6 Little Tricks To Make A Small Room Look Bigger
Narrow hallways, tiny little box bedrooms, and multipurpose kitchen/living/dining rooms, are something us city folk have to live with. Yes, we can declutter, buy appropriately sized furniture and stick to whitewash walls, but are there some other ways we can maximise skimpy square footage? Roll out those rugs!
Whether it’s being bold with colour, layering, or clearly defining your functional zones, a rug can be your best friend.
1. ADD TEXTURE
You may have heard this one when it comes to soft furnishings, or even wallpaper. Adding texture to a space can help create a focal point – and the same can be done with a rug. Pick a dark coloured rug, or a slightly jazzier pattern, to draw attention away from how teeny tiny the rest of the room is, and toward the focal point.
2. OVERSIZE THE RUG
Sounds kind of counterintuitive but use a large rug, or even an oversized rug, that basically fills the entire room, minus a small border (min 20cm from wall to rug), extending beyond all of the furniture. This will draw the eye wider, across the full width and length of the room, making it appear bigger than it really is. Using a rug that is too small for space will simply accentuate the lack of square footage.
3. LAYER THE RUGS
This is more of a follow on from the oversized tip. Depending on the size, a handmade area rug can get quite expensive. So here is a clever hack: buy a simple jute larger sized rug to fill the needed area, and layer a more expensive accent rug on top, or even two! It’s a win-win: you’ll fill the space you need to, for less money, and you’ll be bang on the layering trend. Layering rugs is also a smart way to take on pattern-mixing and add texture.
4. DEFINE THE ZONE
Small space living often means one room that needs to work as your kitchen, dining room and living room all at the same time. It’s really important to define each area in order to create separation between functional zones. Yes, arranging your furniture in the right way will help achieve this, but to create real definition, treat your floors like walls. Unlike walls, rugs will keep the space open, but make each section much more clearly defined.
Rug featured (right): TYSHA Persian Qashqai 302x208cm
5. FRONT LEGS ON TOP
Push a rug slightly under elements of the furniture. Keep the front legs of your sofa, chair, or bed, under the rug and the back legs off it. The rug connects the various furniture pieces together while extending far enough into the room to create a sense of good proportion.
6. LEAVE THE FLOOR FOR THE RUG
When you don’t have much space to play with, you really don’t want to have anything blocking your floor space. Stick to furniture with legs and have the rug and only the rug on the floor. Let the floor breathe by taking up only one visual need.
And that rounds up our 6 tricks! Hopefully this blog gave you some useful inspiration and tips for your small, but beautiful, spaces.
