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Is your tiny living room cramping your style? You can make it feel much bigger by using some creative organization tactics.
These seven tips will help you maximize the space you have or create the illusion of a larger area. By applying them, you’ll be able to make your living room feel cozy, organized, and spacious.
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Stick to Light Colors
White or neutral walls can make space look bigger than it really is. Dark walls will make you feel closed in.
So, when choosing which color to paint the walls, remember:
The lighter, the better.
The same is true for your furniture and accents. Light-toned furniture and accents create the feeling of an open and airy living room.
Of course, you don’t want to make everything look monotone, so try a mixture of lighter colors and textures to keep things interesting. Too many light tones will make the room appear washed out.
Glass and Mirrors Are Your Friends
Hanging mirrors strategically around your room can make space feel twice as big.
To take advantage of this trick, hang a large mirror so that it reflects the widest or tallest part of the room. It will replace a wall with a reflection of the other side of the room, creating the illusion that space has more depth.
Glass furniture and accents can also prevent your living room from looking small. Because they’re see-through, they don’t look like they take up a lot of space. Therefore, your living room will feel less cluttered.
Choose the Right Furniture
When you have a small living room, finding space for all your furniture can be difficult.
Here are some tips on furnishing your space:
Small is Better
You can make the room look larger by choosing smaller furniture. Not only will your furniture take up less space, but it will make the room seem bigger in proportion.
Multifunctional for the Win
When you buy furniture that performs more than one job, you won’t need as many things in your living room. Plus, many multifunctional furniture pieces contain hidden storage space.
One possible idea is to use an ottoman as a coffee table. And an ottoman with built-in storage is even better!
Expanding Furniture
If your living room is small but your circle of friends is big, expanding furniture is what you need.
You can use a set of nesting tables as your day-to-day side table and take out the smaller ones when people come over.
Or, you can buy a coffee table with drop leaf sides so that it can expand for playing board games.
Defy Gravity
You can make any room look bigger by directing the eye upwards and keeping the floor bare.
Floating shelves are a great strategy for achieving this. You can store anything from books to electronics on them.
Hanging baskets achieve this, too. By bringing the focus of the eye toward the top half of the wall, your living room will appear taller. You can fill these baskets with plants to bring the outdoors inside.
Think Long and High
Again, since you can’t magically make your living room bigger, you need to use all the visual illusions you can to make it seem larger.
One way to do this is to elongate the walls of the room through a few tricks of the eye.
Here’s one of my favorite techniques:
Mount your window treatments higher than the windows themselves. If they extend all the way to the floor, they’ll create the appearance of taller walls.
You can also hang wall art and decor higher than eye level to trick the eye into believing the ceiling is higher. Buying tall, skinny decor instead of short, wide pieces will give the same effect.
Make Lighting Work for You
When used effectively, lighting can make any room look a lot better. When used poorly, however, it can make rooms look a lot worse.
In a small living room, you can use lighting to your advantage by positioning the lights to point up and illuminate the ceiling. A bright, well-lit ceiling will make the room seem more open.
If you’d like some light pointing down, use an arc lamp. It will draw the eye up which, again, creates the appearance of a taller room.
You can also use a long, narrow floor lamp to elongate the room while creating a more balanced lighting atmosphere.
Store Extras Elsewhere
Clutter can make a room feel very cramped, especially if it’s already small space. So, you should keep only the bare necessities in that room and store the extras elsewhere.
Most days, your living room only needs to accommodate your family’s needs. You can avoid cluttering it up by keeping only enough furniture in there for the people who use it. The rest of your furniture should go somewhere else for the time being.
When guests come to visit, then you can take out your extra chairs and folding tables. There’s no reason to have this stuff in the living room when no one is using it.
In Conclusion
No matter how small your living room is, you can take steps to make it seem bigger. These visual and organizational tips take little effort but can make a huge impact on your space.
Remember:
Light, tall, clear, and reflective are all good descriptions for items that belong in your living room. Keep an eye out for the perfect pieces to make your tiny room seem roomier.
As you replace the dark and bulky things in your space with new decor, you’ll notice your living room starting to feel less cramped.
Author Bio:
Adam Marshall is a freelance writer who specializes in all things apartment organization, real estate, and college advice. He currently works with Copper Beech at Auburn to help them with their online marketing.