How to Make a Room Seem Larger
Small rooms are a reality of modern life, especially in big cities, where space is a luxury. If you’re stuck with a small space, you can still make the most of it by tricking the eye and taking advantage of what’s available right around you. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Repaint the room. Choose a base color for all walls and avoid borders or wallpaper, as they tend to create a feeling of coziness that will actually shrink the size of a room. When choosing colors, stick to pastels or cool shades such as blue or off-white, which will reflect light.
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Stick to a single color for the whole room. You don’t need to make the whole room monochromatic. Instead, it’s enough that you stay within the same shade color: for example, if you’re choosing green, you can have pastel green walls, olive green upholstery and green/brown curtains. Make sure that the ceiling is not painted on a contrasting color either, as this will give the impression of it coming down and shrinking the room.
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Choose small furnishings. This includes everything from the tables and couch to the paintings hanging on the walls and the flower vase on the coffee table. If you have your heart set on a specific large piece of furniture, buy it, and then make sure all the other pieces surrounding it are much smaller.
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Add as much glass as possible. Choose glass-top coffee tables, armoires with glass fronts rather than wood doors and tons of mirrors. When choosing curtains, make sure they allow sunlight in: bright rooms tend to appear larger.
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Take advantage of vertical spaces. Tall bookcases, giant potted plants or long vertical paintings tend to draw the eye upwards, which will in turn make the room seem larger. If your furniture is generally low, choose accessories that are thin and long, such as pillar candles, flowers with long stems and tall thin bottles.
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Tips & Warnings
If you do nothing else, at least get rid of clutter. A sparse room looks bigger because there are enough empty corners to draw the eye away from the large furniture and the crowded space.
