There’s nothing wrong with compact, efficient homes. In fact, as purchase prices and energy consumption become bigger issues, the demand for small homes continues to grow! Here are some cheap and easy ways to make your charming little home look more spacious and airy.
- Declutter. If your rooms are crammed with furniture, bric-a-brac, and just stuff, you need to decide what you can sell, give away, or put into storage. Remember, clean and simple looks much roomier. Leave lots of open spaces in each room, especially in the corners.
- Go with glass and metal. Heavy, dark furniture sucks up space. Instead, choose furnishings in metal (which reflects light) and glass (which appears to take up less room).
- Remove doors. Create longer sight lines by removing the interruption of unnecessary doors. Obviously, this doesn’t apply to doors in bathrooms, bedrooms, or closets.
- Remove heavy drapes. Either leave the windows bare or cover them in sheers. This brings in more light and helps extend the feeling of spaciousness into the great outdoors.
- Raise curtain and shower bars. Hang them as high as possible. This creates the illusion of higher ceilings and more space.
- Avoid contrasting colors. Having all your rooms a different color feels chopped up and small. Lots of contrasting colors and patterns in furniture and artwork do the same thing. Instead, paint all your rooms the same color, and keep your decor to a single palette of shades. This works with bedroom linens too: think fewer colors and patterns, and fewer pillows.
- Remove most artwork and rugs. Vast expanses of empty space make a room look bigger.
- Add mirrors. If you must have something on your walls, make it a mirror. They can double the apparent size of a room and reflect light for added brightness.
- Turn up the lighting. Put the brightest possible bulbs in all your fixtures. Dark, shadowy rooms feel claustrophobic.
