Owning property that isn’t blessed with too much space need not be a problematic as you might immediately think. With a little design know-how and intuition, small rooms and spaces can be made to look significantly bigger and be considerably more efficient.
1. Widen Narrow Corridors
A long and narrow space such as a hallway or walk-in wardrobe can feel claustrophobic, but you can use a colour trick to make the room appear wider. The trick is to simply paint the ceiling a darker colour than the supporting walls. It doesn’t have to be black or anything really dark, just a significantly darker colour or shade than the walls. The appearance of the hallway will then trick your brain in thinking it is wider than it was before.
2. Decorate with Space-Enhancing Designs
Small bathrooms will greatly benefit from having the front-facing back wall and floor tiled with patterned tiles while the opposite wall is painted in a simple and neutral colour. The contrast will make the room appear larger and create an elegant balance between the two differently designed areas.
3. Replace Traditional Doors with Space-Saving Doors
To save space in a small house or flat, replace the usual doors that swing open (thus requiring space to swing into) with either pocket doors that slide into the wall or with barroom saloon-style doors, which only require half the swing space of a normal-sized door.
4. Replace Standing and Table Lamps with Wall Lighting
Sconce lights are very useful in small rooms as they allow you to move the light from a standing lamp that takes up active space onto the walls which will take up only dead space. They provide ambient lighting while allowing you to keep corners or table tops clear.
5. Use a Glass Wall to Light Up Small Rooms
A small room or space within a room, or divided from the rest of the house, can feel very much like a slightly larger than normal cupboard. But if you use glass bricks or sandblasted glass for one of the dividing walls, then this can open the room up and make it feel much more spacious. Such a wall division will also block any unattractive view while allowing plenty of light to come in.
