By Nancy Mattia, CTW Features
You love your home—you just wish there were more of it. While you can’t grow a 1,500 square foot house into a grand 3,000 square footer, you can give the illusion of a bigger space. All it takes is a bit of decorating trickery to open a room and let its beauty shine through.
Below, a few ways to “enlarge” a room:
1. Hang a good-sized mirror
The classic hack that makes a space go on and on: Install a mirror on a wall to take advantage of reflective light that’s spread around the room. In terms of size, the bigger the better but keep the frame simple. Hang the mirror at the average person’s eye level, which is 60 inches from the floor to the center of the mirror. Decorate the room with objects made of glass and other see-through materials too that will also bounce light around and contribute to a spacious vibe.
2. Take a leaf out of the dining room table
If you have a small dining room and a big table, you can easily make the room visually grow by removing any leaf (or leaves) that are currently installed. Visitors will have more room to walk around too.
3. Avoid huge furniture
If you’re thinking of purchasing new bedroom furniture, don’t be tempted to get big pieces if you’re trying to make the room appear larger. When a huge bed frame and dresser and a few ample lamps are stuffed into a small space, the furniture will overtake the environment. Keep scale in mind, and look for furnishings that will work, size-wise, in the room’s square footage.
4. Remove heavy drapes for a lighter touch
Heavy drapes may be elegant but they absorb too much light, which reduces a room’s size. If you want an airier feel, hang sheer, gauzy, or linen curtains instead. Open the blinds to let natural sunlight come in too.
5. Streamline every room
Getting rid of extraneous, outdated, broken, or otherwise unnecessary items clog up a room, making it feel like it’s shrinking. Evaluate every object in your view and decide what to do with it—keep it where it is or move it to a more appropriate spot, donate it, or dump it. Decluttering your home may seem overwhelming but it actually reduces stress in many people
6. Paint everything from floor to ceiling in your favorite color but keep it light
While a dark color on walls gives a room some decorative drama it also makes the space feel like it’s closing in on itself. Light colors have the opposite effect and create an airy ambiance but especially if you use the same light color for the ceiling, trim, and doors too (if you don’t want to paint your floors, add a rug or carpeting in the same light color as the rest of the room).