How to Make a Room Appear Bigger
Organising your space in a thoughtful and considerate way is one of the most valuable things you can do to your home. Making a room feel larger is a difficulty that we often come across so I've put together a list of different ideas that will help towards making the most of the space you have.
HANG YOUR CURTAINS HIGH & WIDE
To create the illusion of space, we need to trick the eye into thinking the features of the room are larger than they are. A good way of doing this is by making the windows seem bigger. By hanging your curtains higher and wider than the window frame, you will achieve just that.
KEEP YOUR FLOOR VISIBLE
Try to keep your floor as clear as possible; do this by choosing furniture with legs rather than without and by choosing glass and mirrored furniture. You want the eye to see as much of the room as possible. When it comes to glass furniture, the light from the room will shine through to the floor instead of creating a shadow which can hugely open a space up.
USE MIRRORS
So this is a fairly obvious solution, but if you want to use mirrors to enlarge your space and don't want it to be as noticeable as just hanging a mirror on the wall there are a few ways you can get creative with it; you could cover a whole wall in mirrored glass, choose mirrored furniture over heavy furniture or you could install mirrored cabinetry in your smaller space.
VISUALLY CONTINUE WITH COLOUR
To draw the eye forward, try to use neutral colours in as much of the design as possible; this deceives the eye by giving the room no obvious end. This one can be tricky as you don't want the room to lose it's character, so try to inject colour in accessories, soft furnishings, trimmings and only some furniture.
MAKE USE OF ALL THE VERTICAL SPACE
It's easy to neglect the space above us, but by taking advantage of it you can create a real feeling of opulence. Not only this but it can also be a great place to install extra storage. A bookcase that reaches to the ceiling, shelving that climbs to the top of the wall and large pieces of artwork are just a few ways of achieving this.
MULTI-PURPOSE FURNITURE
Another quite obvious solution, but again there are ways you can be creative with this one. An ottoman serves as an extra chair for the times you have guests over, or as a storage box and a coffee table when you don't, just purchase a tray to place on top of it.
INSTALL BUILT-IN SEATING
Built-in seating is a great way to make the most of your space. Bay windows, storage cupboards or any wall recesses are perfect areas for this. These could be in sociable seating areas such as the living room or family room, in the entrance hall or utility as a place to put shoes on and take them off, or even in the kitchen or dining room with the table pushed up close.
