There are many things that can make a room more or less desirable and pleasant to spend time in, but one of the very most important things to ensure about your rooms is that they feel big. The more spacious a room feels, the less likely you are to feel claustrophobic, the cleaner and tidier it will look, and the more you’ll find it a relaxing and tranquil place.
At the same time, a big room has practical advantages – allowing you to do more with it and fit more inside, meaning that if you are showing around guests or potential buyers, they will be more impressed if your room is larger.
Of course, you can’t really make your room bigger than it actually is without knocking down walls and building extensions, which is of course an option, but the good news is that you can certainly create the illusion of size in a number of ways.
Follow some of these tips, and you can have your rooms and your whole home feel bigger and more spacious by the end of the week or, at most, the end of the month.
Paint the Ceiling
You will find that in most rooms, the ceiling is painted white even if the rest of the room, such as the walls and the carpet don’t match. This is the most common practice simply because it makes the ceiling look higher, and if you walk into two rooms – one with a white ceiling and one with a ceiling the same color as the walls, you will quickly notice that the former feels a lot taller.
Reduce the Clutter
Obviously, just reducing the amount of clutter in your rooms is a great way to make them look bigger and feel more spacious, simply because there will be more free room to move around in, and there will be less in your visual field.
Be really ruthless then and throw out half your ornaments (you can keep them in the loft, just get them off the surfaces). In this way, you’ll also be left with a much nicer standard of ornament because you will have left behind only your favorite and most attractive pieces.
Create Light
One of the best ways to make a room feel bigger is to increase the amount of light getting in, and there are many ways you can accomplish this. One of these is to of course increase the size of your window, and even just washing it can help.
Likewise, you should make sure that you don’t have any netting under your curtains (or that it is at least open), and you should make sure that you have some good lamps in your room that are bright without being blinding. Adding a mirror can help a lot too because it will reflect light from the windows around the rest of the room.
Use Light Colors
Light colors reflect light which means that they can further help to create the illusion of a lighter and thereby larger room. If you have a small room, then stick to beiges and whites rather than blacks and maroons.
Keep It Clean
Dirt and dust dull the color of your surfaces, thus making them look darker and thereby meaning they reflect less light. Furthermore, specks will mean there’s more in your visual field again, making the room feel ‘busy’ and therefore more crowded.
Go Open Plan
If your rooms are very small, then you might simply want to open up the space by taking down dividing walls, taking out doors, or adding cabin hatches so that more light filters in from the rest of the house and so you gain space where the wall would have been.
Just by following these simple tips, you can make your rooms feel bigger and feel more spacious. And if you’re really in need of a makeover, you can always hire a professional decorator who will help you achieve the look you want.
