How to Make a More Spacious Living Room

We’re not all blessed with living rooms of cathedral proportions. If you’re one of us who’d like to make a small living room feel bigger, we have some tips and tricks that will help.

Some of these ideas will also work if your living room is an awkward shape.

 

Go Careful with Colour

You don’t have to paint everything white to achieve a spacious, airy feel with your décor. But you do need to go a bit easy with how you mix up your colours.

If you can, choose a tonal colour palette and use it throughout. This means going for warm colours, such as autumnal or terracotta shades, or choosing cooler hues with a range of blues and greens. Sticking to a single colour palette (not a single colour) will help make the room feel like a unified whole rather than a disjointed muddle.

If you like an accent wall, you can still have one – just choose a tonal colour rather than something completely different and potentially clashing.

 

Avoid Zoning

You’ll often read advice on interiors that includes separating rooms into different zones to earmark various activities. 

This works well in large spaces where you want to create a better sense of togetherness or a cosier atmosphere. But in small rooms, zoning can result in a muddled sense of confusion.

It’s much more effective to blend activities throughout the area, maybe using double-duty furnishings (more on this later) that serve more than one purpose.

 

Magical Mirrors

Mirrors really can create the illusion of making a small space seem bigger. Large mirrors in alcoves, for instance, can extend the room visually, making it seem practically twice the size.

If you place mirrors where they bounce back light from a window, even better, as they’ll also help to banish dark corners. Choose large mirrors rather than lots of smaller ones to get maximum effect. There are lots more clever ways with mirrors here.

 

Cut Out Clutter

You don’t have to go totally minimalist. The idea to be more selective about what’s on display rather than trying to cram in every item you own. Each piece of furniture, and each decorative item, must work for its space by adding structure, charm, or drama.

Apart from items placed deliberately for effect, surfaces should be a clear as possible. Polished, gleaming surfaces really do help make a room feel bigger and calmer.

While this may mean removing some items, it doesn’t mean parting with treasured possessions. If you have things you love, but which don’t fit into your small living room, consider a storage unit to help manage the overflow.

This is a great option if you love collectibles. Keep your current favourites on show, pack the rest away, then ring the changes for a constantly new and fresh display of items that lift your spirits. Adopting this method of storage and display also takes away any sense of guilt over buying an addition to your collection, as you know you have somewhere to keep it without looking for a space in the house.

You could also try making more space by alternating what you keep in your self storage unit. Changing items according to the season can free up amazing amounts of space, letting you spread remaining items more evenly around the house. Local self storage makes it a quick and easy process.

 

Furniture Elegance

Heavy, blocky furniture sucks light out of the room. Instead, choose items on legs that let the light flow around and beneath them.

It can be challenging to pick the right furnishings for a small living room, but there are plenty of options:

• Modular sofas. Look for compact designs if your space is small. You don’t have to have them in corners as having one seat perpendicular to the wall can help break up a long, narrow room.
• Sleeper sofas. Great if you have guests but don’t have a spare room
• Storage sofas. Plenty of room to stow away throws, cushions, or winter-warming blankets.
• Round end or side tables (rather than the more common square ones) can help prevent the effect of too much blocky furniture covering the floor space.
• Storage tables, decorative chests, footstools with storage… all help combat clutter. They’re great for hiding small, everyday things such as TV remotes and device chargers or cables when they’re not in use.

 

Floors, Ceilings and Fabrics

Pale colourings on both will make a small room feel bigger, although it might not be practical to have very pale carpets if you have children or don’t always remember to take your shoes off at the door.

White is great on the ceiling as it creates an illusion of height. It’s tempting to go for a trendier colour, but unless you’re blessed with very high ceilings you should probably stick with the tried and tested.

Neutral colours for sofas work well, especially those with added interest in the form of buttons or curved lines rather than busy patterns. Use cushions or throws for an added splash of colour if you think it’s needed.  

At windows, light and airy curtains create more sense of space than dark, heavy styles or colours, although vertical stripes can make a short window seem taller.

Making the most of a small living room can be a challenge, especially when it’s also a family room. The big advantage of having a smaller room is that it’s easier to make it into a cosy space. 

Choose your furnishings wisely and keep clutter to a minimum, and you can enjoy a spacious feel even when space is at a premium.