Your living room may be small, but it doesn't have to feel cramped.
There are many ways to make a living room feel more spacious than it actually is.
Here are a few interior designer secrets to use when decorating your living room to make it feel bigger so you don't feel the need to move to a new home.
Smaller Furniture
Much of the furniture sold today is oversized to fit in to newer larger homes.
Avoid large overstuffed furniture in a small living room.
Many companies sell apartment or petite sized furniture #ad that is still a good size, however the shape is more streamlined to take up less room.
Avoid furniture with arms. If you want arms, make sure they are skinny so they don't take up too much space.
You might choose a sectional sofa instead of a sofa with chair to be able to seat more people.
Furniture with Legs
Sofas with skirts, bedskirts on beds, and other furniture that extends all the way to the ground hides the floor underneath, making the room feel smaller.
In order to make your living room feel bigger, decorate with furniture that has legs. The legs allow some visibility of the flooring underneath, giving the illusion of a larger floor space.
You can use furniture with skirts or a bed skirt if you are hiding extra storage containers under your furniture.
Mirrors
Decorating with mirrors is an amazing decorating trick to make any room appear larger.
The mirrors give the illusion of the room extending beyond the walls, thus making your living room appear to be larger.
Mirrors also reflect light, making the room feel brighter.
Decorate your small living room with an oversized mirror (or multiple mirrors) to make it feel bigger.
You can even cover an entire wall in mirror.
Lighting
Use several sources of lighting in your living room to avoid dark shadows in areas that will make a room feel smaller.
You can have a general overhead light, but also supplement with table lamps, floor lamps, art lights, wall sconces, and/or light coming from a window.
Consider that a floor lamp takes up less space than a table with a table lamp on top.
A wall sconce also takes up less room than a table lamp.
Window Coverings
When covering your windows, make sure to consider your natural light levels.
Hang your living room curtains towards the ceiling, not just above the window, to make the ceiling appear taller.
For a designer quality result, your curtains should be 2-3 times the width of your window. If your window is 50 inches wide, you should use 2 - 50 inch wide curtain panels.
Your curtains should mostly cover the wall and barely cover the window when fully opened.
Avoid dark and heavy drapes that block light, but opt for lighter colored curtains or sheers instead. Even blackout curtains are available in light colors.
Consistent Flooring
Decorate your home using the same flooring throughout your main living areas of your home to make your living areas feel like one large room instead of many smaller rooms.
A general rule of thumb is to only change the flooring in locations where there is a door.
Using different flooring in different rooms makes your home look choppy and your rooms feel smaller.
If you want to differentiate certain areas of your home, use an area rug in each section of your home that coordinates with your decor.
Colors
Decorate your small living room with mostly light colors to make it feel larger.
Neutral colors that are light (such as white, ivory, taupe, cream, and light gray) work well in smaller rooms.
Lighter toned wood is also a good choice.
Some color is good to decorate with, but don't overdo it.
Avoid using a lot of bold patterns or colors that are overly stimulating and may make the room feel smaller.
Clear Furniture & Accessories
Consider decorating your small living room with clear furniture and accessories to make it feel larger.
Your furniture and accessories can be all clear or partially clear, such as a coffee table with a clear glass top.
Items that are clear do not appear to take up any space.
You can decorate with clear crystal candlesticks, a glass bowl, or a Lucite table #ad.
Be careful using clear furniture so that people don't accidentally run into it because they don't see it.
Shiny Metallic Items
Items that reflect light make a room feel bigger.
You can decorate with a metallic lamp, furniture with shiny chrome legs, a metallic curtain rod, a gold coffee table, or most anything that coordinates with your decor.
Keep in mind that spray painting items is an easy way to transform them to be the color you want in your home.
You can spray paint items in gold or silver, mirror spray paint, or even looking glass spray paint #ad that looks like mercury glass.
