Make A Small Room Larger

August 2011
 

It’s hardly ever the case that people have too much space. Very few of us need to scale down the look of a huge mansion. Instead, we need tips and tricks to make a small room feel larger:

A room with too many furnishings looks cramped. Use multifunctional furniture such as a chest or basket that can double as a coffee table, storage ottomans, sofa beds, platform beds with drawers, and so on. Use an extendable dining table with leaves, folding tables, or nesting tables, which can be tucked away when you’re not using them.

Make sure the scale of the furniture fits the size of the room. Choose sofas, love seats, and chairs with exposed legs. Big, clunky furniture takes up space, literally and visually. Choose a glass table, which will give the illusion of open space. This allows light to filter under the furniture, making the room appear lighter and roomier. 

Place your furniture on an angle to make a room feel larger. The longest straight line in any given room is the diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, the arrangement leads the eye along the longer expanse, rather than the shorter wall. You also get the bonus of being able to stash items behind the sofa. FYI: This only works if your furnishings are somewhat smaller in scale. Huge sofas on the diagonal will eat up too much space! 

Consider making a few of your larger furnishings, like armoires and bookcases, the same color as your walls. This allows those behemoths to blend into the room and visually widen space. You can add some detail by adding a few colorful accent accessories on the shelves.  

Remember scale and proportion in small rooms. If the furniture in your room is very tall, it can give the illusion that your ceilings are low. 

Don’t Block Passageways. When large furnishings and accessories block the view into your room, the area seems crowded. By moving furniture back and away from the walkways, you’ll open up the space and make it feel larger. 

It’s a bit of a myth that dark colors make a room feel smaller. The bigger culprit is too many colors and too much contrast. Small rooms need an element of calm. Go darker if you like, but stick with a low-contrast, monochromatic color scheme. 

Open up a room with light-colored flooring. An easy way to lighted up a floor is with an area rug.

Avoid heavy, drapey window treatments. They eat up space and block natural light from entering the room. 

In order to create the illusion of larger windows, hang your curtain rod higher and wider than your window. When you attach the curtains, the window will appear wider and taller. 

Don’t go crazy with accessories. They can make a room feel cluttered and closed in.

Adapted from "Life’s Too Short to Fold Fitted Sheets" by Lisa Quinn, Chronicle Books. 

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