9 Design Hacks To Make Your Small Space Look Bigger

BY CRESCENCIA NGA CHE

Here are simple, stylish, and practical design tricks to make any small space look bigger and brighter that won’t cost you an arm and a leg

Long gone are the days when living in a small home, a small apartment, or even a shared space meant that you had to settle for a cramped and dreary accommodation.

With lots of creativity and a little bit of time and the right resources, you can truly turn your space into a beautiful jewel box that will rival the most spacious homes, making it look much brighter and welcoming. And, no you don’t automatically have to shed an insane amount of money to transform your living room, a small bedroom, an entryway, or your entire home into a welcoming abode.

Below are 9 design hacks that will help maximise the space that you do have for you to really make the most of it . Scroll down to find more.

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1. Try Vibrant and Moody Shades

 A lot of people forget about how transformative the colour and paint finishes that they choose for their  small space can actually be. Using bold, vibrant, and moody shades with a high gloss paint finish can really infuse personality and style in a living room, a powder room, a study area, or the hallway.

High gloss paint finishes are reflective and they almost act like a mirror in some ways,  helping to bounce light around your room and make your space feel larger.

Farrow & Ball, Dulux, and Benjamin Moore are my absolute favourite go-to places when it comes to picking fabulous paint shades and finishes for my own home.

Semi and high gloss paint are one of the most durable paint options you can choose, because they are very easy to clean. So, they are perfect for small rooms like a small mudroom, small entryways, and small bathrooms or powder rooms , and small kitchens. If there is any splatter or mess, everything can be cleaned up very easily.

 Usually painting a room is a very DIY friendly endeavour that you can indulge in, but semi and high gloss paint finishes are a little bit harder to work with, as it accentuates any details or flaws. So, it is a perfect choice for crown moulding and trim work that you really want to showcase.  

But, if you have any bumps or tiny holes on your walls, you are better off calling in a professional painter to let him/her properly smooth out your walls and apply your paint seamlessly.

So, if you have any small room around your home that feels a little bit closed in, just changing the paint finish with something a bit daring like high gloss paint can make a huge difference. It will add a bit of fun and drama into your home. 

2. Get Folding Furniture

When it comes to furniture for small spaces, try to find pieces that have some type of folding options.  There are so many great folding ottomans that can double up as seating for your living room. You can close them up and put them away in a closet and save space in your home. 

You can also do the same with folding dining tables and dining chairs. You can actually hang them on your walls and keep that floor space. So, this is especially useful for any small

apartment or studio space where you really need every square inch of that place. 

These do not have to be those fold out plastic tables or lawn chairs;  you can get gorgeous fold out pieces.  There are so many great options for you to choose from. So, any piece of furniture that can flatten and collapse is going to be perfect for a small space. 

For people working from home, fold out desks and chairs are particularly useful. They are great to save space whilst adding style and functionality to your small apartment.

3. Play with Height

If you cannot add more square footage to your home, you should try to find creative ways to accentuate the height of your small space.  These tricks are going to bring the eye up and make the space feel larger.

Using large plants in small spaces helps define the height of the room and it brings life and colour upwards and just gives you more to look at. So, plants and trees with height are really going to be a great place to start.  

Installing wall mounted lighting sconces with long arms or a floor lamp to highlight the height of your space can also be very effective. They are also going to be an additional source of light and they will add functionality in your space as a striking design element.  

Decorating with large wall artwork can make a big impact in a small space. If you fancy gallery walls, try to go for a large display to create the illusion of a much bigger space. So, always play with height;  it is such an easy thing that makes a really big difference in a small space.

 4. Invest in a Ceiling Mounted Curtain Track System

Sometimes, a lot of small apartments, small spaces, and shared spaces use a lot

of room dividers. Whilst they are great and flexible options to go for,  in some cases they can take up more floor space and might not be as functional as you want them to be.

A better option for you to consider would be to install a ceiling mounted curtain track system with beautiful curtains instead as a room divider.  They look beautiful and are effective for really dividing spaces and they can really add some more functionality to your home.

Both Target and Ikea have great ceiling mounted curtain track systems that can hang right on the ceiling and are very minimal. You won’t see a rod and it creates a floor-to-ceiling curtain effect once your drapery is installed. 

You will find it very effective if you want to stylishly partition your studio apartment and create different zones for your bedroom and/or your kitchen or anything of that nature.  This is because you can easily close it and open it up whenever you need it, as it doesn’t take up any floor space. 

 A ceiling track system is highly effective for any size space. You can use it as a curtain panel to properly divide a kids’ room into a sleep area and a study and/or play area, and it is going to hide away some of the clutter that you might not want to see all the time. It is also excellent as a visual and noise divide, depending on the thickness of the curtains that you go for. Make sure to measure your floor to ceiling height so that you can pick the perfect height panel. You want to avoid a weird gap underneath to ruin the floor to ceiling experience that you’re after.

5. Use Magnetic Organisers

An organised small space will always look and feel bigger than a cluttered small space. A specific type of organisation items that work wonders for small spaces are magnetic organisers. You can attach them magnetically to a wall, the interior of your kitchen cabinets, your fridge, and/or laundry machines to add extra storage and usable space, whilst keeping your surfaces clear. Magnetic pieces really work well with both small and large spots with vertical height to free up your surface spaces.

6. Consider Multi-Purpose Furnishings 

One of the best ways to make the most of your small space is to invest in multi-purpose multifunctional furniture pieces. Anything that can do more than just one purpose in your home is going to work wonders in a small space.

Choose a sofa bed if you really have compact space so that you can have family and friends stay over from time to time. To maximise storage space, consider a storage bench or ottoman and a storage bed, which are great to keep clutter away. 

 Also, coffee tables that you can lift up and turn into desks or dining spaces for work or dinner times are excellent space-saving items worth checking out.

7. Explore Alternative Coffee Table Options

Whether you are decorating a large or small space, you do not always need to get a standard coffee table for your living. You can opt for nesting tables or a skinny bench. They are really  helpful to maximise your space use, especially  if you have a narrow living room.  

Coffee tables do take up a large space in a living room, and you might want to use it for something else. So, think about what really matters to you when it comes to decorating that space to make the most of it without sacrificing functionality and design.

8. Decorate with Large Mirrors

A very effective way of tricking the eye into thinking you have double the amount of space is using large-scale mirrors. Wall-to-wall mirrors and large floor to ceiling mirrors will really trick the eye into thinking that your space expands into the next room. 

Depending on your room layout, try using mirrors on opposite walls than windows or walls right beside windows, because they will help reflect light in your space in a very clever way, making it look brighter and bigger. This trick will make it look like you have more windows than you actually have in your space.  

Even if your space is small, get the largest mirror that you can  afford, because it is going to make your small space instantly feel larger.  You can install it at the end of your hallway to create the look of a larger hallway, helping to bounce light from one wall to another.

9. Mix  Large and Small Furniture Pieces

Lastly, when it comes to picking furniture and decor items for your small space, don’t just automatically go for small scale items. Sometimes, when you walk into a small space and everything is tiny, it just makes everything look smaller than it actually is.

Work instead with large and small pieces. By mixing together large scale items with small furniture pieces, you are going to create a more cohesive space.  For example, consider having full-size furniture pieces such as a decent size sofa alongside a floor lamp or a side table. This will help balance your room and make it look better structured.

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