We don't all live in gigantic, luxurious mansions. In fact, most of us must be content with modest homes thanks to ever-increasing property prices.
This means that your house or apartment is probably a little smaller than you hope it would be. It can feel extremely cramped or even claustrophobic at times.
But this doesn't need to be the case! There are a tonne of tricks you can use to make a small room look bigger.
We've outlined a whopping 35 top tips for you in this article, along with extra hints and mini guides for your perusal.
Here's how to make your home look more spacious throughout:
Paint & Wallpaper Tips
1. Add an eye-catching design to the ceiling. Paint or wallpaper will draw your eye towards the ceiling, making the room look taller.
2. Paint the room in lighter colours. They reflect light to make the space look bright and open.
3. If you have an accent wall, make the rest of the walls white. It’s ok to have one brightly coloured or patterned feature wall. The room will still look spacious if the rest of the walls are white.
4. Paint mouldings white. White trims and skirting boards etc produce the effect that the walls are further away thus making the room look larger.
5. Small prints are better. Walls and flooring should be plain or feature only small prints to amplify the space.
6. Try different shades of the same colour. If you want to add some depth to the room paint the detailing and mouldings in a shade of the main wall colour.
Via Design Sponge
7. Paint the walls and ceilings the same colour. This reduces the appearance of distinct boundaries between the walls and ceiling.
Furniture Tips
8. Avoid bulky, heavy pieces. Simply put, big sofas and cabinets etc will fill up a space. Downsize your wares to allow for more space in the room.
9. Choose furniture with legs. As opposed to furniture where the bottom touches the ground, furniture with legs has extra space underneath.
10. Avoid tall pieces of furniture. This adds to the illusion that there’s lots of space above the furniture thus making the room appear taller.
11. Use multifunctional furniture. This is a much more efficient way to make use of the little space you have.
- sOFABED
- modular
- multi-unit
- LOVESEAT
- Rocker
- SWIVEL BED
- multi-mat
- stools
12. Get fold-up furniture. The furniture (probably chairs and tables) serves its purpose then tidies away neatly when not in use.
13. Use glass tabletops. This will add to the free flow of light around the room.
14. Match furniture colour to the walls. This means that the pieces will blend into the background and make the room appear to have more space.
15. Choose one key piece.
One larger piece, such as the bed or sofa, with custom storage built-in or around the piece can also make a space look bigger.
Organisation Tips
16. Get rid of clutter. Have a spring clean and throw out any unnecessary or unused possessions which take up too much space in your home.
10 Quick and Easy Decluttering Tips
17. Leave space around and in between furniture. The worst thing you can do is have you furniture pushed up against the wall. Try placing your bed at an angle or sofa in the centre of the room.
18. Use hidden storage. There’s an abundance of furniture that contains hidden compartments for storage out there. Think outside of the box and store clutter inside sofas, beds, tables etc.
- under floor
- under stairs
- hidden cabinet
- UNDER BED
- storage hacks
- storage cube
Via DIY Cozy Home
19. Group furniture on one side of the room. This will create walkways for people to move around the house or apartment as well as leaving wide open spaces.
Lighting Tips
20. Let in as much natural light as possible. Let the light from your windows and doors flood the room to make it look more open and expansive. The larger your windows are the better.
Via freshome
21. Use recessed lighting. Rather than having a heavy lighting fixture that takes up space install recessed spotlights.
22. Introduce sheer curtains. This will allow more natural light to come into the room from the windows thus making it bright and airy. (Make your shower curtain clear too).
23. Get rid of curtains altogether. Connect the inside space with the outside.
Accents & Accessories Tips
24. Place shelves closer to the ceiling. Similar to the idea of painting or wallpapering the ceiling, shelves will draw the eye upwards and make the room look taller.
25. Avoid too many small decorative accents. This includes vases, ornaments, candles and the like. Instead use a fewer larger pieces sparingly.
26. Avoid using large rugs. Taking big rugs out of the room will add to the illusion that there’s more floor space.
27. Add at least one mirror. This will reflect the light, giving the room more natural light. It will also reflect the space making it look bigger.
10 Ways to Use Mirrors to Make a Room Seem Bigger
28. Choose a light coloured floor. Light colours reflect the light and make a room more spacious. The floor can count as a wall to apply this trick to too.
29. Match accents to the wall colours. Similarly to matching the furniture to the wall colours, try matching pillows, throws, curtains etc.
30. Leave some empty space. You don’t need to pack every shelf or cabinet with items. Leaving some free space will make the place look more roomy.
31. Emphasise the lines. Decorate your room with things that emphasise strong vertical lines or strong horizontal lines. This will make the room look taller or wider.
Via cococozy
32. Add drama to the space. The room doesn’t have to be boring just because it’s small! Large images or paintings can make the space really pop and thus feel bigger.
33. Colour coordinate your belongings. This works well with books for example and will add a sense of organisation to the space making it seem more streamlined.
34. Break up a room with rugs. If you only have one larger space to work with (instead of separate rooms), break it up into different areas using rugs.
35. Avoid heavy fabrics. Try linens and lightweight materials that are sheer or light in colour.
Top Hints
- Think outside of the box to come up with new space-saving ideas.
- Keep the overall décor as simple as possible to avoid cluttering up the space.
- Be strict with yourself when organising and limiting the contents of the room.
- It is possible to achieve functionality and great style at the same time.
- Make sure there's lots of room for movement and light to flow through.
Sources: Stylecaster, Buzzfeed, freshome, Remodelista, The Everygirl, Apartment Therapy, Inhabit, Bedshed, Trendhunter, POPSUGAR, Freepik
