Decorator Tricks! Living in an apartment, or in an older home with tiny rooms, can present a challenge: how to make your limited space seem larger. Try these easy home-decorator tricks.
- Go Light: Use light colors on the walls and floor. Softer hues can make a cramped room feel bigger and brighter.
- Hang a Mirror: Place a mirror opposite a window and it will bounce light around the room, making the space feel airier. The bigger the mirror, the better.
- Sprinkle in Some Metallics: A shimmery lamp, light fixture, or object will have a similar effect as a mirror, reflecting light and brightening up a space.
- Install floating Shelves: They offer storage space without the bulkiness of chests, bookcases, and armoires. You can even swap out your nightstands for floating shelves.
- Make Use of Corners: This often-overlooked area can be a great spot to squeeze in an extra accent chair or a corner bookshelf, making your room more livable. Or tuck a cozy chair in a corner to create an instant reading nook.
- Fake bigger Windows: Installing curtain rods a few inches below the ceiling instead of right above the window frame will draw the eye upward and make windows seem taller. The same trick works to visually expand a window’s width, if you hang the rods a few inches past the sides of the panes.
- Mach your Curtain Colors to your Walls: Curtains that blend with the walls create an unbroken line, making a room feel much larger.
- Choose scaled-Down Furniture: pt for furniture that suits a smaller space, like this petite table. Even traditionally bulky pieces, such as upholstered club chairs, come in narrower widths these days, so you can get the same look without cramming in your furnishings.
- Opt for Airy Pieces: Instead of a solid-wood coffee table, which can weigh down a space, choose a see-through acrylic one or a table with an open metal base.
- Decorate with Double-Duty Finds: A garden stool can act as both an end table and a spot to perch, an ottoman with a tray can hold your TV remotes or transform into extra seating, a bench can display books when not in use otherwise.
- Sneak in Some Storage: An easy way to keep a small room from becoming cluttered is to choose furniture with space to store objects, like a coffee table with a shelf below, a bench with bins underneath, and an ottoman with a removable top and empty space inside. Note how this work space/dining space has clever cubbies to stash belongings.
- Make your Furniture Mobile: Buying furniture on casters—or outfitting it with casters yourself—allows you to easily rearrange pieces as needed, whether that means pushing a chair, table, or kitchen island out of the way or rolling a futon into position to comfortably set up overnight guests.
- Bring in a Plant: Greenery makes even the smallest space feel fresher and lighter. If you don’t have room on the floor, try a hanging plant instead. (Speaking of casters: To make an oversize plant mobile—so you can easily roll it out of the way to vacuum or to protect it from too much sun—all you need is a piece of pre-cut blue stone from a landscaping center set on a wheeled caddie.)
- Use Walls as Displays: Hang up your jewelry, or pretty cutting boards and trivets, to clear out valuable drawer space in the bedroom or kitchen.
- Full Furniture Away From the Walls: A few inches between the wall and the back of your couch, for example, will make the living room look more open.
- Add Vertical Stripes: On walls or drapes, they can make a low ceiling feel higher.
Real simple: 16 Decorator Tricks for Small Living Rooms. 01. September 2018. https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/decorating-living-room/apartment-decorating-ideas#metallic-lamps-candlestick
