This blog post is all about answering the question: how to make a small room feel bigger.
Here is a guide full of tips and tricks to help you create a room that feels more spacious than ever. Remember, personal preferences play a significant role in decorating, so feel free to adapt these tips to suit your style and taste. When decorating or re-decorating, it is possible to be budget-friendly. Consider thrift stores, garage sales, and repurposing what you already have.
Learn how to maximize your style with what you own in our post on How To Decorate Your Space With The Basics.
How To Make A Small Room Feel Bigger With Furniture Placement
Experiment with different furniture arrangements to find the most efficient layout. Think about how the space will be used for most. Tailor the furniture and layout to your specific requirements.
Need to fit two workspaces into one room? Discover smart Two-Person Home Office Layout Ideas For Small Spaces
Although this is a large couch in a small space, the purpose of this space is to sit around the fire and appreciate the view. Therefore this couch works perfectly in this small room.
This sitting room was designed for socializing, note the abundance of seating while not feeling cluttered.
A small space doesn’t mean you can’t have people over or a large family. Work with what you have, a bench can seat more people than chairs. Here the bench against the kitchen island and a large table don’t affect the flow by taking up too much space.
Place Furniture Off Walls
Create a more dynamic and spacious layout by allowing some furniture to float in the room.
With the furniture floating in this room, you can take full advantage of the large windows. Which in turn allows for more light to enter the room.
Moving furniture off the wall is not always possible in some spaces. However, a great idea is to place a shelf between the couch and the wall. The shelf gives you storage and brings the couch into the room more without affecting the flow.
Bringing the couch away from the window is to allow the natural light to drench the white couch in sunlight. Instantly brightening the room.
Furniture Against The Wall
Depending on the shape and layout of your space, place furniture against the wall to help create an open center and flow.
To instantly make a small room feel bigger, try tucking your bed into the corner. This simple placement frees up valuable floor space and creates a wonderfully cozy, intimate nook perfect for relaxation.
In a studio apartment, you can define this cozy nook further with these Genius Room Divider Solutions.
An L-shaped sofa is excellent for framing a living room. By placing it against the wall, you free up passageways and central floor space. This strategic placement is a key design trick to make your room feel bigger, especially with a deeper sofa model.
How To Make A Small Room Feel Bigger With The Right Pieces
Scale The Furniture To The Space
Choose furniture that fits the scale, style, and purpose of the room.
This blanket ladder takes up less space than a basket but still fits both the scale of the room and the style.
Placing larger items such as a big couch in a small space can give the illusion of space. As a posed to squeezing in mulitple smaller pieces.
Multi-Functional Furniture
Opt for furniture that serves multiple purposes, such as a sofa bed, storage ottomans, or a fold-out desk.
Placing a tray on poufs gives them another use as a coffee table.
Combine a console table as a desk in a small space, or explore our picks for the best in: Desks For Small Spaces: Sleek & Space-Saving.
One of the best interior design tips for small spaces is having a sofa bed. Not only is it great for guests but perfect for a movie night or snuggling up on a cold night. Most sofas come with storage underneath which is another plus.
How To Make A Small Room Feel Bigger With Clear Floors
Declutter
The secret to helping a small room feel bigger is to declutter your home. Start by paring down to a few key decorative pieces that truly add appeal. This minimizes visual chaos, opens up the floor, and makes cleaning far more manageable—because with less stuff, there’s less to clean and less chance of the space feeling messy.
With a clear space, the light can bounce off the white in the room to help it appear larger. Although there are a lot of items in this kitchen everything is put away to give the space a sense of openness.
Keeping a kitchen organized and stylish on a budget is its own challenge; get inspired with our tips on how to Decorate Your Kitchen On A Budget.
Having hidden storage and a place for everything instantly makes a small space bigger. For example, this space has a trunk at the end of the bed, under-bed storage, and a vertical shelving unit.
Go Vertical
Use floating pieces and wall-mounted storage to free up floor space. or use floating furniture to create a sense of flow.
How To Make A Small Room Feel Bigger With Lighting
A strategic lighting layout is essential to make a room feel bigger and more inviting. By layering ambient, task, and accent lights, you can eliminate dark corners and create an airy, open atmosphere.
