How to Make a Small House Feel Bigger?

If you feel like your space is cramped and small and you feel like changing something about it, there’s good news – you can make your home feel bigger and brighter. Here are some of the most efficient ways you can trick an eye into seeing the room around you as way larger than what it actually is. Follow these easy tips and you’ll be able to make your home appear more spacious and open and  make small space feel bigger.

7 Ways to Make Your Home Feel Bigger and Brighter

1. The ‘cantaloupe’ rule

The ‘cantaloupe’ rule
The ‘cantaloupe’ rule – Make a Small House Feel Bigger

Firstly and most importantly, if you want your house to look more spacious you need to make sure it’s tidy and cleaned well. The best way to do this is to declutter your home first.

Piles and piles of clothes, kids toys, and other items lying around the house will only make it look cluttered, smaller and unorganised while simultaneously closing up the space and making your home look smaller than what it is. The simplest way to approach decluttering is to start by removing larger items and storing them away. Make sure to leave a lot of open space and find functional furniture that can double as storage space. That way, nothing has to be out in the open and creating clutter.

Also, the furniture arrangement around the house can make a huge difference in how cluttered or open your rooms will appear to be. Try to arrange your furniture in a way that will leave open space in the middle and lots of room to walk around. This way, even a really small space feel bigger.

This cantaloupe rule says that any trinket under the size of a cantaloupe melon is just addition clutter in your home and will make the room feel smaller. So another great tip is to swap out small knick-knacks for a few of the larger statement pieces that will bring a unique personality to your home. For instance, you can use bigger picture frames, large vases, statement clocks, and other similar items to decorate your space and make it look bigger.

2. Little lights everywhere

Little lights everywhere
Little lights everywhere – Make a Small House Feel Bigger

The lighting in the room can make the biggest difference in how an indoor space appears in its size. If you use just one overhead lighting fixture to light up the whole room, you might notice that it doesn’t really do much for the size of the room and its appearance. That is because this type of light, centred in the middle of the room, will probably not be able to reach the corners of the room.

The best way you can fix this is to use smaller light fixtures instead and strategically place them all around the room. Firstly, this will help you illuminate the whole room efficiently. Secondly, this type of lighting arrangement will add certain depth to indoor space and make it look larger. You can also get a light dimmer switch. That way, you can control how much the lights are illuminating your room and you can add even more depth to your interior design.

Also, a simple touch lamp can be a great feature for maximising the space by making the walls look like they are further away from each other.

3. Create a room within a room

Create a room within a room
Create a room within a room – Make a Small House Feel Bigger

If you need more space in the room, simply make a room within a room. Now, you might be thinking that sounds crazy. However, you would be surprised to find out how easily our eyes can be tricked and deceived with carefully crafted illusions.

Here’s an idea. If you have an open-plan space, use rugs to make markers around the room. They can make the floor appear bigger and they will create multi-functionality within a room. You can use them to mark where one section of the room ends and another one begins. This way you can make a small living room look bigger. Also, smaller rugs spread around the room will draw the eye towards them and make the uncovered areas look larger in the peripheral vision.

You can also use the furniture to mark around the room, but make a floor plan first to make sure you are using the best possible placements.

4. Aim high with shelves and pictures

Aim high with shelves and pictures
Aim high with shelves and pictures – Make a Small House Feel Bigger

Taller ceilings can make a small living room look bigger and feel more spacious. However, if you don’t have tall ceilings there’s a great way to create an illusion of taller walls. Place all of your shelves, photos and painting higher on the walls. The eye will naturally wander towards those spots on the wall and this arrangement will expand the space and make the whole room look taller and more spacious.

5. Create magic with mirrors

Create magic with mirrors
Create magic with mirrors – Small House Feel Bigger

Some of the oldest tricks in the book can also be the best ones. You wouldn’t believe what kind of magic affect mirrors have on the indoor space. These reflective surfaces are great at extending the space in your home. Here’s what you can do. Place your mirrors strategically around the house like on the wall opposite of the window. This way, the mirror will reflect the natural lighting coming through the window and give certain depth to the room. You can also place mirrors behind objects such as credenzas and bar areas. They will reflect the objects atop and make it look like there’s a whole other section behind them.

6. Expand your home

Expand your home
Expand your home – Make a Small House Feel Bigger

If you feel like investing a bit more money into a home renovation, you can consult the professionals about different types of home extensions that will add more space to your home. This way, you will quite literally make your home bigger and you will add more functionality to certain areas by adding more space to them.

7. Lighten up the colour scheme

Lighten up the colour scheme
Lighten up the colour scheme – Make a Small House Feel Bigger

Lastly, if you want to make your home appear larger, you can make a small room look bigger with paint. Use lighter colour schemes around the house to make the space look more open. Darker colours can be used for statement walls though. For example, if you want to add depth to your room, you can pick the wall across the window and paint it in a bold dark statement colour and make the other walls white. With a little bit of decoration and a focal point, this statement wall will add depth to the room and make it look bigger.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are a lot of creative ways to make your home appear larger and more open. Decluttering, lighting arrangement, furniture placement, mirrors, and colour schemes are just some of the most efficient ways to achieve that goal.