Five Tips For Making The Most Out Of Your Small Spaces

When you’re shopping around for a new home, you’ll be tempted by lavish floor plans and sprawling square footage fit for a king and queen. But if that kind of place isn’t in your budget, downsizing while you save up the extra money can work to your advantage.

There are all sorts of ways you can take a smaller space and make it bigger. Making these tips work for you is the first step toward opening up the cramped spaces in your home and increasing the size of your living areas:

1. Match the color of the ceiling and the crown molding

When your ceiling is a different color than the crown molding attached to it, a tunnel vision effect is produced and makes your room look narrower. By coloring the molding the same as the ceiling, the two seem to blend together and make the room as a whole look wider. Similarly, if you install wood or tile flooring, place it in diagonal patterns – this will serve the same purpose of making the room seem wider than it actually is.

2. Mirror image

If you have two large mirrors and don’t know what to do with them, position them on opposite sides of a room. The repeating reflections will give the illusion that the room is much larger than it actually is, thanks to the reflected light and space that the dual mirrors provide.

3. Furnish simply

When you’re adding furniture to your apartment, don’t make things too complicated – this will only make your space appear stuffier. For example, if you are looking for kitchen cabinets, opt for something with a flat design on the front and simple handles. Plus, when you install appliances, aim for stainless steel, as it has a tendency to last longer while making the room seem bigger because of the sleek design and reflective surfaces.

4. Find contrast in the architecture

If your home features dark accents, consider utilizing light paint colors on the surrounding walls to make them shrink back. Blues and greens will make the walls expand in contrast with the darker tones in the rest of the room, making it seem warmer and more spacious.

5. Take advantage of height

Even if you don’t have tall ceilings, you can use the height of a room to your advantage. Rather than decorating outward with deep furnishings, built upwards – this will draw the eye up and down, and make the walls receded. Decorating up will also free up space on the ground, making the room larger and more usable.