How to Make Small Rooms Feel Bigger

The central key to make small rooms feel bigger is to unify the tone, not necessarily make it white or light colored. I have found this to be one of the only “rules” in interior design.

Tips to unify the tone:

• follow the natural lighting of the room to decide on light, medium or dark tones, e.g. a brightly lit room will feel bigger in lighter, brighter tones and a more dim room will feel bigger in medium to dark tones.

• avoid high contrasts in all elements, especially colors. If you use white trim with darker colored walls, choose an off-white instead of bright white. If walls are a medium or dark tone, it may look better to paint the ceiling a light or medium color instead of leaving it white. Same goes for very warm or cool colors.

• if there is lots of moulding and trim from windows, doors, and shelving, paint walls and trim the same color to cut down on contrast.

• if there is a window with a good view, draw the eye out, towards the view, by continuing a color or element from it inside the room. If there are trees out the window, for example, hang artwork with trees in it near the window, or use tree or leaf motif throw pillows on a couch.

• a light blue or sky mural ceiling may enlarge a room, especially one with a low ceiling.

• use fewer, larger pieces of furniture and decorating elements, rather than lots of small things. Group small pictures or decorative elements together on the wall, with unifying frames and/or colors to create a larger element.

• stick to furniture with similar styles or shapes and minimize the number of different finishes in the room, especially if they contrast highly. If each element has a different finish, consider refinishing or reupholstering all to match one piece.

• clean up visual clutter.

• if you have open bookshelves, group books together by size where possible. Or cover them with doors or fabric, use magazine holders for uneven items and loose papers, and photo or other decorative boxes for small loose items.

–KD