There is hardly a person out there that doesn’t want to have a large living room. After all, having a ton of space to relax, socialize, and enjoy yourself sure sounds nice. But, unfortunately, not all of us can afford such luxurious living rooms. Luckily, there are ways to at least make your living room look bigger and grow to love your home even more. So, to help you out, we are going to go over the most tried and true ways and how to implement them.
How to make your living room look bigger
To make your living room look bigger you need to use a couple of visual tricks. While these won’t actually increase the size of your room, they will make it seem like it is a lot bigger then it currently is. Especially if you properly combine a couple of them. But, keep in mind that you can go overboard with these. So, once you implement these tricks, try to go one by one and ensure that your living room stays nice. After all, the whole point of having a large living room is to enjoy spending time in it.
Declutter
This may seem redundant to some of you, but a surprising number of people neglect to do this one simple thing. If you want to make your living room look bigger, start by decluttering. More often than not our living rooms are absolutely cluttered with useless items. Memorabilia from holidays, gifts from friends and relatives, items, or tools that we would like to use but we don’t… All of them just take up space in your living room and therefore make it look smaller. So, the first thing to do is to get rid of them. Doing so is fairly easy, as you can pack in no time with some help. Once you have your items paced, there are essentially four things you can do with them:
- Donate them.
- Sell them.
- Throw them away.
- Store them.
So, carefully consider what you should do with your clutter before you start packing it.
Using lights
The first visual trick we are going to mention is light. Light plays a big role in how we perceive space and its relative size. So, if you want to make your living room look bigger, you need to know how to use light properly. The first thing to do is to do away with your overhead light. Multiple lamps scattered around the living room will not only make it seem bigger but also cozier. The reason why your room will seem bigger is that our brains automatically connect large rooms with multiple sources of light. After all, if a room is large, you cannot properly light it with a single source. So, the trick is to get a couple a spread them around.
Proper colors
Colors also play a big role in our perception, especially when it comes to space. We associate cold colors like dark green or blue with open space, since those colors are most present in wide nature areas. Therefore, if you want to make your living room seem larger, use one of the colder shades to paint the walls. The possible downside of this is that your room will look a bit colder. But, you can mitigate this by having furniture in warmer colors like a yellow or dark orange.
Mirrors and windows
Having a large mirror in your living room is another way to make it look larger. This again is a trick that our brains fall for, as we are not particularly good at identifying where a mirror is. So, by default, our brains simply process that the mirror in the room is actually extra space.
If you can modify windows in your living room, try to install larger ones. While they are more difficult to clean, they are also a way to make your living room seem larger. Know that there is a reason why a lot of people opt for having bay windows or wall windows in their living room. A single large window gives the living room a feeling of openness. This, as an extra effect, makes the room seem larger.
Proper furniture
One of the more common misconceptions is that having small furniture will make your living room look bigger. While this may work for photos of it, it definitely won’t worky while you spend time in it. So, instead, we advise you to get a medium or even large pieces of furniture. But, the key is to only get one or two pieces. Your room will seem much larger is you can walk freely around it and not avoid small tables. So, get large furniture. Sites like evolutionmoving.com can give you great tips on how to transport it with ease. If you end up needing extra room for items, consider installing shelves on your walls. When organized properly, they can be quite decorative, without taking up extra space.
A neat idea is to also use a piece of furniture that folds into one another. That way you will have easy access to extra furniture when guests arrive. And your everyday furniture won’t take up much space.
Picking the right rug
This is another place where people often make mistakes. Small rugs won’t make your room look big. Instead, they will make it look cluttered, especially if they are in different patterns. So, go for a single rug. Ideally, you want to pick one that is either a single color or has a pattern of up to three colors. You can, of course, go for more elaborate rugs, but you need to be extra careful with the rest of your room design. Either get a medium piece that will be completely uncovered. Or go for a single wall to a wall piece. Both can make your room seem larger. But, you will need to make them work with your furniture.
