Downsizing has become a very popular trend among homeowners and renters in recent years, and for a number of compelling reasons. Aside from the obvious financial benefits, often cutting expenses in half, choosing a smaller living space is a great way to keep your life organized, destressed, and your home imbued with peace and positivity. But for all the wonderful advantages that downsizing brings, there’s no denying that sometimes the living space can feel a bit cramped if you’re not careful.
Mike Johnston, a co-editor of Smooth Decorator, gives us the necessary advice. If you want to be able to move freely about your home without bumping your pinkie on every piece of furniture, or if you want to be able to store your bike in your apartment without jumping over it every time you go to the bathroom, then you need to get organized. So today, we will be taking a look at the best tips you should use to make your small living room look and feel more capacious than ever before. Here’s what you should do.
Build a neutral foundation
To start, you can take a look at the foundation of your living room to see how you can create the illusion of capaciousness using the right colors, light, and other elements. Take a look at the windows first and check if they are letting enough light into the room. Natural brightness can make the living room feel more spacious, but so can the right artificial lighting. Choose lights that cast a diffuse glow around the room and use task lighting to illuminate its various corners, like the seating area, the reading nook, or the shelves.
Next, consider if the walls are ready for a makeover. Choosing a neutral hue for the walls like a pure white or off-white is a great way to brighten up the space and create the illusion that the walls are not as close. What’s more, neutral wall colors will allow you to play around with the rest of the décor without impeding the spaciousness of the room.
Master the art of decluttering
If you want to truly make a small living room feel bigger, and especially more welcoming than before, then you need to learn how to declutter. There’s nothing that puts people off like a cramped, cluttered room that confuses the senses and makes them feel like the walls and the décor are closing in on them. It’s all about perception, so the fewer things you have cluttering the space, the better.
Of course, in a small living environment, you might not have anywhere to put this stuff, which is why getting a self-storage unit is a great idea to store your possessions safely. You can find affordable self-storage in your area where you can keep everything neat and tidy, locked up for when and if you decide to move into a bigger place. This way, your living room will retain a simple structure and a capacious look and feel without you having to part with your belongings.
Frame the design with beautiful rugs
In a desperate attempt to make a living room look bigger, people will often forget that the floors can have a significant impact on the design of the space. It’s a common misconception that you should keep the floors bare to promote a capacious look, when in fact you should use rugs strategically to create zones and frame the design of the room.
Of course, it’s important to also choose rugs that are bright and neutral to complement the foundation. If you take a look at the Miss Amara rug collection, you will see that the popular brand emphasizes natural and neutral rugs in their interior design ideas because of the feeling of spaciousness they bring to the ambiance. Add a bright area rug to the seating area in your living room to help the space come to life.
Use smart furniture to your advantage
A small living room is no place for grand statement pieces. Rather, the furniture in your living room should serve a distinct purpose, it should retain a minimalist look and feel, and it should preferably accommodate more than one need. For example, by choosing furniture with built-in storage, you can easily keep various knick-knacks out of the way and your belongings organized.
That way, you won’t have to put your favorite blanket out when you’re having guests, you can just pop it into the storage compartment of the sofa. You can use the storage for pet food as well, the possibilities are endless. On the other hand, choosing modular furniture can easily help you clear the space when you need to, or turn the living room into a guest room when you’re having friends and family over. Remember, choose smart furniture and décor if you want a bigger tiny living room.
Trick the eye with smart mirror placement
Last but definitely not least, place mirrors strategically around the room to make it look more capacious. Mirrors are great at spreading the natural and artificial light around the room, they create the illusion of spaciousness, and who doesn’t like to catch a side glance of themselves as they’re walking by. It is a simple and very effective way to liven up the room and make it feel just a tad bigger than before.
Wrapping up
Living in a small-ish house or apartment is great. The expenses are lower, the chores can’t pile up even if you want them to, and the whole place feels cozier and more positive. Make sure it stays that way by using these tips to make your living room more organized, welcoming, and capacious.
Image courtesy of Unsplash.
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