Compact furniture and visual tricks in this article will help you visually enlarge the interior of any room in the house. You will learn how to save space, visually expand the area, raise the ceilings and make a small room as light and bright as possible. We bring to your attention 7 secrets on how to visually enlarge the room!
1. How to save space in a small room: smart furniture
When shopping for furniture for a small room, you can save a lot of space by opting for shallow cabinetry (especially for kitchens, bathrooms, and entryways), narrow armrests, and thin legs. The latter will help not only visually enlarge the room, but also simplify the cleaning process, while furniture without legs will look much more massive and accumulate dust under it.
- A sliding or folding table that can be expanded when guests visit. Just stock up on extra folding chairs that can be hidden against a wall or in a closet. Choose a table model with wheels to make it easier to move.
- A bar counter that can also act as a narrow dining table, a kitchen island, a window sill or even a partition between the kitchen and the living room.
- Sofa with lifting mechanism and storage space. It is convenient to hide bed linen, bedspreads and various old things in it. Armrests can be equipped with additional shelves for decor and accessories.
- A folding wardrobe bed that solves the problem of decorating small one- or two-room apartments along with.
- Banquettes and ottomans with a hinged lid and a cavity inside.
Finally, built-in and corner furniture allow you to make the most of the available space. Corner hallways, a reading chair in the living room, a built-in wardrobe above the head of the bed and similar solutions will make the interior of the home more comfortable and interesting.
2. Optical illusion: transparent and mirror interior items
3. How to visually expand the room: horizontal lines
Choose wallpaper with horizontal lines or plank up the walls to make a narrow room look bigger. The striped path will play the same role in the hallway or corridor. In general, in small rooms it is better to refuse to use carpets, as they visually break up the space and make it narrower.
4. Enlarge space with lighting
Lighting up every dark corner and avoiding massive pendant lights is another way to make a small room look bigger. Use oversized ceiling lights, behind the sofa and chairs, sconces above the tables, built-in spotlights and led lights that will not steal your free space.
5. What color expands the space of the room: choose wallpaper for the walls
What wall color is best for a small room? And how to visually enlarge a room with wallpaper? Here are some photo ideas!
For a free and fresh atmosphere, choose light, natural and pastel shades of beige, gray, green and blue. Fashionable olive and mint tones will be an excellent choice. Pair them with white and different textures for a more expressive design. Please note that wallpaper for walls is best chosen with medium to large, but not small patterns, which can make a small room look crowded.
A good option is to design the walls and furniture in one color. The interior will look cohesive and spacious, and colorful accents can be introduced with vases, houseplants, cushions and other accessories.
High shelves, shelving and cabinets to the ceiling will help you make the most of the space and also make it look taller. Just as horizontal stripes expand a room, vertical accents help lift the ceiling. Therefore, instead of one wide wardrobe in the living room, it is better to put two narrow, but high ones. Two tall showcases for decoration, kitchen cabinets to the ceiling and shelving with open shelves are also suitable for this role.
7. How to visually enlarge a room with curtains
A small room needs good natural light. Therefore, the curtains here should emphasize the windows, leaving them open. Ordinary long curtains work well for this, which can make the room look taller if they are decorated in a bright color (like vertical stripes). On the other hand, for a small room, you can safely choose curtains for wallpaper, stripes and sheer tulle in a simple cut. It would be better to refuse lush French curtains, as well as any decor on the windowsills.
Thank you for your attention!
Small space: how to visually enlarge the room? updated: December 5, 2016 by: Margarita Glushko
Sometimes, in order to increase the space in a small room, we do not have the opportunity to replace the furniture, but there are ways to make the room visually more spacious. To do this, there are some tricks, for example, put a mirror, change the wallpaper or choose compact furniture. Let's take a closer look at them!
1. The presence of mirrors
The first place in the list of ways to increase space is occupied by mirrors. To visually expand the area with their help, you need to select several mirrors at once and set bright lighting.
Instead of mirrors, you can diversify the space with various mirror objects: mirror elements in cabinets, tiles. Mirrored frames in paintings or photographs on the walls are also a good option. Placing mirrors in front of a window will not only make the room appear wider, but it will also let in more light into the room. Recently, many install a mirrored ceiling to increase space. A non-standard idea for a narrow room is to make one of the walls completely mirrored.
2. Gloss on the walls
Gloss sparkling on the walls can also visually expand the room. Even if one wall is decorated with gloss, then, for example, in a narrow hallway, the area will visually increase. This creates the effect of a bifurcation of the boundaries of the room. You can use wallpaper with a small pattern.
3. Stretch ceiling
Also a good option is to install a glossy stretch ceiling. And if you build several lamps into it, then this will visually increase the area even more. The lamp reflects light throughout the room and thus creates the effect of space. Try not to use huge chandeliers. In a room with a low ceiling, you can use vertical striped wallpaper.
