As the last 18 months have forced many of us to spend extended periods of time indoors and winter is once again on its way, we thought it was time to look at how you can ensure you’re making the most of your living space, especially if it’s a smaller space.
Ideally, we’d all have spent the lockdowns in our very own castles, with lots of rooms and plenty of space – however, for the majority, it’s sadly not the case. But that doesn’t mean that we should settle for a living space that feels small or restricted or cramped; we’re here to help you decorate in a way that creates a greater sense of space.
A touch of nature
Bringing nature indoors is an increasingly popular trend, especially given the calming effects that plants can have. Incorporating a few different sized house plants allows you, in a way, to mirror the outdoors and create a natural flow into the outside world.
This alone can help the room to feel more spacious, and if you then tie your paint colours in with your plants and opt for natural-toned colours such as greens, reds and yellows, it can feel like the room has been ‘opened up’ and it can feel much bigger.
Create the illusion of a larger room with a mirror
One of the oldest and most popular tricks in the book when it comes to creating the illusion of space is to use mirrors.
Placing a mirror near to a window can help create the impression that the room extends further – and if the room is a little bit darker, having a couple of mirrors can really help the light to be projected around the room, which is perfect for those living spaces that are on the smaller side.
Embrace vertical stripes
Your paint and wallpaper choices can have a big impact on any room. Much like with clothing, the use of vertical stripes catches the eye and essentially fools the brain into thinking that the room is taller and wider.
Painting and decorating the walls with coloured stripes (two colours or more!) will ultimately make the ceiling feel higher, again giving the illusion of more / a bigger living space. Furthermore, it’s thought that the use of multiple colours as opposed to just one can help to increase the feel of the ‘depth’ of the room.
Opt for a neutral colour scheme
By choosing colours that are in the same family and opting for textured wall finishes and even tonal draped fabrics, the mix of cool colours and delicate warm tones can help to give a smaller room a larger, more open look.
Within your chosen colour scheme, it’s also important to coordinate your wall and furniture colours too – contrasting pieces and décor tend to break up a space, ultimately making it appear even smaller than it actually is. Furniture that matches the paint colour tends to be less jarring, allowing it to blend with the entire space and giving the illusion of a bigger room.
Clear out clutter and open up the room
A sure-fire way to make a small room feel cramped and claustrophobic is to have ‘too much stuff’ in a space that simply isn’t big enough. If you can declutter or work out ways to get your bits and bobs out of view and have organisers behind doors, on shelves or under sofas then this extra space should help to open up the room and leave it looking more spacious and organised.
Similarly, when furniture blocks the view into a room, this can also make it cramped – regardless of whether you’ve chosen a neutral colour scheme and have managed to create reflective spaces, or whether you’ve organised all the clutter. By moving furniture and accessories away from walkways, you’re opening the room up and making it feel much larger. Generally speaking, if you can see the floor then the room is likely to appear bigger.
There are many tips and tricks out there that can help you to create stunning and spacious homes from within a smaller living space, but these are some of our favourites. For any help on your project to create the illusion of more space, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
