have to sacrifice ten centimeters of the area of ​​the room to make an overhead decorative partition on the existing wall.

Overhead partition

• In our example, such a partition is made in conjunction with plasterboard ceiling so that it turned out to be a kind of niche. Despite the fact that a small part of the space was taken under the plasterboard structure, the room looks spacious.
• A large role in this is played by the spotlighting of the curved lines, the landscape on the photo wallpaper. The niche line gives the impression of exiting the walls of the room onto the street.
• Very often an overhead partition is performed on an external wall with windows. In this case, the window itself serves as a niche, and the width of its window sill can make it possible to arrange a couch there, or even a desk.
  First of all, it depends on the parameters of the room.

Window niche

• In the event that you need a purely decorative effect, you can draw a niche on the wall. But here you can not do without an artist.
  The perimeter of the painted niche can be decorated with a polyurethane frame. Such frames are sold ready for installation, they are attached to the wall with glue, and you can decorate, in principle, like an ordinary niche.
• Arrangement of false niches is simply necessary in tight spaces. And where there is no natural light, such a niche is simply necessary - it can imitate a window.
  This design technique cannot be overestimated when it comes to basements and attics.

Framed niche

• Such a niche is often made in the form of a glazed frame.An excellent effect is given by a sticker on glass depicting a city landscape, sky, or tops of trees.
  It turns out extremely beautiful if you make a stained-glass window in a niche. Its interior lighting will give a full feeling of a street window.

Niche with stained glass

• Since we are talking about fake niches, we mention another option. This is an overhead niche made of polyurethane.
  This product, like all polyurethane stucco moldings, is molded in molds, in the factory, and has a white color. Decoration of such a niche will consist only in its painting.

Polyurethane Niche

• To create a niche, you can use any ledge, a branch of the corridor, a column or racks - and now the shortcomings of the layout of the room turn into its advantages. You only have to act according to the scenario dictated by the geometry of the walls or ceiling.
• When their surfaces are perfectly smooth, you can give the niche any shape that human imagination is capable of. An overhead partition with a niche will facilitate a convenient arrangement of wires and communications.

In this part of the article, we have given many reasons for the fact that a niche can not only serve as an ornament, but also be useful from a practical point of view. Next, we will talk about how and from which to make it.

Niche Making

Digging a niche in a brick, and even more so in a concrete wall, is a laborious and thankless task. If you are just building a house or deciding how to plan a studio room, you can plan a niche in advance.
So:

• And make it as deep as necessary for the function that you define for it - for example: the location of the bed or household appliances. By the way, a niche in the bathroom will save you from having to hang on the walls of the shelf.

Niche for a bed in a studio apartment

• When the recess is done over the entire height of the room, and the furniture or appliances are supposed to be put on the floor, it is easier to independently perform this work. It is a completely different matter if a niche will have to withstand a certain load - a competent calculation is needed here, and it would be best to turn to specialists for help.

The rhythmic arrangement of niches

• A single niche is otherwise called stationary. If several niches are located in one row, they are called rhythmic.
  With this arrangement, the interior of the opposite wall should be balanced by similar objects, for example: paintings, panels, photographs in the frame.
• There are certain rules for the location of niches. On the wall, which has low furniture: a sofa, a bedside table, a bed - a long horizontal recess will look best.
  A vertical and narrow niche fits perfectly near a door or window opening or tall cabinet.

Long horizontal niche

Tools and materials for work

We will consider the option of creating an overhead partition with a niche, so you do not need a chisel and puncher. And the following tools will be needed: a screwdriver; metal scissors necessary for profile cutting; drill; stationery knife; building level.
So:

• For chamfering and processing slices can not do without peeling and edge planers. If curved lines abound in the design of the partition, it will not be very convenient to cut a sheet of drywall with a knife - it is better to use a special surface gage cutter.

Tools for working with giprok

• For the installation of the frame, two types of aluminum profile are required: guide and rack. Sheathing of the frame can be done either with drywall, or take a gypsum fiber sheet.
  What is the difference between them, you will learn further.
• GCR or, as it is also called hyperpro, is a gypsum core enclosed in a cardboard shell. GVL is made from gypsum of a higher grade, and mixed with dissolved pulp.
• Thus, it turns out not a layered, but a homogeneous composition material, made by the method of semi-dry pressing.It is more resistant to fire, humidity and shock loads, so the constructions of GVL are more durable.
• Naturally, its price is an order of magnitude higher, but for the installation of partitions with working niches, it is often gypsum fiber sheets that are used.
• As well as giprok, GVLV is subdivided into several types: there is a usual option, moisture resistant, small-format GVLV, and a superfloor. We leave the last option for the floor, and the three previous ones can be used for walls and ceilings.
  Two moisture-resistant options are used only in humid rooms, and ordinary sheets are suitable for rooms: GKL or GVL - each of them has its own advantages.
• With which it will be more convenient to work, depends on what kind of design you need to do, and the conditions for its operation. Giprok is plastic when soaked, and drying, restores its strength.
• Thanks to these qualities, it is indispensable for creating curved and convex structures. So, if your partition is of such a shape as in the photograph at the beginning of our article, you only need to take drywall.
• Making a choice in his favor is also worthwhile when the wall decoration will be done with wallpaper. Otherwise, it is more convenient to work with gypsum fiber sheets.
  Due to their homogeneous structure, they are easily cut even along, even across, and are less likely to damage the sheet.

