Does your living space feel a little bit more claustrophobic than it ideally might? Are you suffocated by a surfeit of chairs, tables, ornaments, and accessories? If so, you’re not alone – the things we buy, while they might seem perfect for our homes at the time, can quickly build up; until before long our living space feels positively minuscule. Tis also the season to suffer from a crowded home – you will notice it now more than ever.
It’s a common problem in small, urban apartments – but equally, larger properties might also suffer from having – well – too many things in them. It is our absolute right to be hoarders, collectors and space fillers – that’s just what some of us enjoy doing. The minimalists will never quite comprehend the crowded home but how could they? In this article, we’ll take a look at how this problem might be alleviated, and that priceless feeling of spaciousness be restored.
Lighting
One of the most powerful means of changing the look and feel of a room is by playing with the lighting. After all, our eyes perceive light, not the objects it’s bouncing off.
If your living area seems overly crowded, you can create the impression of spaciousness just by installing some extra lighting. Install smaller lights around your living space, and dispense with the larger overhead ones. The latter will make a room seem smaller, but the former are more flexible, and can be positioned to accentuate open space and to disguise those cluttered areas.
If your room has access to natural light, then so much the better – just be sure that it isn’t thwarted partially by curtains or any potted plants you may have stacked on your windowsill.
Mirrors
Another classic means of making a room se
em bigger is to put mirrors in it. This will help to distribute natural light around a room, as well as providing you with a means of inspecting yourself on your way out of the house.
Another virtue of the mirror is that it will effectively look like there’s another room on the other side of it. While we might consciously know that there isn’t such a room, our unconscious mind won’t – just ask Lewis Carroll.
Larger mirrors can more effectively achieve this effect, but many smaller mirrors can also be useful in helping to brighten the place up a bit. Shop according to the room you’re buying for.
Colours
It’s a well-established fact of interior design that brighter colours will create the illusion of space, while darker ones will make things appear a little more cramped. If you’re living somewhere where space is at a premium, then this is all the more so.
Fill your living space with pale, brightly coloured items of furniture, and choose light blues and beige for the walls and ceiling. This will help to make those empty expanses of wall – however small they may be – seem a little more empty and expansive. Which will help to create an impression of space.
Choose Multipurpose Furniture
Thus far, we’ve looked at ways to make a living space seem more spacious. One thing
we’ve yet to touch upon is how to actually create space, by removing those extra items of furniture. But how can this be done without compromising on functionality?
Perhaps the best solution comes courtesy of those items which serve more than one purpose. If you’re in need of storage space, then why not invest in a coffee table with drawers in it? If you’re in need of a TV stand, then why not get one that doubles as a DVD rack?
If you’ve got an item of furniture that can perform more than one duty in your home, then you dispense with two – or more – of those older items.
Choose Flexible Furniture
Similarly, one can save a great deal of space around the home by choosing furniture which is light and mobile, and can be easily repositioned when things are getting a little bit crowded.
Every home is different, and will require a different space-saving solution. You’ll therefore need to experiment by moving things and seeing how things look afterwards. If you’re filled your home with bulky, immovable items like heavy oak tables and grand pianos, then your options for creating space will be a lot more limited.
Moreover, flexible furniture will also come in handy for those special occasions which call for a little more space. If you’ve got a foldable table, then you’ll be able to easily move it out of the way when the time comes to host guests. Similarly, moveable items of furniture like bean bags can be easily brought out to accommodate extra guests when they’re required, and stowed away when they’re not – thus removing the need for extra, fixed furniture, and creating that little bit more extra space in your home!
