As professionals who have been in the home remodeling business for quite some time, one of the very most common things we hear from our clients is their desire to create more space in the home. Often times this can be accomplished by renovating cabinet space and counters, creating extensions to rooms, or adding on new rooms altogether. However, it doesn’t always require such drastic measures to create more space. In fact, in many instances, the amount of space in a given room is all a matter of one’s perspective. There are many useful tricks you can utilize to create the perception of more space in a given room in the house. Below we outline some of the clever tricks we have come across over the years that work wonders in creating a sense of more space in a given room.
Color and Lighting
The colors used in a room, in addition to the quality and amount of lighting used to illuminate that room, play a huge roll in the perceived amount of space available in that room. This is mostly due to optical technicalities, and in many ways, these factors can contribute to phenomena that one could even consider to be optical ‘illusions’. However, there is no trickery here involved with lines or angles that need to be changed. A simple tweaking of the colors used in the room, along with the lighting, can work wonders.
Light, warm, or neutral colors that have a high reflective capacity can make a small room feel a lot bigger than it is. When it comes to color and lighting affecting the perceived space of a room, it is really all about the combinations of these two factors that have the greatest effect. Light colored walls, combined with brighter rather than dimmer lighting allows light to be reflected off of the walls, which can make it difficult for the brain to perceive where those walls actually are. Typically this creates a sense that the walls are further apart than they actually are. You can combine this effect with choosing more vibrant colors for certain accessories in the room that draw attention away from the color of the walls.
One other way lighting can change the feeling of the size of a room is through the use of natural lighting. The larger the window in a given room is, the larger that room is going to feel, as your visual perception of the room will include everything you can see outside of that room. Another way to utilize natural light is in rooms where you feel like the ceiling is just a little low. Adding a skylight to such rooms has a magical effect in making that ceiling feel a lot taller.
Mirrors
Strategically placed mirrors can make a really tiny space feel enormous. The use of mirrors can also provide a sort of optical ‘illusion’ in the rooms they occupy. Nearly everyone has occasionally mistaken a reflection in a mirror for an entirely separate room. Door frame or window sized mirrors are particularly good at producing that effect. Also, placing mirrors at the end of a long hallway creates the feeling that the hallway extends much further than it actually does. Putting mirrors on doors, especially sliding doors or closet doors, also have the ability to make rooms feel a lot larger.
Continuous Flooring
Continuity between rooms is one of the most effective ways to create a sense of more space in a home. Having wood panel floors leading from room to room is the guaranteed best way to do this. Long wooden panels have lines that naturally attract the eye, and when those lines lead into other rooms that you can’t entirely see, it tricks your brain into thinking that those spaces are a lot larger than they actually are. The sense of continuity provided by having wood floors in every room also makes it feel like you are in one giant continuous room, which greatly enhances the feeling of there being more space than there actually is. Wood, however, is not the only material you can consider using to achieve this effect. Tile flooring is especially good at creating this effect as well, and there are certainly aesthetic differences when it comes to flooring options that you’ll want to consider. However, whatever materials you end up deciding on, just keep in mind that the effect is achieved by continuity from room to room. Stick to that basic model and you will certainly achieve your goals of creating a greater sense of space in the house.
Conclusion
The strategies for creating a greater sense of space in the house described in this article are by no means exhaustive. We continue to come across ingenious ways of achieving this effect, and we are always keeping these strategies in mind. Whatever the kind of room you want there to be more space in is, we are chock full of ideas on how to make that happen, and we are always interest in learning more and hearing your own ideas. We’d love to hear about the ways you are thinking about renovating your home to create more space, and we would love to help that become a reality. If you are looking to create more space in the home, get in touch with us right away. We offer free estimates on any project no matter how big or small!