4. Wallpaper
5. Light coloring of the walls, play on contrasts
The most wonderful and reliable option is to paint the ceiling and walls the same way so that there are no lines between them. This will create the effect of increasing space. The ideal color would be blue, green or grey.
The walls are painted with light paint, but it is not recommended to use a pronounced white color, which can narrow the room. Do not use too bright colors, they can also visually reduce the room. It is better to choose curtains, furniture and bedspreads in the same range. It is better to choose a floor in a monophonic style, without drawings. Well, if its shade is also light.
6. Drawings in the form of various stripes in the interior
Horizontal stripes are beneficial for lengthening the walls of a room. In our case, wallpaper with patterns in the form of stripes, as well as decor elements in stripes of various colors, are suitable. The ideal option is to hang horizontal shelves on the walls that will help optically expand the space. In addition, various items can be stored on the shelves.
But the vertical stripes on the wallpaper visually increase the length of the room. It is better to use them not on all walls, but on two (not necessarily opposite), then the room will look neat and spacious.
7. Proper lighting
As you know, the more light in a small room, the more comfortable and spacious it will seem. It is better to install light bulbs on the ceiling, which will give brightness to the room and visually increase the area. In the absence of proper lighting, the room will look not only uncomfortable, small, but also gloomy. You can also put a floor lamp in the corner.
8. Furniture in light colors
It is better to purchase compact furniture made of light wood, which also gives the effect of space. Arrange furniture along the walls, not in the middle of the room. The most suitable option would be to use built-in furniture. As you know, low furniture optically lengthens the room.
9. Zoning of the premises
Another way to increase the space would be to use folding or sliding doors. They are suitable for visually highlighting any areas in the room, and they also create coziness and originality. You can use them to separate the room from the hallway or bathroom.
Starting renovations, we want to not only update the interior of the house, but also adapt the space for ourselves, so that small rooms seem larger, lighter, and ceilings higher.
For large rooms, the opposite task is how to make the room not look like a ballet hall.
Everyone wants to have a large apartment, and it has cozy and spacious rooms, but this is not available and possible for everyone. To expand the space, you can break the partitions, but why start a big renovation when you visually expand the area of a small room, some simple design solutions will help.
To the question of how to visually increase the space in a small room, the answer is simple, use the available tricks of optical illusion (optical illusions). Such visualization techniques are powerful and very important in design, and are often used by architects, interior designers, and fashion designers.
Visually enlarging a room, even a very cramped one, can be achieved by combining techniques such as the play of light, harmonics of color and its shades, the right selection of wallpaper, an increase in reflective mirrors in the room, the use of frescoes and photo wallpapers. This should include the correct layout and selection of furniture, interior items, the location of cornices and correctly matched tulle, curtains and curtains, as well as the use of textiles in the room, creating an atmosphere of freshness, softness and lightness.
First, let's remember the basic principles that guide designers:
- Light colors increase space, dark colors reduce space.
- Every time you draw a line it breaks space apart
- Every time you use a contrast spot, it visually reduces the space.
- Any large object in a small space reduces it even more
- The fewer objects in the room, the more it looks.
In the interior design of a small room, wallpaper plays an important role. Small apartments in five-story buildings from the times of the USSR, which are commonly called Khrushchevs, cannot boast of large room sizes. The main walls inside the apartment do not allow you to increase the square and in order to make small rooms seem larger, it is better to follow some proven tips. Properly selected wall coverings will not only expand the room, but also create a unique, memorable image for it.
What wallpaper color enhances the room?
With a color or a combination of certain colors, you can visually expand a small space.
- When finishing the ceiling in white, a small room will seem larger if cool colors are used for the walls.
- Blue, light gray walls will add air.
- Walls in shades of gold will make the room sunny and bright, but it will not increase its size.
- Black and dark blue are not suitable for a small room. Walls or a ceiling of this color will make it even smaller.
For a bright room
If the room is light, the walls can be saturated with bright colors - blue, turquoise or green. It is better for small rooms, even light ones, not to use dark shades of wallpaper.
The photo shows a bright nursery with a large window. Pink and blue wallpaper with floral motifs brought sophistication and comfort to a small room.
For dark room
To make a dark small room seem larger, the ceiling and walls should be as light as possible. Sometimes the best design trick is to make them white. Then, against their background, the furniture will not seem bulky and may be dark.
Which pattern enlarges the room?
Wallpaper factories every year offer new collections with a variety of patterns and textures. With the help of some types of drawings, you can change the visual impression of the room.
- Plain wallpaper with a small floral pattern gives even a small room lightness and comfort.
- The vertical strip adds the missing height to the low room.
- If the drawing on the wall does not contrast with the background, but harmonizes with it, then even if the drawing is large, this is a winning background for furniture and decor items.
