11 Ways to Make a Small Space Look Big | Interior Design Tips
One of the biggest problems with city living is the space limitations. If you find yourself stressed over the size of your home follow these 11 tips to make a small space look big.
Furniture
Selecting the right furniture and placing it correctly is essential to improving the function an appearance of a small space.
Furniture Size: Oversized sectionals tend to be a bit of overkill in a small space. To make a small space look big opt for a loveseat and small chair or a regular sized sofa that can be centered in the room.
Exposed legs furniture: Adding furniture with actual legs that boost it off the floor helps gives the perception of more space-making the room as a whole seem larger.
Space Between Wall and Furniture: Keeping the furniture away from the wall makes the eye pick up on the space between items and gives the appearance of more space in the room.
Notes about the image: The image above is of a 940 square foot condo. It originally had the white chair on the left in addition to a full sized brown couch that went down to the floor, and a large ottoman in the center of the room. The room was cluttered and looked small. So we updated the furniture and took some pieces out to give the small space some more room to breathe.
Hidden Storage
Small rooms have an added problem-- limited storage. You can fix this problem by incorporating furniture with storage space built in: A chest coffee table that opens up for storage of blankets, dvds, and other odds and ends. Ottoman with storage areas, and tv stands with built in shelves are great additions to keep your area clutter free.
Colors
For a small room you really want to go light and bright on on your walls- you can add in some pops of color on the furniture or accessories, but keep your walls nice light shades (light gray, white, beige, light yellow). This will really help make a small space look big.
Floors
Light Colored Floors: light wood floors in any shade you like, light carpet colors. If you do have dark floors already and no opportunity or desire to update choose a large area rug in a cream or light gray.
Add a rug: Rugs help define a space and give a bit of interest. You have a few options in a small space: a light colored area rug, or a striped rug can elongate the room and make it look larger.
Draw the attention up
High ceilings are wonderful to make a small space look big- if you don’t have tall ceilings you can still use ceilings to your advantage. Draw attention to the ceilings by including beams, adding reclaimed wood to your ceiling, painting it a different color than white, adding shelves high on your wall to naturally draw the attention to the ceiling.
Accessorize
Use larger accessories and fewer of them to prevent overcrowding.
Wall Art
Mirrors: Mirrors are great wall art for small rooms because they reflect back and make the room seem bigger with very little effort on your part. The larger the mirror- the better the affect.
Large Artwork: Just like with accessories having multiple small art pieces makes the room look cluttered--- while one prominent piece will make it feel bigger. Use a high interest piece with pops of color to really focus the attention.
Want some help making your small space fit for a king? Contact us.
