7 Wall Niche Ideas That Will Transform Your Home
Wall niches have been an architectural and design staple since the beginning of time. They’ve been used to house artwork, statues, pottery, and even as storage space in the kitchen and, later on, in bathrooms. The concept of a recessed wall is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, taking on various shapes and sizes.
Something great about these wall features is that they can be created in pretty much any room of the house. They are cost-effective and can be installed fairly easily, whether the walls in your house are brick and mortar, or drywall. Although, adding a wall niche to brick walls is slightly more challenging than with drywall. Where you have to remove masonry in a brick wall, creating a drywall recessed wall niche is quite a simple task. With our custom made wall niche kits , it’s a simple and cost-effective installation process.
While there are different types of wall niches available, all of ours are considered built-in. These are installed as part of the architecture and are designed and created with the build of the wall. This can be done in new construction or as part of a remodel.
So, if you’re looking for a good way to transform your home, here are some top wall niche ideas to inspire you.
7 Creative Wall Niche Ideas to Spruce up Your Home
1. The Classic Reading Nook
Ye Olde Reading Nook is a very popular wall niche idea to spruce up your home. Whether it’s in a hallway, the living room, or even your kid’s bedroom, this is a great way to use a recessed wall to add a touch of drama and function to your home.
Adding a reading nook to your home is like adding another room, without having to construct an actual room, thus saving you a lot of money. It’s also a great way to create a semi-private space in a living area, especially if you have an open-plan living space. By adding the wall niche, you’ll have a space to read a few chapters (away from the kids), while still being able to keep an eye on them.
A simple, shelved wall niche is also a fantastic way to store your favorite books, without taking up the floor space a large bookshelf would. It’s also a smart way to store your books if you live in an area that experiences earthquakes (no bookshelves toppling over!).
Your wall niche bookshelf can be large, taking up the greater space of a wall, or it can be a small recess in the wall if you’re looking to house fewer books and perhaps a few ornaments.
2. The Kitchen Storage Niche
Extra storage space is always a plus in any home, but especially in the kitchen. A recessed wall in the kitchen is a great way to create extra space to store cooking utensils, spices, and even dry foods.
You could add a recess in the wall above your stove, to create a convenient space for your salt and pepper and other essential cooking items.
If you’re looking to create some serious storage space, adding a wall niche is a great way to achieve this, without installing a standard cabinet.
You can add shelving to the niche to maximize the storage space for crockery and dinnerware. This not only makes it easy for you to grab your plates when you need them but is an excellent way to display these items - especially if you have some unique pieces you want to show off.
Below you can see a custom wall niche that is being installed in a kitchen. This set up would be perfect for some bench seating, a built in wine cabinet, or even extra storage!
3. Bathroom Recessed Wall Niche Ideas
Adding a wall niche in your bathroom is both a functional and stunning storage solution. Gone are the days where you have to buy shower caddies that get caked in soap. A recess in the wall can provide storage space in your shower or above your bathtub, holding your shampoos, body washes, and soap dish.
Your bathroom doesn’t just have to be a functional space in the home, it can also be your sanctuary. Whether you’re taking a long relaxing bath or a soothing shower, your space can be appealing to look at.
Cabinets provide the necessary storage space for items that aren’t particularly great to look at, but wall niches provide space to add art, vases, candles, and ornaments that add tranquility and ambiance to your bathroom.
4. Contemporary Wall Niches
In medieval times, wall niches were used to house anything from a fountain to statues of formidable figures, and down to smaller pieces of art. In modern times, we may have ditched the statues of warriors, but we still enjoy showcasing our collections of art in recessed walls.
It’s also become a more functional way of decorating the inside of our homes.
Besides adding a wall niche to showcase art, you could use it functionally in your living room. Instead of a flat wall, the recess in the wall will not only add an element of depth but create storage space for ornaments and functional items like televisions, speakers, and multimedia systems.
A pro tip - don’t be afraid to play with color. Adding color to the back wall of the wall niche adds a modern element to the design of your room. For instance, if the wall is light grey, painting the back of the niche yellow and the inside walls white creates a contemporary pop of color that draws your attention to that area of the room.
Another great wall niche idea is to add lighting to the recess. Downlights are easy to install and add ambiance to the entire room.
5. Bedroom Wall Niche Ideas
If you’d like to save floor space in your bedroom, but want to keep the idea of a nightstand, a wall niche is a great idea. Adding wall niches on either side of a bed, as well as above it, create a space for you to add your books, lighting, and even a charging station for your phone. This is a great way to create the illusion of more floor space while providing the function a nightstand would.
Remember that reading nook we mentioned before? This can also be a great addition to your bedroom if you have the space. For a bedroom with a large window, you could create a relaxing area with a wall niche and window bench.
6. Transform The Closet Under the Stairs
The closet under the stairs is such a great space that can be utilized both functionally and beautifully.
If your closet is large enough, you could turn it into the classic reading nook (see, it comes up very often). But, if your closet is slightly too small for that, you could turn it into a display case, housing some of your prized art pieces.
For more functional purposes, this space can be turned into a great spot for hanging your nice coats, jackets, or bags. Not only will this put your favorite items on display, but they’ll be easily accessible when you’re on your way out of the house.
7. Create A Hallway Display
Since the beginning of time, a hallway has never just been a hallway. Yes, it’s the way you move between rooms in a home, but it’s also a fantastic space to display art pieces. Whether you have Ming dynasty vases you’d like to display, or simple plinths from your local homeware store, displaying art is the best way to add character to a blank wall.
Your wall niche could be very simplistic. Simply hanging framed family photos or a bold painting in a niche can transform the wall into an accented space that draws your attention to that particular piece of art or photo.
You could even add shelves to your wall niche to house vases, plinths, or heavier objects.
If you really want to take it to the next level, adding extra lighting to the wall niche will elevate the design even more.
Choosing A Wall Niche Style
Before you decide to remodel and transform your living space with a wall niche, it’s important to decide on the style of niche to go for. We offer three different types of wall niche styles: soft, half-circle, and dome top.
Soft Style
The soft style gives you the ability to control the depth in instances where you either prefer or need a shallower recess.
Half-Circle
The half-circle style has depth that is half the width, providing a cylindrical shape.
Dome Top
The dome top style is a half-circle niche with a half-dome on top.
Check out this finished dome top wall niche below!
Transform Your Space With These Wall Niche Ideas
Wall niches are a great way to add value to your home, for additional storage space and visual appeal. They can help to break up large, plain walls, brighten up your rooms with extra lighting, and create interesting accent areas where you can display your favorite decor items.
If you’re interested in optimizing your space and enhancing your home, then these wall niche ideas should give you a great starting point!
One thing to note is that It’s important to seek professional advice before designing and installing, as you wouldn’t want to install incorrectly or damage an existing wall. That’s where we come in! We’ve designed hundreds of custom wall niches for our clients over the years and would love to help bring your wall niche vision to life. Just take a look at our
wall niche photo gallery
for some of our recent projects!