The photo shows a successful use of wallpaper with a small geometric pattern to decorate the corridor of a small apartment. The white ceiling balances the proportions of the room and relieves the saturation of the walls.
Design ideas for rooms that expand space
There are several design techniques that allow you to visually increase the area of \u200b\u200ba small room. One of these techniques is to paste over the view wall of the room with photo wallpaper or 3D wallpaper. High-quality photographic images that have appeared in recent years are not inferior to frescoes in terms of the impression they make, and win in price and speed of execution. 3d walls can change the premises of a small hall or studio beyond recognition.
Wallpaper for a small living room
The living room is the main room in the house and should be decorated in the most expressive way. To decorate and expand the space of a small room, you can use photo wallpapers. Most often, the wall next to the sofa is most suitable for this purpose.
In the photo, the wall of a small living room is effectively decorated with vintage photo wallpapers and images of predatory animals, which adds dynamics and originality to the interior.
In the photo, the end wall of a small hall is decorated with photo wallpapers, on which images of bright house facades look very attractive. Such a design technique will not leave indifferent any guest.
In the photo, the combination of stripes and plain wallpaper not only gave the boy's children's room austerity, but also brought dynamics and diversity to the small room.
In the photo is a nursery for a little princess. The walls are covered with wallpaper with birds. A small room looks tender, bright and sunny.
A small toilet is a characteristic feature of small-sized Khrushchev. Wallpaper in such toilets is an interesting design technique that can refresh the room. In these small rooms there are no furniture and you can make the walls bright and expressive.
In the photo on the left is a toilet with exquisite patterns on the walls. The room gained style and expressiveness and won in visual impression.
Visually expand a small bathroom
The use of wallpaper in bathrooms is becoming more and more important. From such a bold decision, these small rooms only benefit. Here, the wallpaper on the walls looks like frescoes or art painting.
When you want to decorate the dining room in an unusual way, but there is not enough space in a small apartment, you can use images that will expand the space and effectively highlight the eating area. The dining area covered with expressive wallpaper in studio apartments looks very nice.
Design options for the dressing room
Even the dressing room can be decorated with taste. Interesting patterns will expand the space of a small room reserved for cabinets and shelves. Bright wallpapers are suitable for this purpose, light or dark depends on the designer's idea.
Small kitchens, especially kitchens in Khrushchev, can be visually enlarged in square, if you do not limit yourself to traditional tiles in the design of the walls, but use expressive bright wallpapers. Geometric patterns, stripes or figures perfectly emphasize the geometry of kitchen appliances and appliances. And bright accents add dynamics and a small room seems larger.
Ways to visually enlarge the hallway
The entrance hall in the house is the first room that welcomes the owners and guests. To visually enlarge the hallway, the pattern on the walls can be chosen with horizontal stripes or a small pattern. To make the corridor seem larger, the design technique using horizontal stripes will lower the height and push the walls apart.
How to visually enlarge a small bedroom?
When choosing wallpaper for a small bedroom, it is better to decorate it in unobtrusive colors and patterns that are pleasing to the eye and contribute to relaxation and restful sleep.
One of the design techniques for expanding space in small apartments and studio apartments is the use of photo wallpapers. When it is not possible to purchase a finished fresco or invite an artist to paint, you can paste over the view wall with photo wallpaper.
A perspective image of nature or a panorama of the city with plans of different sizes will create a certain mood in the room. In a studio apartment, competent zoning with photo wallpapers will help to avoid clutter.
Style features to visually enlarge the room
Different interior styles have their own peculiarities of using wallpaper to visually enlarge a small space.
Provence
To make a small Provence-style room seem bigger, you can use light-colored furniture. If the walls are pasted over with dark wallpaper, it will be correct to complement them with a white ceiling cornice.
The photo shows a Provence-style office, the walls are successfully combined with furniture and a white ceiling. The room does not look small and cramped.
Classic
The classic style is characterized by the use of wallpaper. Silky wallpaper with patterns, monograms and floral designs adorn this style.
Pictured is a bedroom in a classic style. The color of the walls repeats the color of the furniture, which creates unity and adds sophistication to the interior. In small rooms, this technique will always be relevant.
Minimalism
Style is also not complete without such decorative material as wallpaper. For the design of accent walls, to highlight important surfaces, this coating is perfect.
The photo shows a bedroom with an accent wall imitating a mosaic. This technique creates a feeling of greater depth and dimensions of the room.
Modern
Modern style or modern is just the style in which wallpaper is used in almost all areas of the house. Light pastel colors on the walls create a feeling of airiness and lightness, which increases the size of a small room.
In the photo, light furniture in the Art Nouveau style harmoniously combines with the same shade of wallpaper in calm geometric patterns. The absence of disturbing lines and colors creates a feeling of spaciousness and transparency.
