“In a small space, everything counts.” – That’s the main idea behind this article, and how we can make a small room look bigger, with some clever tricks.
Small rooms can feel confining and uncomfortable. Luckily we can utilize certain design concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem much bigger and spacious. Some solutions for small spaces, that can make a room in your home look larger are color techniques, furniture arranging, and lighting considerations can give the look of space. These are a few of the topics that we are gonna to present in this article. By the way … Maybe you want to sell your house and there is one thing you can do to make the house easier to sell. This thing is make the house look bigger. So let’s begin …
Some time ago I’ve wrote an article where I’ve discussed about room colors and their influence on our moods. Today you’ll learn how to use colors rto make your room look bigger. Cream colors and icy blues are just a few of the best color combinations that can open up a tiny room into a bigger living area. It is all about illusion. Light colors make your room look bigger and brighter. Light and brightly colored walls are more reflective making a space feel open and airy, which will help
to maximize the effect created by natural light. While dark colors absorb light, making the room look smaller. For optimum effect, select soft tones of blues and greens, and always remeber that brighter rooms look bigger and more inviting.
You can paint your walls light and use dark colors for the border and trim. Paint your wall trim and moldings a lighter color than your walls. When you paint your moldings light, the wall appears further back, making your living room appear bigger.
Sometimes furniture can take a lot of space. To avoid that here are some useful tips :
- Use multi-function furniture like a chest that can be used as a coffee table, sofa beds, chest of drawers, and beds with drawers for storage etc. Stick to clean lines in the furniture. Use an extendable dining table, folding tables and nest of tables, which can be tucked away when you don’t need them.
- Place the large pieces of furniture against the walls so the open space in the middle isn’t broken up.
- Scale the furniture to fit the size of the room and don’t block walking pathways. With furniture and accessories blocking the view into a room and out to open spaces, a room will look cramped. By moving furniture out and away from walkways, you’ll open up the space and make it feel larger. If you can see the floor, the room will look larger. Having oversized sofas or too much furniture will make the living room look smaller.
- Consider having at least some of the furniture pieces the same color as the walls. Even the bigger items like armoires and chest will begin to blend in to the room and widen out the room. You can add some detail by stenciling in a design or accent onto the furniture.
- Setting your furniture at an angle works because the longest straight line in any given room is it’s diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather than the shorter wall. As an added bonus, you often get some additional storage space behind the piece in the corner, too!
- If the furniture in your room is tall, that might be making it seem as though the ceiling is lower than it actually is. Make sure there is plenty of space between your furniture, too.
- Choose a sofa and chairs with open arms and exposed legs. A glass table, will keep keep the appearance of a open and free space. This allows light to filter under the furniture, making the room appear airier.
Lighting is a key element in opening up a space.
Let the light into the room too. Buy letting the natural light flow into the room, you will be surprised at how this will open up the room and make it look larger. If you do not have a lot of natural light, you can add some lighting features to the room to make it look bigger. You will be amazed at how this small addition can make a big difference.
If you have access to natural light, make full use of it. Bring it into your home through windows. Full height glass panes work best. Having a large picture window can make a room seem bigger because a barrier between visitor and outside view has been removed. Instead of seeing a dimension-defining wall, visitors see an expansive view of the outdoors. Make sure window coverings are sheer, or are pulled back, to bring more light in. If the view is bad use hanging plants and potted flowers near windows. Lamps will bring in colour and focus attention.
Keep your room tidy and organized. There’s nothing that makes a small space feel cramped more than having too much stuff. With things neatly arranged and out of sight, the space that is in view will feel orderly and open. A cluttered room equals a smaller room.
Don’t cove your walls with a lot of pictures. One large painting works better than a group of small paintings. If there’s too much going on, all clamoring for attention, it can make the room feel busy and crowded. So, when decorating a small room, create a focal point, one area or feature that will draw the eye. In the dining room, the focal point will probably be the table. In the bedroom, it’ll probably be the bed. Make that focal point the star of the room. Arrange the furniture so that focus is
drawn to that area, and keep the décor in the rest of the room to a minimum ( limit the number of accessories ).
Keep the floor as clear as possible. This is one of the most important ways of maintaining a sense of spaciousness. One more tip – Take out large rugs to create the illusion of more floor space.
Mirrors can make your room look larger. Use a focal point and angle your mirrors towards it, which will give the illusion of depth. The mirrors also reflect both natural and artificial light to make a room brighter during the day and night. They bounce light deep into the room, making it appear larger. This is especially effective with near a window so the outdoors can be reflected. Mirrors on the walls and glass tabletops will make it seem like there’s a more open flow. You can also use mirrored cabinet doors to make spaces feel large and uncluttered.
