I set my darkroom up off of a small hallway I built when dividing up the basement.

There are pocket doors on the darkroom, and the door from the main rec room into the hallway.

The hallway leads at one end to a cold cellar, and storage area for my photo gear, dry chems, and christmas decorations.

The other end of the hall opens into the laundry room/print finishing workroom (i know, dust, but some sacrifices had to be made).

There are no windows in the one end of the hallway, and the two in the laundry can be blacked out with black foam core board inserts I have made.

When I develop in trays or print I slide both doors closed. If I want to leave I can open the darkroom door, stand in hall, close darkroom door, and then open other door to go upstairs, or step stright into the laundry/print finishing room.

The laundry is actually fitted with safelights for when I balance 20x24 trays on top of the washer and dryer when printing big.