Design options for a long narrow room
Long, narrow spaces can be made more visually pleasing by using the right color and pattern on the walls. Geometry, especially with clear graphic contours, can create a feeling of freedom and permeability in a small room. Light walls with a glossy surface add light and space.
In the photo, the wall at the head of the bed is covered with wide striped wallpaper. This design technique made it possible to visually expand the narrow space of a small room.
In the photo you can see an interesting solution for expanding a narrow small room for a child. The long boring wall of a small room is decorated with expressive 3D wallpaper imitating bookshelves in cheerful colors.
In the photo in a narrow arch, bright inserts in certain places serve both for a visual accent and for expanding a long narrow passage. The use of expressive, sunny wallpaper adds light and joy to a small room.
In order to visually raise the height of the ceilings, there are some design techniques. Wallpaper with vertical stripes and a dark wide cornice between the wall and the white ceiling will help to achieve the desired effect.
The photo shows a small bedroom with a low ceiling. The stripes on the walls evened out the proportions of the room and added lightness and comfort to it.
The photo shows an example of using wallpaper in a small room with a low ceiling. On the white walls, maps were highlighted and filled with colored wallpaper. The vertical arrangement of the cards added height and originality to the room.
How to combine wallpapers for visual enlargement?
It is impossible to ignore such a design technique of visual expansion of space as a combination of different wallpapers.
There are several ways to combine:
- Contrasting combination of wallpaper on opposite walls of the room,
- Highlighting an accent wall with photo images or contrasting colors,
- The combination of walls of different colors for zoning a room,
- Combination of different colors and patterns for horizontal division of walls,
- Isolation with active wallpaper - bright against a pale background, with a pattern against a plain background to highlight the main area of \u200b\u200bthe room.
Photo gallery
With the help of wallpaper, you can experiment with the interior of a small room, decorate the walls in an original way and visually expand the space. Below are photo examples of using wallpaper on walls in rooms for various functional purposes.
Editorial
Own apartment is the dream of almost every modern person, and for many it becomes a reality. But not everyone can afford a large spacious living space. We have collected the best tips from interior designers and are ready to tell you how to visually enlarge the space. This article will not add square meters to you, but we promise a visual effect.
The easiest way to visually expand a room is wallpaper for walls. The choice in this segment is unlimited, from budget options to elite ones, and the process of wallpapering does not require the work of a professional.
Tatyana Avramenko, designer: " If we talk about what colors increase the room, these are definitely warm shades: green, yellow, beige, cream, apricot. So the room will seem brighter and, accordingly, more spacious. For a room with low ceilings, I would advise choosing wallpaper with vertical stripes - such a pattern will visually lengthen the walls in height. If, on the contrary, you need to stretch the room in length, use horizontal striped wallpaper».
To achieve the maximum effect, plain light wallpapers are recommended by professionals to be combined with simple and functional furniture. You should not clutter up an already small space: let the sofa unfold only for the night, and things that are not essential are hidden in the closet.
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Wallpaper for a narrow room
You can visually correct the proportions of an elongated room by combining different types of wallpaper. We decorate long walls in light colors, which are one of the trends of 2014. This is visually increase the space between them. Short ones need to be brought closer to each other. To do this, one of the walls should be made darker. You can play on the contrast: we glue wallpaper with a small pattern on one wall, on the other - wallpaper with a large pattern or photo wallpaper.
Ulyana Shevtsova, designer, "Perfectionism" company: " An image with a perspective will help to visually dissolve the usual boundaries of the room: whether it is an Italian street or the Cote d'Azur stretching into the distance. As well as a set of geometric shapes arranged in a certain way.»
Contrasting colors and large patterns literally “eat up” the space. But in the case of a narrow room, they work the other way around.
In order to enlarge a narrow room with high ceilings, designers have a little trick in store: wallpaper on the walls should be glued, stepping back from the top edge of 10-20 cm. The ceiling will thus settle a little, and the room as a whole will seem more spacious.
How to "raise" low ceilings?
The exact opposite problem how to visually increase the height of the ceiling. This is where vertical wallpaper comes in handy. They will stretch the walls up, due to which the room will seem more spacious. 
Curbs for walls lower ceilings. Don't use them if you want to pull the room up.
The original idea is to stick photo wallpapers with the image of the sky on the ceiling. Such a pattern will create the illusion of infinity, due to which the room will seem more voluminous.
Dark room wallpaper
A bright room seems more airy and spacious. Therefore, if your windows face the shady side, add artificial lighting: all kinds of sconces, lamps. But give up massive chandeliers.
Large interior items steal space. The freer the room, the more voluminous it looks.
Essential in a dark room light wallpaper for walls. Warm yellowish shades are best suited. In the same color scheme, you can pick up popular photo curtains.
