5 Tricks for Decorating Small Spaces

It may seem an impossible task at first, but there are tons of ways to turn a small, cramped space into a warm, welcoming, and spacious feeling room. Read along to see how!

Whether we’re dealing with a temporary accommodation or our own home, there are a few tricks we can use to take advantage of each and every inch of space we have available in a small living space, playing with certain elements that are able to create convincing optical illusions and amplify our space.

So, let’s grab a paper and pencil and discover five secrets together that we can use to improve the sense of volume within our home, allowing for a more conscious, satisfying, and comfortable experience of our space.

1. Less is more

Paring down to the essentials can be a winning strategy. Have a more extravagant style? Don’t worry! Being “minimalist” doesn’t mean having to give up your unique personality. The important thing is to choose a few pieces, perhaps the most functional, that allow us to decorate by optimizing the space available as best as possible and reducing clutter.

A good trick for a small room is to hang items on the walls, leaving a big open space in the middle of the room, creating an impression of more space. Try it out to see for yourself!

2. Use Color Wisely

If you want to stay in the “comfort zone”, the best choice is to opt for neutral light shades: white, egg-shell white, beige. Using light tones is a tried and true way to help enlarge a room.

If your worried about creating a space that feels too impersonal or uninspired, try choosing a palette of light colors that pair nicely with one another, allowing you to use multiple colors in your space to create a touch of personality.

But you don’t have to be limited to light colors. In a small space, like a guest bathroom, for example, why not try something bold, like strong contrasting colors that pop? There are plenty of options today that allow us to have a bit of fun even in our smaller spaces.

For example, we can paint all of our walls, the ceiling, and our door in one single color, creating a space that completely engulfs us, but also gives us an opportunity to create decorative accents with small contrasting touches of color around the room.

3. Use Optical Illusions to your Advantage

We may not all be able to paint an aerial perspective like Leonardo da Vinci on our wall to add depth to our room, but luckily, we live in 2021 and specialty wall paper can come to our rescue.

There are tons of types of wall art that we can use to trick the eye into seeing more space, a simple way to create more depth in a room. And there is even wallpaper that recreates windows that open up on bustling cityscapes or expansive landscapes. Definitely a simple and unique idea.

4. Mirrors

Mirrors have always played a critical part in enlarging rooms and giving depth to a space. Just think of the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, where each wall is completely covered by mirrors, amplifying the grandeur of the room.

So, why not take advantage of these objects within our own home, as well? We can find them in various shapes and sizes, from geometric to organic, and even in various colors, arranging them in a game of mix & match. We can even use mirrors to create lighting effects and amplify the brightness of our room, positioning one, for example, on the wall opposite a window or close to a lamp.

The interaction between mirrors and light in your space can be a winning combination achieved with minimal effort.

5. Study Lighting

Having large open windows will surely help in creating the sensation of ample space in a room. No matter the size of a window, however, it’s important to take full advantage of any natural light coming into the room, choosing curtains wisely, with light, thin materials, that allow natural light to filter into our room and avoiding heavy fabrics that block light.

When natural light cannot come to the rescue, however, we can employ the use of artificial lighting to brighten our space by choosing the appropriate light source for our room. When picking a lighting fixture, whether a modern ceiling lamp or a unique chandelier, always remember to consider the height of the ceiling too!

Another important characteristic to take into consideration is the temperature of our light sources. Warm, yellowish lights can give the impression that a room is smaller. Balancing lights appropriately, using both warm and cold lights to create contrast and choosing the right position for your lighting can contribute to a greater sense of depth in your room.

These are just a few of the tricks we can use to skillfully make the most out of our space, even when we have a limited surface area to work with. Now, all that’s left is to put these tricks into practice, finding the mix that is right for us to create a unique and comfortable space in which we live.