You do not have to sacrifice style and good taste when designing a small living space. Keep things simple and stick to the basics of good design to create a room full of finesse. Furniture style, color choices and window treatments play a pivotal role in cohesively designing a Small Living Space. And when it comes to small spaces, less can mean so much more.
How to Design Small Living Space
Furniture for Small Living Space
Small Living Space requires light-colored upholstered furniture with gentle patterns in the fabric. Pastel and neutral colors make small rooms seem lighter and larger. Dark-colored furniture or heavily patterned upholstery weighs a room down, making it feel heavy and small. Furniture styles also play a part in defining a room’s size. Sofas and chairs with legs allow light to filter through the bottom. Legs create visually larger spaces because the floor can be seen underneath. In addition, glass and metal coffee and end tables appear transparent, making the space seem more open.
Small Living Space Colors
Like furniture color, wall color influences the look and feel of a room. Paint the walls and ceiling in light, neutral colors to force the walls into the background and make the room appear larger. Deep, dark wall colors bring the walls in, creating a small feel in a large room, while making a small room seem even smaller. White walls keep a space from feeling and looking too constricted. Adding splashes of color with room accessories forces the eye to wander, making the room feel more expansive.
Lighting Fixtures
Nothing visually enlarges a space more than using natural light. Allow for the entrance of natural light through windows or skylights whenever possible. Avoid blocking large windows with furniture or heavy draperies. Light wall colors and neutral-colored furniture reflects light, which increases the brightness and feel of the space. Without natural light, a room feels closed in and cramped. Add lamps and wall-mounted lights to make the room appear larger when it does not have enough natural lighting.
Draw the eye upwards in a small space. By doing so, you create the illusion that the room is larger and taller than it actually is. Hang vertical pictures or photo groupings above the sofa. Place decorative floor lamps in corners to elongate wall lines. Floor-to-ceiling drapes surrounding a window also create long, vertical lines. You can also trick the eye into making the room feel as if it is taller by adding a lighter colored paint to the ceiling than the paint used on the walls.