October 30, 2020
It’s only natural for people to crave large airy living space as it gives you a sense of freedom. However, not everyone can afford the luxury of a sprawling mansion or a spacious condo.
So, what to do if your home starts to feel a little cramped but can’t afford to knock down walls or move to a bigger space?
We’ve put together a list of useful tips to help you decorate and organise your small space to make it look bigger.
Working a little flooring magic can make small rooms seem larger when working with wood laminate, hardwood, (LVP) luxury vinyl tiles, carpets, or ceramic tiles.
Installing boards parallel to the longest wall visually stretches narrow spaces such as corridors, hallways, and long kitchens.
Diagonal board placement also helps to stretch a small space visually.
Laying laminate, wood, or tile flooring diagonally in a rectangular or square room creates an illusion of space.
Since a diagonal layout is dynamic, it creates a sense of movement to give the room a spacious feel. It also makes small rooms with angled walls feel bigger and wider by adding visual intrigue.
Planks are better suited for small rooms than the narrower strips. Planks are at least 5-inches wide, while strips are 3-inches across.
Strip flooring uses a lot of narrow boards and creates plenty of seams that make a small room seem busy and feel crowded.
The broader planks reduce the number of seams to give the room an open, airy feel.
Creating a contrast between your floors and walls makes a room pop. Pairing light coloured walls with dramatically dark floors gets great results.
To further enhance this effect, create a dark base trim on each wall and top it off with an intense coloured crown moulding.
The contrasting colour play draws the eyes upwards from the dark floors to the light-coloured walls, giving the room a light, airy feel.
Like with strip flooring, grout lines can give a small room a busy and cramped feel. While matching the grout colour with the tile can offset this effect, using larger tiles is the better option as it creates fewer grout lines.
Using tiles that are at least 12 square inches will help open a small space. Luxury vinyl tiles (LVP) and broadloom carpet are perfect because they are available in large sizes.
Your furniture could be hogging all the available space and making your bedroom or living room feel cramped and small.
Moving furniture is the simplest way to create more room.
Rearrange the larger pieces to create a single focal point in the room. The rest of the stuff and room’s décor should rally around the focal point.
For instance, you can move the sofa by the bay windows and place an accent chair on each side. Or you can move the bookcase behind the couch for better space utilisation.
Move large pieces so they block the view into a room and line tall pieces along the wall to let in more light into the room and increase the open space.
Heavy, dark coloured furniture gives a room a cramped feel while transparent furniture or pieces with exposed legs create the illusion of space.
Pick furniture that’s proportional to the size of the room. A loveseat is better for a small living room than a full-sized sofa. Pair it with stools or ottomans if you need additional seating.
Decluttering is crucial to making a small space feel roomy. Coffee tables, lidded stools, and ottomans can double up as storage bins. A box bed can double up as a closet to keep your small bedroom neat and clutter-free.
Rethinking the décor can hand you instant wins when decorating a small space.
Dark colours create depth in small rooms since they disappear into the background while enhancing the lighter elements.
Brilliant interior colours appear more vibrant and intense, creating a fresh, energetic mood in each room. Contrasting colours create a visual appeal and enhance a room’s interior design.
Cool colours give small spaces an open and airy feel, which makes them look bigger.
Unlike the dark warmer colours, cool colours such as light blue and green recede and appear far away creating the illusion of space.
Painting adjoining rooms in the same colour creates continuity, which makes the space look bigger.
Remember to use the 60/30/10 rule when picking colours – 60% primary colour, 30% secondary colour, and 10% accent colour – for a balanced feel.
Contrasting furniture and wall colours breaks up the space and makes it feel smaller. Matching furniture and wall colours blend with the available space to make the room appear bigger.
Adding mirrors to a small space instantly creates the illusion of a large space.
Hanging one opposite a window brightens a dark, poky room. It reflects the light and interior décor, making your small space seem twice as large.
Framed mirrors against a wall make the room feel roomier while giving the it a touch of class.
One big area rug in a room gives the illusion of space but scattering several small rugs makes it look crowded.
Bright, non-textured lightweight rugs will brighten up the room while making it look more spacious.
Thinking vertically can save the day when decorating a small living space.
Mounting storage units near the ceiling increases your storage space encroaching on valuable real estate. You can stash away more items and keep your small spaces clutter-free.
Floating shelves, knobs, and hooks also increase the amount of storage space at your disposal while creating plenty of open spaces.
For rooms lacking architectural details, you can transform the walls into appealing focal points. Textured wallpaper, paintings, wall décor, and pictures can get the job done.
Create one accent wall or hang art and paintings on one wall but leave the rest bare to avoid overwhelming the room.
One large piece of art is better than a gallery with several smaller pieces.
If you must, create a gallery with smaller pieces on just one wall and hang large-scale pieces on the rest. Don’t use a gallery on every wall as that might create a cluttered look.
Overhead lighting in a small room can create shadows and make it feel closed-in and smaller. Having multiple light sources in a room eliminates this problem.
Aim for at least six light sources around the room and optimise them for maximum reflection. Uplights, downlights, swing arm lights, vanity lights, and picture lights are excellent choices.
Integrating wall lights into your decor creates a beautiful ambience. With proper lighting, you can turn an accent wall into a focal point or have it blend into the background.
A little effort and a lot of imagination and creativity is all you need to give your small rooms an open and airy feel.
You can play around with your furniture, walls, interior décor, lighting, and mirrors with great success. If you need help with a feature wall or new flooring, talk to one of our staff members.
