Visually Expanding A Small Room
Living in the cities, we tend to make do with small spaces and small rooms. A small living space in your house can be cozy and inviting, but it can be cramped and confining if you don’t put much thought to it. And it’s really hard to live in a house that is suffocating and makes you want to go out all the time.
You have a couple of options if you have a small room. If you have room to expand, you can knock out a wall, and combine two small spaces into one. But this takes a lot of time, money, and effort. A much quicker option is to visually expand the room, using colors and other methods to make the room look bigger.
I promise you, if you invest a bit of time on making your rooms (and house) look bigger, you can breath easier and you won’t feel as cramped everyday.
What can you do to make your space look bigger?
TL:DR
- Get rid of clutter.
- Use light colors on your walls.
- Use light curtains.
- Have big windows or if not, get big mirrors.
- Do not use big furniture.
- Use lots of lighting.
The first thing that makes a room look small is clutter. So one of the first things you should do is to declutter the room. Go through the shelves, and clear off any unnecessary items. Its okay to leave some items for decoration, but most of the clutter should be cleared away. This alone will help to make your room appear larger.
Light colors will help to visually enlarge the room. Use light colors when choosing your paint and décor. You don’t need to paint everything white, though. Light yellow will brighten things up, and add some warmth to the room as well. If you are okay with the size of the room, but have a low ceiling, then you should paint the ceiling white will give the illusion of height.
A heavy and opaque curtain can make your house feel stuffy and hot. Something lightweight will allow more light through, and help to make the room appear larger. If you have the money for remodeling, you may also want to install larger windows to allow more light. Larger windows will also allow better views outside of the house, again, making the space appear larger. If it isn’t possible to install larger windows, then try installing a couple of mirrors in the room to provide the illusion of space.
When furnishing the room, use smaller items when possible. A large bookshelf will tend to overwhelm the space, making it look smaller. Do not try to fit as much furniture in the room as you can. A few essential pieces, strategically placed will keep the furniture from overwhelming the room. A couple of chairs, covered in light colors will make the room look larger, while heavy furniture, like a large couch will tend to make the room look smaller.
You want as much light in the room as possible to make it appear larger. If you can install lights, some recessed lighting in the ceiling or some strategically placed wall sconces will add sufficient light to the room on cloudy days, or at night. If you can’t install lights, then some floor lamps in the corners of the room will brighten things up. Remember, the brighter the room, the larger it will appear.
A small, cramped space doesn’t have to remain claustrophobic. Certainly, you can expand the room, if you have the space, time, and money. If physically expanding the room simply is not possible, then you can use visual tricks to make the room look larger than it is. Or, you can simply call it cozy, and learn to live with it.
