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How To Make Your Room Look
Larger
by: Olivia Filipetto
Small rooms can feel confining and uncomfortable. Luckily we can utilize certain
design concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem larger. Try these
inexpensive decorating tricks to make your rooms live bigger.
1. Use Light Colors
Light and brightly colored walls are more
reflective, which will help to maximize the effect created by natural light.
This does not mean you have to live with white walls. There are a wide range of
light colors paints available, such as light green or cream beige.
Once you've chosen your wall color, choose your
trim and moldings colors. Paint your trims and moldings in either the same hue
as the walls, or a lighter color. Lighter objects appear closer while darker or
shadowed objects appear further away. When you paint your moldings a lighter
color, the wall appears further back - thus making your room appear bigger.
Now, don't be worried that your room is going to
be bland and uninviting, bolder and darker colors can be be used in furniture,
artwork and accessories.
If your colors are already dark, try to move the
darker colors to a 'background' role while maximizing your neutral white or
ivory. Be careful when using wallpaper. Solid colors are the safest, with tiny
patterns taking a close second. Whatever the wall color or finish, we recommend
the ceiling in a small room be painted stark white to maximize brightness.
2. Mirrors
Mirrors can have a favorable impact on a room's
appearance. A large mirror in the room will reflect light around the room. The
mirrors also reflect both natural and artificial light to make a room brighter
during the day and night. They bounce light deep into the room, making it appear
larger. This is especially effective with near a window so the outdoors can be
reflected.
Use glass-front or mirrored cabinet doors to make
spaces feel large and uncluttered. Large, expansive mirrors over vanities,
mirrored wardrobe doors or a floor-to-ceiling wall of mirrors (combined with our
decorating suggestions) can make even the smallest of spaces seem larger.
3. Arrange Furniture At Angles
Arrange some of your larger pieces of furniture
at a angle. You don't have to place the furniture at an exact 45 degree angle,
often a lesser angle looks best if you can balance the look with another
furniture piece.
Setting your furniture at an angle works because
the longest straight line in any given room is it's diagonal. When you place
your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather
than the shorter wall. As an added bonus, you often get some additional storage
space behind the piece in the corner, too!
4. Scale Furniture
Keep furnishings in scale with the rooms. In
small rooms, use slim rockers, open-back chairs or a simple sofa or love seat
rather than overstuffed furnishings to avoid overpowering the space.
There are stores that deal exclusively in
furniture for apartments and mobile homes. Despite its slightly smaller size,
scaled-down furniture can be beautiful. An open headboard is best for a small
room. When furnishing, keep the view at eye level unobstructed. Taller
furnishings should be placed at the end of the room opposite its main entry.
Olivia Filipetto is
publisher of
www.bedroomfurniture.com,
providing all you need to know about enhancing your bedroom and buying bedroom
furniture.
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