Make a Small Room Bigger – Environmental concerns and the housing crisis have pushed the concept of small homes into the forefront again as more and more people in the 2020s opt to live in tiny houses.
It’s easy to see the appeal of living in a tiny house – it costs less money, so owners have little or no debt, it has a smaller carbon footprint, and it’s relatively easy to maintain.
But just because you live in a smaller house doesn’t mean it has to feel like you’re living in a cramped space. With a few design tricks, you can transform your cozy living area to feel and look bigger.
The trick is to deceive the eye into seeing more space with movement, light, and scale. Ready to get inspired? Here are six ways to get you started.
Choose The Right Paint Color
One of the easiest ways to make a room feel bigger is to choose the right paint color.
The main thing to remember is pastel colors reflect more light than darker colors. More light makes any room instantly feel bright, and airy.
When choosing a color for any small space, go for neutral colors. These colors naturally reflect light around the room, making it look bigger, so it’s perfect for smaller spaces.
Choose tones in shades of off-white, greens, and blues. If you want to level it up, you can choose to paint your moldings and wall trim lighter than your walls to make it appear farther back, an optical illusion to make your area look bigger.
Mirror Mirror on the Wall
Another inexpensive way to make any room instantly bigger is to use mirrors. Mirrors make any room look larger by reflecting natural and artificial light to make any space look brighter.
The easiest way to position a mirror is to use a focal point (an area or a structure like a table, couch, etc., that will draw the eyes to it) and angle your mirror towards it.
You can also put up a mirrored cabinet or place the mirror next to the window to reflect the light from the outside.
Go Low or Choose Furniture With Exposed Legs
Choose furniture that’s low on the ground simply because it creates an illusion of openness by creating more space above them.
You can opt to go for a Japanese-style bed that’s low on the ground in the bedroom, or you can choose just simply to put the mattress directly on the floor.
If going low on the ground with your furniture is not something you are fond of, you can choose a couch, sofa, or bed with exposed legs.
The exposed legs expose the floor and trick the eye into believing that there is more space. It also allows light to go under the furniture, making the room appear bigger, not to mention making it easier to clean.
Light It Up
Light instantly makes any space bigger. But if your area doesn’t have access to natural light, you can choose to create multiple light sources from lamps that can spread light evenly throughout the room.
Choosing to do this instead of having just one overhead light source makes any space instantly look and feel bigger.
Choose Multifunctional Furniture
Storage is often a problem in small spaces. One way to solve this problem is to choose furniture that has hidden storage space.
You can choose a bed with underneath storage or an ottoman that doubles up as a space to store your knick-knacks.
Another great way to free up space is to get multifunctional furniture.
You can purchase a sofa that opens up as a bed if you have guests or a foldable dining table that opens up to accommodate more people. Or instead of investing in a big couch, you can find a modular sofa to fit any space.
Declutter and Organize
There is no easier way to make a space look and feel bigger than simply being neat and organized.
Invest in organizers for your closet or furniture that double up as extra storage systems and keep things you don’t need out of sight.
Regularly channel your inner Kondo and go through your things and donate, or sell the things that you feel don’t spark joy in your life.
Getting rid of the things you don’t want will make any space and your soul lighter.
Try to free up your walls and don’t fill them with a lot of frames. If you need to, it’s better to hang a big painting in place of a group of pictures if you want to make the room feel bigger.
With a bit of effort and design tricks up your sleeves, you can transform any small space into a comfortable, breezy, and beautiful retreat that you want to come home to every day.