Small apartments are much more practical and private, but no one wants to live in a place that is overwhelmed and crowded with too much stuff. Find out in this post how you can fool the eye and make your apartment look bigger than it really is. There are people who deliberately choose to live in a limited area so as not to have to do too much cleaning and maintenance; others don’t really have a choice. Whatever your situation, we all want more space and comfort, and that’s the challenge that residents of a small apartment should face.
A small room is cute and comfortable, but it also has a few drawbacks. By its very nature, it tends to be confined. There are also those personal things that have been accumulated over the years, as well as household goods for which we must find a place to store them and to find the right furniture for your room.
Here are handy tips to make any room in your house or your small apartment look bigger.
Tips to make a small room look bigger
We do not all have large spaces so we try by various solutions to artificially increase the space. It is important to have a comfortable space with items that fill the room well. An overwhelming atmosphere reigns in your kitchen? Are you suffocating in your bedroom? Never mind, there are clever tips to visually enlarge our rooms.
Illuminate the room sufficiently
This is obvious. As with clothes, dark colors make it look slimmer and look slimmer, but that’s not what we’re going to talk about here. If you want to make a small apartment look bigger than it is, don’t paint the walls chocolate brown or polo blue. Adopt light colors, such as light blue, cream color, pale gray and light green. Enhance the effect created by natural light and illuminate the floor. If you can’t redo the flooring, go for a large area rug.
Forget overly bold prints
Granted, a throwback or two with large geometric patterns is fine, but too many bold prints in a narrow room could make it messy and cluttered, especially if presented over a large area. The more solid-colored the decorative elements, the larger your room will appear.
Use contrasts moderately
Using light colors and adopting the monochrome style does not mean that no contrast is allowed. One trick used by interior designers is to paint walls, baseboards and moldings in different shades of the same color; the walls are always a little darker.
Mix and match the elements
Keeping the same color (with different shades) gives the impression of a larger space. So, it would be nice to have some bulky furniture such as a chest of drawers or a cabinet in the same color as the walls. So they can blend together and will visually expand the room. You can also connect the color of the walls and the floor.
Let natural light in
Natural light infallibly expands a space. So if you have a large window, take advantage of it and keep it with the minimum amount of dressing possible or even without adornments. But if you don’t want it to be completely uncovered, use simple sheer sheer panels that blend with the color of the walls or slightly lighter.
Use multifunctional furniture
A piece of furniture with a double function is invaluable for any apartment. If you are short of space, adopt it in your interior design. A comfortable ottoman can act as a coffee table, dresser, or even a bedside table.
Use transparent furniture
Transparent furniture blends wonderfully into the interior as if it is not even present. At the same time, they stand out enough to be a very important accent element and add value to any style of decoration.
Clear the aisles
Do not mislead yourself. Pushing all kinds of furniture against the wall and leaving the middle empty will not automatically expand your room. The important thing is that nothing blocks the view in a room and to make sure to leave the space open, so bulky furniture is better against the wall.
Widen the wall
The trick with horizontally striped wallpaper may work as long as the rest of the decor is simple, but this is rare in a small apartment. Far too much furniture cannot go with bold patterns on the walls. On the contrary, think for example of a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookcase.
Create an original mural
Do you prefer to create your own motif or mural? It is possible to easily create a wall drawing. In addition to embellishing your room, the wall drawing will be unique to the decor of your small apartment. Choose the wall that receives the most light to make your room bigger. If the idea is to extend your bedroom, paint the wall on which your headboard will rest. If you don’t have the soul of an artist, you can buy stencils designed specifically to create a mural or have a wallpaper-type mural created. You also can be inspired by the most popular interior designs and see what you can do to make your room look bigger.
Use white paint
We really like to use white paint in a decor. That’s good, because it can be used in the decoration of a small apartment. You can paint your apartment completely white or the majority of your walls. White paint attracts light. Who says light, says grandeur! It’s not for nothing that white is the color par excellence in minimalist decors. On the other hand, there are several shades of white and the choice can sometimes be complex.
Opt for a continuity effect
To deceive your eye and avoid overloading the room, create an effect of continuity between your furniture, your shelves and your wall. Choose shelves and a wall in the same color. An original and very effective effect. Your shelves will seem to take up less space in your room. And if you have enough light in your room, dare to use this technique with a bright color rather than white paint.
How to visually enlarge a room?
To make a small space look bigger or to make a room bigger without pushing the walls, sometimes all it takes is a different layout, a particular shade, or a few well-placed accessories. Here are some smart tips for going (visually) from an interior size XS to XL.
The basic rules for not cluttering a room and making it visually bigger
●Bring clarity: colors can transform volumes. To give the impression of space, light colors are the most suitable for the wall as for the floor.
●Adjust the lines: do not forget the lines, those of furniture, walls, doors and any other structural element. The more the lines are adjusted, placed at the same height, the more there will be a visual impression.
●Sort: to avoid overflows on all sides and accumulate time, it is important to take courage in both hands and to sort out your things from time to time so as not to be overwhelmed by things that have become cumbersome and, often, d ‘no use.
●Appropriate storage: you have to choose furniture suited to what you have to store. A well thought out walk-in closet will store a collection of handbags often stored in the hallway.
