0
0
With modern living getting ever more cramped and rooms appearing smaller than ever, how can you have your dream house in an ideal location without feeling closed in?
Unless you have the money to buy a luxurious country cottage with plenty of room to spare or a town house with high ceilings and a feeling of spaceciousness the majority of us will be living in modern town houses or 3 storey family homes and will be in desperate need of tips on how to make their house feel bigger.
We’ve put together a number of tips to help overcome this very common problem, if you can’t add extra space to a room create the illusion of it, small is beautiful!
Firstly you can make decorating changes to make an area look and feel bigger, without moving any walls! With colour, lighting and furniture arranging.
Clear out the Clutter
Having too much stuff in a small space is the first thing to make it feel cramped. Get things out of the way by using clever storage, organising clutter behind closed doors, adding shelving but making sure that anything that is on show is arranged in an orderly fashion
(click images to purchase products)
Open Up
Move furniture and accessories that block the view into a small space, clear walkways and open space to make the room feel larger. You could also choose furniture that isn’t so imposing….armless or open chairs, low tables, ottomons for storage and any large tall pieces of furniture stand up against a wall rather than leaving in the middle of the space. The more floor that can be seen the bigger the room will feel.
(click images to purchase products)
Colour Right
As nice as they are for making a room feel cosy, dark, warm colours close a space in whereas light cool colours make a room feel open and airy. For optimum effect select soft tones of blues and greens.
Tone it Up
Using a monochromatic colour scheme (using colours from the same colour palette) including tone-on-tone upholstery fabrics, textured wall finishes and delicate tonal drapery fabrics this will give your room a more open feel, as will cool and delicate warm colours.
Don’t Interupt
Contrasting colours tend to break up a space where pieces of furniture that are coloured to match the wall colour are less interrupting and will blend with the space creating an effect of greater space.
Let Light In
A room will always look and feel larger if it is well lit, either by natural or artifiial light. Get rid of heavy curtaining and let as much natural light in as possible. Alternatively add more lamps and introduce innovative lighting that can be moved around to create different illusions.
(click images to purchase products)
See Through
Use materials you can see through, anything beyond them will feel further away. Frameless accessories also help and the addition of glass tabletops, not losing style by keeping a sturdy wood, stone or metal base. The key is that the glass top will open up the space around the table.
Reflect
A mirrored wall may be a step too far but adding a large mirror to a main wall or standing an oversized mirror against a wall will always make a room feel much larger. The space and light will reflect from the mirror giving a more open feeling.
This can also be achieved by adding mirrored drawer units and surface tops.
(click images to purchase products)
Bigger is Better
Rather than having several small pieces of furniture or accessories go for larger statement pieces. With open space and large blocks of colour the room will feel less cluttered and become more calm and comfortable.
(click images to purchase products)
Keep it Simple
Upholstery should be kept plain in colour avoiding bold stripes and prints, using only texture for interest.
If you want something other than plain colours go for soft floral or simple stripes but don’t overcomplicate it.
Source: Coral Nafie – How to make a small rom look bigger.
