5 Small Space – Living Large Tips

5 Small Space –  Living Large Tips.  Most of us wish our homes or at least a certain room was larger.  It’s wonderful to see all those grand spaces in some homes and I love to see how they decorate them.  My home isn’t all that grand.  By some measures, it isn’t tiny, but it isn’t large either.  It is just under 2000sf. (1982 to be exact).  Now I have lived in smaller and larger so I call this one medium.  I love my home and I love the layout of it, but I am always trying to figure out ways to have my Small Spaces Living Large.

Here are some tips that help me make my home live as large as possible.  

1: Light Neutral Color – Light and bright always looks bigger.  Keeping the room top to bottom all one color blurs the lines and creates a beautiful shell to work with.  All of the walls, ceiling, and woodwork in my home are all one color.  Swiss Coffee.  (As a bonus that makes doing touchups to paint so easy.)  This space in my home has two-story vaulted ceilings, so that gives the illusion of a larger space also.

The floors in here are a beige and white marble that the previous homeowners installed.  I think they also give the room some texture and interest while keeping things neutral.  It’s so easy to add color to a neutral room in your accessories.

Keep window treatments simple so there’s no interruption in wall space.  Dark drapes or window treatments on a light wall chop up a room and make it feel smaller.  I chose to use only wood blinds the same color as the walls and leave them open all the time to let as much light in as possible.  A light-filled room always feels larger too.

2: Small Scale Furniture

It’s so easy to see all those wonderful overstuffed chairs and sofas, but they would just drown your smaller rooms.  How about a small size and scaled sofa that has tons of character.  Low sleek arms, button tufted back and only 76″ wide.  Most sofas are oversized with large arms, pillow backs, and at least 86″ wide.  Keep yours small and sleek in scale and size and it will be perfect for that smaller space.  Sometimes they call these apartment sofas, so ask your dealer.  This one still has three seats and is larger than a loveseat, but not as big as a regular overstuffed sofa.

One of the dangers is to have a lot of little dainty pieces in a room.  This just looks cluttered and clutter always makes a space feel small.  Edit what you have and use a few larger pieces rather than a lot of small ones.  Squeezing in 2 small chairs instead of using one slim frame upholstered one is an example.

Double Duty Rooms.  Sometimes a space has to function for two rooms.  For instance a living and dining room.  That is what I have.  Mine is one long rectangle that has to function as a living room and a dining room.  Keep the furniture in both areas small in scale.  Tables with trim legs seem to take up less space than ones with huge carved bases.  The area rug blends in with the floor color, yet it has enough pattern to make it interesting and helps define the living area from the dining area.

 

3: Trick the eye with illusion:

A round glass coffee table seems to disappear into the room and doesn’t take up any visual space.  Another idea is using light colors in the wood.  The TV console is a lighter wood so it seems to be smaller than it really is as well as the side chair.  It has open arms and a cane back.  It offers additional seating without taking up visual space too.

4:  Texture

If we’re keeping the walls and floors neutral as well as most of the furniture, then we need to add some texture to keep things interesting.  Without a bit of color and texture, a room can be really bland and boring.

I love to add texture with throw pillows.  There are so many to choose from and they are fabulous to mix and match.  Baskets are another great item to add texture.  The plants are texture by themselves, but then when they are planted in baskets, that adds a whole other dimension.  I love the basket on the coffee table too to hold books.  The shiny brass of the sconces, coffee table, and lantern add texture too.  The leather of the side chair is a wonderful addition of texture in this room as well as the cowhide rug.  This is what gives the room character.

5:  Accessories

Accessories are what add personality to any room.  This is where you can add a bit of sparkle, color, and texture all at one time to create a room that shows your unique personality.  Look at all the pictures in this post and you will see a bit of my personality by how I add in accessories.  I like a mix of organic, wood, glass, sparkle and greenery.  I love to mix color in with my accessories too.  Sometimes I like subtle and sometimes I like bold.  It all depends on my mood.  By keeping my room neutral, I can have it either way whenever I feel like it.  I think that is the best of both worlds.

Try these 5 Small Space – Living Large Tips.  Just start with a neutral-colored room – (cream, white, beige, gray) add in some neutral upholstery pieces, then watch how big your space will look and feel.  Let me know if you change something around, I always love seeing what everyone does to their spaces.

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