The arrangement of the furniture
●A thought-out layout: depending on the circulation areas (entrance, access to windows or to another room) and the dimensions of the furniture, we will position the furniture so that they create defined living areas, while leaving areas free of passage. When the furniture is to be acquired, you have to take into account what you have to store there, the maximum dimensions that the space allows you and the covering to create a harmony.
●Avoid accumulating small pieces of furniture: choose a large, low storage unit, for example, over a series of three smaller pieces of furniture positioned here and there in the room. It is good to have walls without furniture and without a picture, because the gaze also needs to rest.
●Low or suspended furniture to clear the eye: current furniture is simplified in lines and it becomes airy. This helps to free up space, let’s take advantage of it!
Colors that help to visually enlarge a small space
It is necessary to privilege the light colors. They reflect the light and, as a result, the space becoming bright will take on its full extent. Pretty colors “cotton”, “linen”, “string”, or even “cloud” and “ashen” are contemporary and bring more warmth than a simple white.
In some cases, dark shades bring depth where it is lacking: to bring depth in a more confined space, darker shades can be used.
To bring rhythm and stretch the walls, one can use graphics (wallpaper, for example) and vertical stripes can lengthen a wall.
All the shades are composed from the three primary colors and we can then add white (to go towards pastels) or black (to go towards colored grays). Depending on the proportions, we find the most appropriate colors to create harmony while avoiding the sometimes boring shades.
Complementary colors (for example red and green) offer maximum contrast to the eye, this is not really the desired effect in a home where you want more calming atmospheres.
The brown and gray colored were riding high. These bases then make it possible to decorate the decoration with more colorful elements: lively touches for those who like rhythmic atmospheres (oranges, Basque reds …) or softer shades for serene atmospheres (gray blues, plums, Chinese greens.
Good use of mirrors
The mirrors are useful and decorative, these are important elements in the interior, so no question of forgetting. One can very well use mirrors in order to give an impression of depth, for example by fixing it horizontally above a low cabinet and, this, all in length. But we must not forget that the mirror reflects everything: a mirrored kitchen splashback will reflect the elements placed on the worktop and, unless it is very tidy, it will have the opposite effect.
As for their ideal layout, it really depends on the configuration of each space. In a cramped bathroom, you can create a horizontal mirrored strip to visually increase the width of the room. Mirrored closet doors in a hallway, for example, expand the space in addition to being of great use. Do not forget that the mirror can be smoked or bronze, then it will appear less present. In a small living room, above a piece of furniture, a beautiful mirror will capture the clarity and be very decorative.
Other tips
●Favor the harmony of colors and materials: to give the idea of an extension of space, opt for the continuity of colors on the floor, even if you change the coating, you will have the impression of the same volume.
●Think about transparent furniture: you need a piece of sofa or an occasional chair, but this piece of furniture may clutter the room visually? Opt for transparent furniture, it will disappear completely.
●Do not neglect the choice of materials. For the floor: in addition to the color, the choice of coating will have its impact. For the same room, a carpet will give the impression of reducing the room while a parquet of the same shade will visually save you space. For the furniture: white lacquers or light woods will appear less imposing than the same model treated in dark wood. For fabrics: bring lightness to the eyes. A vaporous sheer, linen or light cotton fabric will be lighter than velor or heavy fabric.
●Choose overhead lighting: lighting plays a big role in decoration. They set the tone and allow the moods to be modulated. Whether it is a plank to lay, a pendant lamp, a floor lamp, prefer those with thin feet, clear lampshades (your complexion will be better for it!) With a slender shape.
What colors to choose to enlarge a room?
Does your living room have low ceilings, your hallway is too narrow or your long bedroom seems too cramped? No problem: if you can’t knock down the walls, or even less push them, you can definitely bet on the color game (s). Indeed, well used, certain colors of the palette can help you and give the illusion of a more spacious interior! Quickly discover some painter’s advice to visually enlarge a room.
Choose light colors
One of the first rules to remember if you are looking to visually enlarge a room is to do everything to make it as bright as possible. Yes, it makes sense that a room that appears to be bathed in light will always appear larger than a dark room. If you find that your living room (or any room in your home for that matter) is too small and you want to make it visually larger, don’t hesitate to opt for a light color palette, ideal for reflecting light efficiently and giving an impression of space.
Use contrasting colors
To give the illusion of a larger room, another good decoration idea is to play the card of color contrasts from one wall to another. To do this, it’s simple: just paint the largest wall in the room in a light color, and the other walls in a darker shade. This simple trick allows you to completely change the perspective of the room and create depth. To visually enlarge a room, you can also in a more original way paint, on a light wall, a horizontal strip in a brighter color, and paint the same color on the wall facing it. A nice way to create a vanishing line to change the perception of space.
Make a narrow room bigger with a dark color
Do you find that your hallway is too narrow or that your bedroom is too long? No problem, there is a very simple but devilishly effective decorating trick to give the illusion that the room is wider: to do this, you just have to paint the wall located at the back of the room (and only him) in a dark color of your choice. Guaranteed effect!
Small touches of color to make a room bigger
One last good tip to visually enlarge a room that is too small for your taste? Create optical illusions by painting only certain areas of the room, or add decorative elements in stronger colors. This is sure to give relief to the room, as well as a good dose of pep’s, life and dynamism.
For example, you can paint the frame of a window, the bottom of a bookcase that is not too crowded, or the edges of doors. You can also paint a strip that goes from the wall to the ceiling to frame a bed in a bright color, enhance a fireplace or an atypical piece of furniture.