8 Ways to Make a Small Room Seem Bigger for $50 or Less

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There may not be a budget-friendly way to actually make your home larger, but there certainly are ways you can make it seem larger. These tricks to make a small room seem bigger all ring up at $50 or less — try some of them next weekend and expand your living space!

  1. Give Furniture Room to Breathe

It's a bit counterintuitive, but pulling your furniture away from the walls and giving each piece a bit of space can make your room feel bigger. For example, instead of putting sofas and chairs against the walls, float a sofa into the room with a console table behind it. Angling armchairs to face each other in a conversational grouping may make your seating arrangements more functional and make your room seem bigger. Just be careful not to block walkways as you arrange the furniture.

Getting rid of extraneous furniture can give you more breathing room. A lot of people think that you need to fill a room with furniture to make it look good, but the contrary is often true. Getting rid of smaller pieces that tend to make a room look cluttered and can obstruct foot traffic (such as side tables, small bookcases, floor lamps, or small ottomans), and consolidating with a few properly-scaled pieces of furniture, can make your room look sleeker and larger.

2. Use Transparent Pieces

Give your room a lift by replacing dark, heavy furniture with transparent glass or acrylic pieces. A glass side table gives you functionality without taking up much visual space. If you can see the floor through your furniture, the room will feel bigger.

Contemporary silver and glass table: $35.99

3. Declutter and Curate

Keep surfaces clear, displaying only a few knick-knacks at a time. Cull your collections so that you're only displaying your favorites. And instead of displaying your treasures at random, arrange them in a cluster to form a charming vignette that can act as a focal point for the room (groups of three — a tall, medium, and small item — work well). This gives your decorations a little visual organization, making them look less cluttered to the eye. Displaying items on an attractive tray can also make them look a little more pulled together. A room that is neat and clutter-free is more calming and looks much bigger.

Decorative hammered tray: $32.45

4. Use Light Colors

Dark, deep colors tend to make a room feel cozy, but can also make it feel smaller. Use light colors to reflect the light and make your room seem more expansive. Painting your moldings and trim white, or a lighter color than the walls, can also make the walls seem to recede, making the room feel larger.

One gallon of Behr Premium Plus paint: $32.98

5. Bring in Mirrors

Mirrors open up more visual space and also reflect light back into the room, making it seem larger. A large mirror hung above a console table or dresser can almost look like an extra window, while even a small mirror hung in a dark corner can breathe light into the room.

Elegant household mirror: $46.43

6. Create Hidden Storage

My personal clutter nemesis is my children's pile of toys. To keep them out of the way, I stow loose toys in large covered baskets that can be neatly stored. One of my favorite items is a large seagrass hamper with a lid that I found at Homegoods for $30. It holds a lot of toys, is attractive in its own right, and because it is tall rather than wide, doesn't take up a lot of valuable floor space.

Storage ottomans can also be great multitaskers in small rooms. Storage ottomans can do double duty as extra seating as well as hidden storage, just make sure you have a place to store them neatly (such as tucked under a table) where they won't add to the visual clutter.

Storage baskets and boxes: $15–$50
Storage ottoman: $29.99

7. Optimize Natural Light

Having plenty of natural light flooding in will make your room feel bigger. If your drapes are blocking the windows, switch them out for airy sheers (or get rid of window treatments altogether if privacy is not a factor). If you want curtains, hang them high and wide over the window frame so they block as little light as possible.

IKEA Teresia sheer white curtains, one pair: $17.90

8. Use Multiple Light Sources

Using several sources of light, such as lamps, sconces, and recessed lighting, can make your space more interesting to the eye. In addition, by highlighting different parts of the room with weaker sources of light, rather than just one bright overhead light, you bounce light into the corners of the room, making it seem bigger.

Elegant Designs modern leather table lamp: $39.99

What tricks do you use to live large in a small space?

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Guest's picture
idris

You can do this thing with your storage ottoman in many circumstances.http://acoolmall.com/cheap-bedroom-outdoor-furniture-discount-ottomans/