For more inspiration, explore our guide on Lighting Ideas, A Quick Guide To Make A Small Room Look Bigger.
The aim of lighting in a small room is to minimize dark areas. Not only to ensure that the space is well-lit but also to give the space an open and bright feel.
Layering lighting adds brightness and style. As shown here, an oversized shade provides a beautiful focal point while illuminating the room.
Have multiple light sources in a small space not only to open the space up but also to create mood lighting.
Use Mirrors
Place mirrors strategically to reflect light and make the room appear larger. Mirrored furniture or a large mirror on one wall can be effective in creating the illusion of more space.
An oversized mirror with a minimal frame gives this small living room the feel of a space bigger than it is.
Display a collection of mirrors to not only reflect light but act as wall art.
Bounce light from a lamp off a mirror because light, natural or artificial, will help to expand a room
Maximize Natural Light
Keep window treatments minimal to allow as much natural light as possible. Use sheer curtains or blinds that can be easily opened. Natural light helps open the room and makes it feel more spacious.
Natural light does all the work in this space to brighten and enlarge the room.
Sheer curtains allow light to pass through from the window brightening the space.
Bring natural light into other rooms in your home with glass interior doors.
How To Make A Small Room Feel Bigger – Choose The Right Rug
Select a floor covering that is large enough for most furniture to sit on or go wall-to-wall.
Opt for a rug that has a large neutral pattern that adds texture to the space without being busy.
Find a rug in a light shade of your favorite color to help visually expand the space. Also, lighter colors reflect more sunlight (or artificial light) than darker colors do, so the increased light in the space helps towards an open feeling.
Create the illusion of a wider room with strips that are running perpendicular to the walls.
How To Make A Small Room Feel Bigger With Tones And Texture
Don’t Be Afraid to Go Bold
Experiment with color and embrace the size of your small space by using darker shades to create a cozy atmosphere.
While it may seem counterintuitive, covering your walls with art and books can actually help make a room feel bigger. This maximalist approach works by drawing the eye upward and utilizing vertical space. A floor-to-ceiling gallery wall or bookshelf creates a sense of height and depth, making the room feel full and intentional rather than cramped and cluttered.
Add personalityh to a neurtral sofa with bold pops of color through cushions and blankets. Bright colors and patterns catch the eye and adds a stylish distraction form the size of the room.
Even in a small space going bold can work to your advantage. For example, this small apartment has a light and airy feel as attention is drawn to the couches and the back wall, not to the size of the room.
Light Colors
Use light, neutral colors for walls and furniture. Light colors create an illusion of space and make the room feel more open and airy.
Cool colors make a room feel light and airy. In addition to natural lighting, a small room can seem larger than it is.
Choosing a couch cover that is the same shade as the walls keeps this room from feeling and looking overfilled.
Lighter colors make a room look bigger however pairing that with a contrasting color creates the same effect but with more interest.
Optical Illusions
Incorporate optical illusions to make the room seem larger. This can include using striped decor items or wallpaper, selecting furniture with legs to create a sense of openness, or using floor-to-ceiling curtains to elongate the walls.
Many of these illusion-creating techniques are perfect for renters; find more inspiration in our list of Renter-Friendly Upgrades That Look Custom.
With curtains starting at the ceiling this room looks bigger and the ceiling higher.
Vertical lines draw the eye upward and create a sense of height in the room.
Another example of vertical lines gives a space a sense of openness while feeling cozy and comfortable.
Your Spacious Sanctuary Awaits
As we’ve explored, the question of how to make a small room feel bigger is answered not by one grand gesture, but through a series of thoughtful, strategic choices. From floating furniture off the walls to mastering your lighting layout, and from decluttering your home to employing clever optical illusions, each idea empowers you to maximize your square footage without sacrificing an ounce of style.
Remember, the goal isn’t to fight the cozy nature of your room, but to enhance it. Creating a space that feels both open and inviting, functional and uniquely yours. Whether you embrace light, airy neutrals or daring, personality-filled maximalism, these principles provide a flexible framework to build upon.
We hope this guide has inspired you to see your small space not as a limitation, but as an opportunity for creative design.
Did you find these tips for making a room feel bigger helpful? Share this post with a friend who could use some design inspiration or pin it to your Pinterest board to keep these ideas handy for your next project!