7 Tips to Make a Small Room Look Bigger

I have to admit, there are times when I look at interior design magazines, the homes of other bloggers overseas and images in design books and feel like my own comes up a bit short – but does size really matter when it comes to rooms? Of course, many of us immediately equate ‘bigger’ with ‘better’ but that’s not always the case. And in the case of our homes here in Britain, most of us don’t have huge sprawling properties with massive room sizes but it certainly doesn’t we can’t make those smaller rooms work for us or that we can’t also have a beautiful space just because of the more petite sizes of many of our homes.

There are a lot of tricks of the trade to making a smaller room look a lot larger – and not only that, but making those rooms work for us just as well as a larger space would. A combination of illusion and smart storage can immediately make a space feel large and airy and the right colours and accessories can give a grand impression so I thought I’d share seven of these tips for getting a bigger look with a smaller space.

Flooring

Having different flooring in every room will chop up the visual space, making individual rooms look smaller. By using the same flooring across your entire space, you will unify the look, creating a visually wider expanse of space.

Colours

Sticking to a unified colour scheme throughout will give your home a sense of flow. Pale, natural colours have a tendency to make your home appear airy and spacious. Painting the walls light neutral colours will also visually expand a room.

Curtains

Taking your curtain pole right up to the ceiling draws your eye upward, creating the illusion of a higher ceiling. Your curtains should not only start at the ceiling but also end on the floor, creating a wide vertical line (no short curtains please!). You also want to hang them wide so that when the curtains are drawn back, the full window is visible – this takes advantage of getting as much natural light as possible into the room, creating a much fresher, brighter look.

Leggy Looks for Furniture

If you have a small space, the majority of your furniture should be on legs – this allows you to see floor beneath the pieces, creating the illusion of more floor space.

Mirrors

Mirrors create both light and depth, doubling the spaces they appear in. Using a large mirror with architectural interest has the ability to create another ‘window’ in a room and reflects light around a space.

Reflective Surfaces

In the same way that mirrors bounce around the light, reflective surfaces will do the same. So using glossy flooring, lacquered furniture or mirrored surfaces will go a long way in creating light and depth, naturally making a room look larger.

Acrylic and Glass Furniture

Using ‘see through’ furniture is another trick to making a space appear larger than it really is. Acrylic furniture can be used to great effect in a smaller room because visually, your eyes do not register it as being there at all. So the room appears to be larger and lighter with less furniture – consider using the now classic Louis Ghost Chair in an office space or dining room and acrylic or glass console tables or coffee tables to give the illusion of more space.

I hope my tips today were helpful! What do you do to make your small spaces appear larger?

Image credits:  Tile Mountain / Emily Keegan for Design Sponge / HGTV / 1st Dibs Instagram / HGTV / Tile Mountain / Skona Hem