Ways to Make Your Rooms Look Larger

Many of us would love to buy a bigger home, be it an apartment or house but making the most of the space you have at the moment can at least be a short term option. It can be very easy to make a small space appear much later with just a few alterations. When was the last time you went to look at a new piece of furniture and thought, now will that fit in the room? It can be a little frustrating not having the space we would ideally like.

In the bathroom, storing the majority of your toiletries in a bathroom storage cabinet instead of on the side can add the look of extra space in the room. With a little creativity let out and with the right decor, a room can look so much bigger.

Here is a list of ways to add the look of extra space to a variety of rooms in your home -

1. Clear up any mess, even a few items can distract the eye away from the free space. Use shelves and cabinets to their full advantage with just cosmetic extras to bring out focal points of the room. Removing all this clutter first is essential to the other points of this article.
2. We all love the idea of a king or queen size bed but having an extra large bed just makes a room look smaller. Even tall males in the family do not need the full length of a king size bed, so remove these items for more suitable sizes. Large bedroom furniture will take up unnecessary space which can easily eat up valuable areas where you move around the room or cupboard doors need to swing open.
3. When selecting furniture, think about the width as well as the height. For the dining room, the height can be much more important than the actual size of the table top. If you cannot get your legs under when sitting on your dining room chairs then you will need to sit further back. This takes up more space in the room. Other people looking to walk past are then left with less space to negotiate the back of your chair, especially if they are carrying items.
4. Flooring in the kitchen when using marble can bring a much lighter feel to the room. Wooden flooring brings a great country feel but as the colours tend to be darker they can make a room feel smaller with its compact feel.
5. With walls of the room, lighter colours are always beneficial with maybe one or two of the four walls painted a different shade. With all four walls painted exactly the same shade, the compact feeling soon returns.
6. When hanging pictures and other items, do not hang too many. In a small to medium room, too many hangings can make a room feel crowded very quickly. Try keeping one wall free of any hangings at all. Even if you place two hangings on another wall, keeping one free is always something to investigate. Hangings should always go half way down the wall. If you hang them too high, you can find a feeling of a low ceiling even if it is not the case. Mirrors can add an extra depth to a room as well as bringing out more light to a darker decorated room.
7. Remove small pieces of furniture from areas where you will be walking, such as the hallway. If you have to steer round a piece of furniture, then that's space that could look much larger with furniture moved elsewhere.

Rob Stone writes many articles on Home Improvement from Interior Design to Conservatory Prices available online.