How to make a small room feel bigger
Small spaces often present a real challenge, and can often feel cramped, untidy and claustrophobic especially when you’re trying to fit a lot in. Read on for 10 tips on how to decorate your small space to make it feel bigger.
Furniture
When it comes to furniture, we want to be purposeful about the furniture that’s in the room, and make sure that we can see as much of the floor as possible. There are a few ways this can be achieved.
Go for fewer, larger pieces of furniture
The more furniture you have, the more cluttered and small the room will feel like, so go for fewer, larger pieces of furniture rather than lots of smaller pieces.
Being deliberate with furniture and choosing fewer but larger pieces will work best in a small room, rather than cluttering it with smaller pieces. Design by Park & Oak.
Use furniture with legs
Furniture with legs will make the room feel more spacious because you’ll be able to see more of the floor. Mid century furniture offers uncluttered and sleek lines and are a great choice for a smaller room.
In a similar vein, furniture which you can see through (for example perspex dining chairs or armchairs with open sides) will make the room seem more spacious too.
Armchair from Cult Furniture, Sofa from Sofa.com and TV cabinet from Next.
Utilise wall hung furniture
This is a great tip for small bedrooms - wall mounted bedside tables are a great way of keeping the floor uncluttered while still providing storage.
Interior Fox use wall hung bedside tables one either side of the bed to make use of the alcove space.
Multi-functional and foldaway furniture
Make your furniture work for you and consider getting pieces that will solve more than one purpose. A side table that folds out into a dining table, or a coffee table that doubles as storage will help keep the clutter to a minimum.
If you’re not using your desk all the time, look for drop-leaf tables which can be tidied away when you’re not using them.
A desk which folds away, by Arthouse Illustrations. Desk from Ikea.
Walls
When you’ve not got much space on the floor (and you want to be able to see as much of the floor as possible), you can make clever use of the walls.
Make use of the walls for storage
When you’ve not got much space on the floor, look upwards and think about using the walls for storage. Shelves and tall bookcases not only provide a storage solution, but if you go tall (think ceiling height bookcase) it will draw your eye upwards and help make the room feel larger.
Lisa Dawson’s shelves are a nice focal point but also draw your eye up the wall.
Use mirrors
This is a classic trick and every small room should have a mirror. A cleverly placed mirror can make a room feel double the size. In terms of placement; put one opposite a window, and now you have 2 windows in the room! Or place one near a light source to bounce more light around.
Hang curtains high
If you’re hanging curtains, you can easily make the room feel much bigger. Get a curtain rod that is wider than your windows and mount it close to the ceiling - it will instantly make the windows feel much bigger and the room feel taller.
Boxwood Avenue showing how hanging your curtains higher than the window makes the windows seem bigger.
Keep your lighting on the wall
Opt for wall sconces and pendant lights rather than floor lamps, to keep the floor free. Not only does this add lighting without using up space, but it will also draw the eye upwards to give the illusion of a taller room.
Colour
Don’t be afraid to use colour in small rooms!
Go bold with colour
I’ve written an entire blog post on how to use colour in small spaces which you can check out here; but in summary, you definitely don’t need to stick to just white walls. Using colour cleverly can have a big impact on how big the space feels.
Limit your colour palette
Maximalism probably isn’t the best choice for a smaller room if you are wanting it to feel bigger. Whilst colour can definitely be used in a smaller room, try and limit the palette so that there’s less contrast and the space will feel bigger.
I hope this has been helpful and that you’ve been able to take away some tips to make your small room feel bigger.
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