tricks to make a small room look bigger?

[shannon94]

A few big pieces instead of alot of small things will make a small room bigger....lose any clutter.

[Cosmic]

Color does have an effect. Very dark colors always will seem smaller. Not debatable. One trick that does work well is to use a lighter color and paint the entire room, walls and ceiling the same. I did that in my present house using a light creamy beige, they call it Sea Oats. Works well. Balances out height and volume of the room well to the human eye.

Different things will also make the room appear to be higher, like thin striped vertical wall paper. Making a small room appear higher, usually makes it appear smaller in the horizonal dimensions. That is where that one color scheme is nice to get a balance in the feel both vertical and horizontal.

Light colors with natural wood work also make a room feel much better. Painted woodwork tends to "Blend into the walls". Keeping stuff close to the walls and leaving as large an open area in the middle also is a common trick to make it feel bigger.

[DTPROJECT]

Hi, i am doing an A-Level Design project and I would be grateful if you could follow the link below to my blog where I have written a few questions to help me with my research section

My project is to create a workspace for study using space that already exists so no additional space is needed, this is likely to be done by using existing bed space so that the bed can be used as a chair. The desk would also be designed to be stored away, possible against a wall.

If anyone casn give me any advice, it would be very helpful

http://www.city-data.com/blogs/397549-dtproject.html

Thanks

Michaela

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey

Are there any colors that are better- make a room look bigger? I have heard the dark colors make it look small- but add character.

I am interior design challenged!-lol- I just changed the drapes that were here for over a year!

sunny

I'm struggling with such decisions/indecisions lately, too. Of course, there are many design books on the market. The other day I got one in a pretty good format from the library: House Beautiful 750 Designer Secrets, Exclusive Design Ideas from the Pros. Another good one is: Better Homes and Gardens, Easy Decorating Makeovers - it's in pretty helpful challenge/solution format.

As you've probably noticed, on such pictures you never see many things used in real life... no TVs, no stereo systems, no cords... nothing at all... I swear once I stared at a picture where the cord of the lamp had to be visible - there was no cord!

For more real-life ideas, check out the many rooms people post on HGTV's site:

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