In my recently purchased apartment, I've come up with an idea for the hall as a part of interior designing. In my mother-tongue, we have a term for those three pits(?).
Vases in the wall? - I'm not okay with it.
How do we describe this in English? Non native speakers? I'm searching for the term that describes those three (without vases). They are three ______ in/on the wall.
Here is the actual picture
Without expressing awesomeness, the term is
From the architectural feature the figurative meaning of "a special place" either in a professional, scientific or ecological context is derived.
A word that most people would be familiar with is recess, or more specifically in this case a recessed shelf.
recess - from Dictionary.com
3. a receding part or space, as a bay or alcove in a room.
4. an indentation in a line or extent of coast, hills, forest, etc.
recess - from Wiktionary
2. An inset, hole, space or opening.
This can also be referred to as an alcove. Alcoves can also be an area you can walk into though, so be careful to avoid ambiguity.
alcove
/ˈalˌkōv/
A recess, typically in the wall of a room or of a garden.
Origin: Late 16th century: from French alcôve, from Spanish alcoba, from Arabic al-ḳubba 'the vault'.
Source: OxfordDictionaries.com
Another potential word for this is nook though it's usually for a larger space.
nook - Dictionary.com
Noun, noo k
- any small recess: a breakfast nook.
Generally the size progression is that a nook is bigger than an alcove which is bigger than a niche. In this specific case I think you're referring to a niche, I place this answer here purely for the sake of completion. The safest is definitely "recessed shelf" with a qualifier as to the desired dimensions of the space.
