Create the Illusion of Space in your Home

I think most of us would love to live in a bigger house or have the desire for more room in our homes. But what about if our homes are on the small side or some of the rooms seem a bit pokey? Well, then you may need to create the illusion of space in your home. But how?…

Create the Illusion of Space

It’s Not All About Clever Decor: How to Add The Illusion Of Space Into Your Home

Creating the illusion of a larger space doesn’t require the work of a talented magician. You don’t have to knock down any walls, or add a large extension to your home either. Instead, all it takes is a little imagination and an open mind. By following the advice below, you can broaden the appearance of your home without adding expensive décor or having to pay for a costly extension…

Let more light in
The most effective way to give the illusion of space is to let more light into the room. People who own homes with large open windows should consider themselves lucky. Windows welcome light and can make even the tightest spaces appear larger and more spacious. It’s common knowledge that light broadens and darkness shrinks. This basically means that a space occupied with plenty of light will appear bigger than a room cast in shadows.

Look how amazing this small room looks with these windows! Image sourced here

create the illusion of space small living room ideas large window ceiling lights hollygoeslightly

You can take this technique a step further by installing beautiful velux skylights in your home. This is an excellent choice for people who want to make the most out of whatever space they may have. You could even install them in your bedroom and watch the stars come out at night. Magical.

Change the Colour Palette
The colour of your walls, furniture and décor plays a huge role in determining how big or small a room looks. It’s similar to the light/dark rule. Lighter colours will open space while darker shades ‘closes’ it. Consider this when choosing your colour scheme. As a rule of thumb, to create the illusion of space in your home, try sticking with monochromatic schemes. This allows the eye to scan the room without any distracting colours getting in the way. You may want to avoid mixing colours up too much in one room. This creates confusion and can make a room appear smaller than it actually is.

This room uses colour palette really well to create the illusion of space in their home. Image sourced here.

create the illusion of space monochromatic paint colours hollygoeslightly

Mirrors and Glass
This tried and tested method of creating more space in small rooms is an oldie, but goodie. Mirrors reflect light. By re-arranging the positioning of the mirrors in your home, you can instantly create the impression of a much bigger space. For example, displaying a large mirror on the wall opposite a window will allow natural sunlight to bounce off the reflection. This light will disperse throughout the room, instantly brightening the surrounding space.

This room would look much smaller if it weren’t for the huge mirror opposite. Image sourced here.

create the illusion of space window opposite mirror hollygoeslightly

Lift Ceilings with Colour
If your home has low ceilings, it can make each room feel like a box that is ready to close in on you at any second. This can make a person feel fenced in, which is definitely not something to celebrate! According to the BBC, painting the ceiling a lighter shade than the walls can make it appear higher. They also suggest putting up some mouldings and painting them a darker shade than the ceiling. Either way, the desired effect is achieved by playing around with the power of colours and the fact that our eyes are so easily deceived.

This room shows that with lighter ceilings and slightly darker cornice and mouldings, the illusion of space is created. Image sourced here.

create the illusion of space lighter ceilings than walls hollygoeslightly

I’m sure we’ll be adopting some of these ideas in #TheHouseProject – we’re opting for velux in our extension to bring in as much light as possible, but I think the mirror opposite a window rule is a really easy one to implement.

What about you?