Want to Make a Room Look Bigger? Here’s How

If there is a room in your home that feels small and confined, there are a number of interior design tricks you can use in order to arrange and decorate that room to make it look bigger. There is no need to undergo the hassle and expense of knocking out walls or other major construction projects when you understand how to enhance the space in a small room using color, light and design techniques to fool the eye into making it look larger and more appealing.

Choice of color matters when you want to enlarge a small space. Dark wall paint and furnishings quickly make a small room look even more cramped. Choose white, pastel and neutral colors as your main color scheme to easily make a room look bigger. Once you choose your color, use the same color scheme for the furniture, walls and floor coverings, employing your key color choice in a variety of shades and textures for added emphasis.

Use lighting to your advantage in order to help make a small room appear larger. Small rooms can appear to have more open space when recessed lighting is installed as an interior design element. Torchiere lights that project light upward toward the ceiling can help reflect more light that bounces back down on the entire room. If possible, install a skylight or solar tube to increase the amount of natural lighting available in a small room.

Refrain from overdoing any decorative accents in a small room because clutter quickly makes any sized room feel smaller. Choose rugs and flooring accents that are white or light in color in order to open up the space and make sure that the ceiling color is either white or neutral in order to make the room appear much bigger.

Mirrors work for magicians to help fool the eye of the audience, and they can also work for you in increasing the size of a small room by reflecting color, light and images. When one wall or ceiling is completely transformed into a mirrored surface, the size of the room can appear to magically double in size.

Keep it simple when furnishing a small room to help it look bigger, selecting just one or two chairs positioned against the wall rather than a full sofa. Keeping it simple when it comes to positioning art on the walls is another smart interior design rule for enhancing the space of small rooms. Selecting one large art piece as a focal point rather than a smattering of small works of art is a great approach. If including a table in your design scheme, choose one with a glass top that reflects light and gives a small room a much larger appearance.