As fasteners you will need two types of screws, and connectors, called "crabs". If the structure will move smoothly to the ceiling, direct and anchor suspensions will be needed.
Well, choosing materials for finishing, you will already depend on which version of the decor stop.

Installation and decoration

Profile installation is usually started after completion rough finish. This is if the partition with a niche is independent, dividing the room into zones.
In the case when it is purely decorative, laid on, you will have to work carefully after finishing.

Decorative partition with a niche

So:

• As in any business, work begins with marking around the entire perimeter of the future design. To do this, use a level and a regular pencil, or a dyeing thread.
  Next, proceed with the installation of the guide profile, and then - rack-mount.
• If you watch a video on this topic, it will give you a much better idea of ​​how and what to do than the most detailed instructions.
• On an independent partition, one side is immediately sheathed with sheets of drywall, and a soft insulation is laid in the cells of the frame - here it will play the role of sound insulation. In the overhead partition it is not used.
  Although, if it is an external wall, then why not.
• If necessary, hide inside the communication, now is the time to bookmark them. Conclusions for the fixtures should be made in advance, even before the rough finish.
  After laying wires and cables, close the inside of the partition with a second layer of giprok.
• So, in general terms, the process of installing a partition with a niche looks like. And then begins the interior decoration of the entire room, or the niche itself.
  And we will present for example several options for decorating them worthy of your attention.
• Finishing niches from drywall can have many variations, but first you need to carefully putty its surface, sand it to perfect smoothness, and open it with a primer.

Niche to match the wall

• When the surface is prepared in this way, the result will be guaranteed quality. One of the most popular finishes is painting niches to match the rest of the wall.
  To create an emphasis on a niche in the wall, with a monochromatic finish, you definitely need a backlight.

Niche decorative stucco

• Niches decorated with decorative plaster decorate the interior of the niche, but for this you will have to invite a specialist, and his work will cost a lot.Indeed, to achieve the volume and completeness of the picture, it is necessary to apply at least five layers of plaster.
  And the picture will be guaranteed exclusive, because it is impossible to repeat it exactly twice.

Niche sticker

• As a budget option for decorating a niche, you can use a self-adhesive film with a picture. A polyurethane frame can be used not only to design a false niche, but also to make a real recess corresponding to its size.
  The slopes of the niche can be trimmed to match the color of the frame or wall.

Niche embossed finish

• The relief finish of the drywall niche can be made using a variety of materials: textured wallpaper for painting, fabric coatings, volume panels, bamboo and stucco moldings. In the picture above, the recesses on the walls are decorated with linkcrust.
  This is a kind of wallpaper with a deep relief, and a completely different sticker technology.

Creative Niche Finish

• We have already talked about decorative plaster, but the effects that can be obtained are so diverse that it is better to see once than to read about them many times. It is enough to look at our next example to understand how the artist’s imagination can transform a rather modestly decorated room.
  This is his idea - all attention to the niche!

Niche finish with bamboo coating

• As for bamboo: this is incredibly popular material today. Wherever they use it!
  There are floor coverings, wallpaper with bamboo veneer, 3D panels - all this can be applied to the decoration of niches. Murals with painted bamboo and various stickers with this theme look just as good.

3D wallpaper in a niche decor

• And another, very popular way to decorate a niche is 3D wallpaper. Volumetric wallpapers are never used around the entire perimeter of the walls, and the emphasis is only on one of them.
  In the case of a niche, this is a win-win option. In the image above, underwater themes have been selected for niche design.
  The volumetric image and its illumination give the full impression that you are looking at the seabed or an aquarium.

From the foregoing, the following conclusion can be drawn: a niche is not just a useless groove in the wall, where useless little things like figurines and vases are placed. This is a complete element of the decor of the room.
In that case, of course, if they approached its creation with all seriousness. Think, look for your own unique option, but remember the main rule: you can not make dark contrast on a light wall.
Otherwise, the niche will create the impression of a black hole, and is unlikely to contribute to a harmonious perception of the interior.