How To Make A Small Space Look Bigger

Living in a small home? Whether an apartment in the city or quaint country cottage, sometimes having a lot of belongings and not much space to put them in can cause you to feel cramped in your own home. Often, though, the solution is not in having more space, but is simply in knowing how best to work with what you’ve got. There are many ways that you can make a small living space look (and feel) bigger - read on for our top tips.

Ensure You Have Plenty of Lighting

A little bit of natural light can go a long way. Flooding a small space with plenty of light will naturally make it look larger by unveiling dark corners and lifting the atmosphere. Even when the sun has gone down, having multiple light sources spaced throughout your room will keep the focus from being on the one area that an overhead light would highlight, thus opening up the room and giving more lighting zones.

Keep Your Colours Neutral

If you opt to have curtains framing your windows, choose a fabric that will blend in with the colour of your walls in order to create unity. Better still, add sheer drapes that will allow even more light to enter the room. A light, neutral colour palette will make the most of any natural light to make the room look bigger, and keeping this colour palette consistent will create a flow within your space.

Make Use of Mirrors

Reflective surfaces positioned around a room will contribute even further to keeping it light and open. Many designers swear by the illusive powers of a mirror to trick the eye into seeing more space, which is why adding plenty in a small home is essential. But don’t feel limited to a frame on the wall - there are plenty of other innovative ways that you can incorporate mirrors into your space. Think about your accessories, your furniture or even your cabinets for how they can maximise the magic of mirrors.

Add Multifunctional Furniture

When working with a smaller space, picking multi-functional furniture is a handy hack to save on precious square feet. Make use of pieces that provide hidden storage, like a lift up coffee table or ottoman bench. These will come in handy in a living area where you need extra storage for blankets or your collection of magazines. In a petite bedroom, the more floor space the better. Investing in a bed with built in storage will save you from having to overcrowd your limited space with extra cupboards or untidy boxes.

Choose Transparent Items

One of the oldest tricks in the book? Transparent household items - whether your clear shower curtain or your dining room chairs - are a definite way to trick the eye into seeing a bigger space. Tiny bathrooms can benefit from perspex shower casings or just a transparent shower curtain. If you're worried that too much furniture might make your lounge look jam-packed, a glass coffee table will provide you with essential surface space without intruding on the look and feel of the room.

Go For Statement Art

You may think that keeping things on the small side is the way to go when you’re looking for wall fillers of a smaller room, but, in this case, bigger is better. A single statement art piece will be a lot more effective than a gallery wall to keep the space feeling unified and uncluttered. And keep any other decorative accents sparse - this will let the room ‘breathe’ and keep it from feeling messy. 

Think About Furniture Placement

It’s natural to want to push all of your furniture pieces to the edges of a room to maximise the space that you are working with. But if this means squeezing around objects just to get from room to room, it will soon become frustrating and can cause the space to feel claustrophobic. Arrange your furniture pieces so that there is a clear pathway for you to walk through, whether that’s all to one side or with a clear middle walkway. Having defined zones, even on a small scale, will help your space to feel put together and tidy.

Take Time to Declutter

Although ensuring plenty of storage solutions can help to keep things tidied away, taking the time to clear out clutter is the best way to keep a small space from becoming overcrowded. If you come across items that you haven’t used in over a year, ask yourself if you really need it, or if it is just taking up precious space and contributing to a cramped home. 

-