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Published by Michael May 29th, 2007 in Uncategorized
72 Comments
December 26th, 2007 at 7:48 pm
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nice but can be better
January 31st, 2008 at 4:09 am
[...] You can find more ideas for making a room look bigger at this article from Fresh Home. [...]
January 31st, 2008 at 4:09 am
[...] You can find more ideas for making a room look bigger at this article from Fresh Home. [...]
February 4th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
Well…DUH! Thanks for pointing out the obvious, *dur dur dur*
February 12th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Haha, very nice pics!
February 20th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
[...] Your room will be looking smaller by this kind of arrangement. If you want more tips on how to make a room bigger check our article. 5. Another thing important is making use of the right curtains. Your efforts may [...]
February 20th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
[...] Your room will be looking smaller by that kind of arrangement. whether you want more tips on how to make a room bigger check our editorial. 5. Another thing crucial is making use of the right curtains. Your efforts may [...]
February 21st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
[...] Your room will be looking smaller by this kind of arrangement. If you want more tips on how to make a room bigger check our [...]
February 26th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I was wondering if Anne or someone would help me. I have a room that is long and narrow. It is our kitchen /dining and living area, all in one. 48′x16. The problem is, now that the sheet rock is up it looks too narrow . The ceiling is tall with exposed beams.19′ Are there any ways to trick the eye with paint color or wainscotting on the wall where my dining table is to help break up the long look? My wooden ceiling is painted a color called dry earth. It is a medium shade khaki w/ a hint of moss green. What color walls should i go with? Darker or lighter? HELP….
February 28th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
For Vintagegirl. Such a long, narrow and tall space can work beautifully with gradation of colour.
You did not mention where your natural light enters. If you have a decent sized window in the 16 foot width, playing up/allowing that natural light can make a huge difference during the daytime with the natural light spread into the room across the narrower end. Window treatments should accentuate cleanly with horizontal preference (no side swags please). Light, neutral Roman type, fold-up blinds are perfect for clean light entry during the day and privacy at night. Again considering natural light coming from the narrow width, returning the colour of the floor (should be on the same hue but better to be several shades lighter than the ceiling), up the long forty-eight foot wall on a deep baseboard, will spread the sixteen foot width visually. As this is a multi-purpose room, choose and place artwork/wallhangings very carefully. You can define/create focus areas with art work and plants around sofa seating area. Avoid floor clutter around dining area and kitchen for practical purposes. You can take advantage of wonderful storage areas in the work/creative spots in this location and use wall hanging live plants if light levels allow (good for the air too).
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm
humm……it doesn’t answer my question thow.
my room is really small but i dont understand how to make it prettier?
April 5th, 2008 at 7:39 am
Dope article. really useful as I am de-cluttering my room. Peace out
June 22nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
Great info. Needs spell check
June 28th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
ewz awsome
August 1st, 2008 at 9:46 pm
yeah -well plenty of so-called experts on designer websites giving tips on designing for small space – unfortunately, all talk. No photos and frankly pretty bad advice (put furniture against the walls ?).
August 19th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hi there! Thanks for the tips, they’ve been great!
I do have a question though that is concerning me at the moment. Mine and my husbands bedroom will soon be turned into a study, and it has shelving literally on every wall from ceiling to floor – the shelves can’t come down because they’ve been bolted to the ceiling rafters, and with over 1000 books on them it wouldn’t be sensible anyway. The problem is in redecorating the room (currently it’s all green) – I don’t know what to colour the room in order to make it look larger, but at the same time not have it just in a neutral colour. Do you have any suggestions on how to redecorate this room?
October 25th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Excellent article, this is especially useful in Miami with all the new condos being built, many of them have small living spaces and any way to open the space up is always useful.
November 7th, 2008 at 2:44 am
this information was very helpful so thankyou who ever made this website your awesome ;hearts
November 7th, 2008 at 2:50 am
i love this web site its very helpful and i think that the person who made this web site is awesome and not a geek or nerd but a true self appered rockin out rockin out out rock star doesnt everyone think they are because i do ♥ ♥
December 6th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I was wondering if anyone could help me choose some colours for my bedroom to make it appear bigger. I have one window and a couple of big pieces of furniture that I can not get rid of due to buget constraints. I would like to paint each wall in a different colour. Any suggestions?
December 15th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Floors. Any tips about floor treatments? i.e. boarders, wall2wall, rugs? Which direction should a rectangular rug run, and how much border should be left? Light or dark better? Underneath the bed, or at the end. Thanks. Very useful tips and comments.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
ok… but ive seen so much better. But the pictures were nice ther described what you were talking about well.