Living rooms are one of the most important rooms in a house. If you have a nice, well decorated, and spacious living room, you’ll actually want to spend time in it. If your home happens to have a small living room, you can still make it feel bigger than it currently is; you just have to use some clever styling tricks.
1. Instead of trying to add as much furniture as possible in a tiny space to make it seem bigger, do the exact opposite. Embrace how small the space is. Get a soft, cozy couch that fills up the room. Finish the vibe off with a plush rug to create the same soft feel for the floor too! This will create an inviting area that’s actually fun to be in!
2. Mirrors are one of the best things you can add to a small space, especially in a living room. They instantly multiply the space you can see, so even if you can’t use the space, you’ll still feel like you’re in a room that’s twice the size! Cover an entire wall with a mirror if you feel like it, or prop a vintage-looking mirror like this one over the mantle to add space and design all in one go!
3. One giant coffee table in front of the couch is how we’ve usually seen living rooms decorated. But when you’re in a small space, a giant coffee table simply takes up too much room. When people try to navigate around it, they end up hitting their shins against it. It’s just not functional! Get multiple, smaller coffee tables instead! You can still easily fit everything you need on them, but they also give you the option to move them out of the way when needed, opening up the space easily!
4. If you’re blessed with big windows that let in a lot of natural light, use them to your advantage! Having natural light fill the room will make it seem brighter and airier, and subsequently, more open. If you don’t want to let the windows be bare but still want the natural light to come in, opt for light blinds like these instead! They keep the windows covered, but the living room bright!
5. Ottomans are a small space’s best friend. They’re a multipurpose piece of furniture. You can switch out your regular coffee tables for these ottomans to put anything you need and then empty them out for guests to sit if you run out of seating! Add several of these all over the room will gives you tons more space if you’re having company over!
6. When your space is on the smaller side, you need your furniture to have more than one purpose so you can get different uses out of them and your space isn’t cluttered up with lots of furniture. Having an ottoman coffee table that also has storage underneath gives you uses in one, saving the space you would’ve otherwise had to waste!
7. If you don’t want to go the regular sofa route, you can create more visual interest by getting unique, smaller seating pieces like this red settee. Mix and match different pieces and you’ll still be able to create enough seating for multiple people while making the living room feel bigger!
8. When you’ve got a small living room, every piece of furniture that takes up space on the floor “shrinks” the space overall. In a case like this, it’s always better to think higher. Instead of getting regular armchairs and filling up all of your corners with them, try a hanging chair!
9. Wall-itis is something many of us do without realizing it. This is when you push all of your furniture up against your walls! Instead, push the furniture in towards the center of the room and create space behind it! You’ll still have all the seating you had before, but your living room will look a lot bigger overall because of all the extra space you created!
10. This one is a no-brainer. The lighter your walls are, the more open your living room will feel! White walls and a white ceiling create the feeling of a much more open room than you actually have! This also gives you the opportunity to bring in colorful furniture and art without having to worry about the pieces clashing with anything.
11. Although an all-white room is the best way to make the space seem more open, it doesn’t mean that you have to choose white only. You can still play around with color; just don’t go crazy with it. Have a clear, set color palette in mind and stick to it! This way, you’ll have the colors you want without the visual clutter that usually comes with it!
12. If you have a very tiny space, instead of trying to squeeze in a traditional living room set up, switch things up by going for a banquette setting like this! It’ll make your living room unique enough to be inviting, while also giving you seating space for at least people!
13. Many times, a small living room isn’t just small, it’s also weirdly shaped. In a room that’s not a traditional square or rectangle, it can be pretty difficult to find the right furniture. A regular sized couch might eat up space and shrink the room. Invest in custom furniture that fits your room instead! This way, you’ll be able to maximize the space without compromising on the seating space!
14. Tall ceilings make small spaces look bigger, but not all homes have tall ceilings. The good news is you can still create the look of tall ceilings by getting furniture that sits lower instead! A low settee with a table that matches the height is a great way of making the room seem a lot bigger than it really is!
15. Instead of hanging your art right in the center of your walls, try bringing it up higher. You can even have a gallery wall that leads the eye upwards. This will create the feeling of a much bigger room. You’ll look at the floor less and the walls more, thus visually expanding the room without having to move any of the furniture!
16. The thing about designing your own living room is that you can break any “rules” you want! Instead of getting “traditional” pieces like a bunch of regular sized side tables to put flowers on, throw in the element of surprise by getting something like this tall pedestal. It’ll make your flowers, or anything else you put on it, direct the eye upwards, creating more space that would otherwise be wasted!
17. Even though we’ve mentioned before how you should keep furniture to a minimum, that isn’t the only way to go. You can fill up the entire room with furniture and decor too, as long as things fit and flow well together. A patterned sectional couch like this one gives you ample seating room while still allowing space for a full-sized coffee table. A neutral carpet brightens things up and makes the floor seem bigger than it is, balancing out everything else in the room!
18. It’s not a rule that you can’t have big pieces in a small area. If you want a big chandelier, get a big chandelier! You can easily juxtapose it with a couch and coffee table and match the style of the chandelier, and therefore you’ll have a complete living room while making a statement!
19. If white walls and light furniture don’t tickle your fancy, throw this concept out the window and make everything dark! Paint your entire room dark – walls, ceiling, everything! Add jewel toned furniture and decor to brighten things up and create a living room that’s unique and dark. Because there are so many design elements just with the color alone, you’ll create enough interest so that the space doesn’t seem small!
20. If you feel like your living room isn’t big enough to fit a shelf, you don’t have to buy a traditional one; opt for built-in shelving instead. The great thing about these is that you get all the storage or display space you need, but the storage is on the walls, so technically it doesn’t take up any space in the actual living room itself!
21. If you’re in a house that has small rooms but high ceilings, you do have space; it’s just vertical. So why not make use of it? Hang your curtain rod as high as you can, get a striking wallpaper, and direct the eye upwards to show off how high the ceilings are! It’ll create the illusion of a much bigger room!
22. If you can’t fit a giant coffee table in your living room, you can get the same functionality by having two layered coffee tables instead! Not only do they add a design element to the room, they also give you the option of stacking them up when not in use and pulling them apart when you need the extra table space!
23. Most people try to make their spaces look bigger by getting a small rug, but in reality, this just breaks up the floor and highlights just how small the space is! Get a giant rug that covers most of the space instead to make the room appear more “seamless” and bigger! Plus, it’s very easy to design a whole room around these rugs, even if you’re not an expert!
24. Many small living rooms have space for either a big sofa or club chairs, not both. Make things unique by opting for the club chairs instead of the sofa! If you have a fireplace, you can even direct the chairs towards it like this to create a nice little cozy space! Add in a plush rug and an ottoman and you have seating space for a lot of people, even if you only technically have space for chairs.
25. Barn door has been pretty popular in the past few years. A regular door takes up space when it opens or closes, and you actually can’t use a big chunk of space because of it. Swapping your traditional door out for a sliding barn door lets you stack furniture right up to the door while still having the ability to open and close it, maximizing your space usage!
26. There’s only so many things you can fit on the floor itself. Between the couch, the rug and the coffee tables, you might find that you don’t have any space left for lighting! In this case, take your lighting up to the walls! Go for hanging lamps like this one to ensure you have all the light you want without using up any floor space at all!
And that’s all for now… What do you think about this article? For more decorating and organizing ideas, stay tune to our blog… Thanks for reading and we’ll see you in the next article…
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