Ever felt like your home looks too cramped? You know it isn’t the biggest property in the world, but surely there is more usable space than what you are seeing, right? Don’t despair – fortunately, there are plenty of ways to make your home look and feel more spacious.
Below, you’ll find a list we have compiled that will help both practically and visually. These tips will either allow you to remove clutter from your home or “trick” the eyes into thinking any room is larger than it actually is. While not all of these tips may work for your home, we assure you that a nice balance can be found by trying out all of them and seeing what sticks.
One or two big decorations as opposed to lots of little ones
When choosing items to sit on your new high shelf, however, avoid an abundance of little ornaments. This simply adds to the cluttered look and feel. The better bet is to go for one or two big items of decor. This minimises clutter, and as long as the pieces aren’t too big, could stand to increase the spaciousness.
Draw eyes upwards
It may seem backward to draw eyes up and away from any amount of increased floor space, but it has been proven that the very act of moving your head up to look at something creates the illusion that a room is bigger than it is. This stands for any family room design or bedroom design – so make sure to focus on the space above the floor.
To make people look up, you need to give them something to look at. One way to go is to put up very high shelving, perhaps to the point that there are only millimetres to spare between the top of the books or DVDs and the ceiling. You could choose ceiling to floor-sized art pieces, too. But for the biggest impact, paint, wallpaper, or mirror your ceiling. There is no way that this won’t draw eyes upwards!
Stripes
We’ve all heard the saying “Vertical stripes are slimming”. Well, use this to your advantage. Figure out if the room in question is cramped horizontally or vertically, then use the corresponding orientation of stripes liberally. Vertical stripes in a low ceiling room will make the room appear taller, and horizontal stripes in a room with a low amount of floor space will make it appear roomier.
Big Mirrors across from windows
Mirrors are a great tool to use in the process of increasing visual space in a room. When used in conjunction with windows, they can have a big impact. Picture a drinks cabinet with a mirrored back, that makes it look like there are more drinks than there actually are. You are repeating that trick essentially, by teaming a big mirror with a window facing opposite, which will visually “open up the room”.
Hidden storage
We’ll leave you with a few practical tips. When buying furniture, try to pick ones that have hidden storage compartments built-in. This will only aid in your efforts to keep your floor space free of clutter. Whether this is bench/cupboard combos or sofas with drawers beneath them – anything than can store just a little bit of clutter will help immensely.
One big couch
And finally, if no piece of storage furniture takes your fancy, another route to take is to find one big piece of furniture that fills up a room. This may sound counter-intuitive, but having one big couch for example actually saves more floorspace than having several smaller ones. Visitors will think the room “just looks small” because of the big piece of furniture, instead of believing that it is actually small in the first place!