Walls Closing In? How To Make a Room Seem Larger

This is a collaborative post

With the UK government expected to further extend the lockdown for at least another month, we’re all preparing to spend a lot more time indoors. But after months of quarantine, you may feel that your home is starting to feel smaller and more cluttered the more time you spend in it. This is perfectly natural, and can be mitigated. If you want to restore a sense of space, airiness and flow into a room here are some tips that will make any room feel larger and less constrictive.

Show your surfaces

The more time we spend in our homes, the more we feel the need to make them our own. We adorn are surfaces with framed photos, curios and knick knacks. But over time, these items stop being the things that give our living space personality, and become clutter. 

And clutter can be surprisingly damaging to our mental health, especially when we’re spending 23 hours a day indoors. Try taking down some of the items on display and distilling them down to two or three carefully chosen pieces. Don’t worry, you don’t need to throw anything away. Simply rotate what you keep on display and what goes into storage. Which brings us to…

Invest in storage furniture

Storage furniture is a great way to get the most out of a space. It gives you somewhere convenient to store your knick knacks and miscellania without eating into your available space. A storage pouffe or ottoman can make a comfortable and aesthetically pleasing addition to the room while also assisting you in the battle against clutter.

Show off your wall space

You may be surprised how much bigger your room looks when you remove some of your bookshelves, wall art and dressers. If you still need storage space, but want to bare more of your walls, consider something that’s shorter and wider like a chest of drawers. This can give you the storage space you need while also giving you clear walls to make the room look larger. 

Let in the light

Natural light is beneficial for a variety of reasons. It’s good for our mental health, and helps us to maintain proper sleeping patterns. It also goes a long way towards making our living space look larger, cleaner and more spacious. So ditch the heavy drapes and try substituting them for blinds which will give you plenty of natural light in the day, but also grant you privacy at night. 

Mirror mirror on the wall

Finally, this one’s an oldie but a goodie. You may have heard that a mirror may make a room appear larger, and this trick that has been deployed for countless generations works just as well today. Not only do mirrors create an illusion of depth and space, they also reflect light, helping your living space to feel less cramped, dark and claustrophobic. 

We’re on the home stretch in terms of quarantine, and (hopefully) closer to the end than the beginning. By helping your home seem larger and more spacious, you can ensure that you spend the remaining weeks in comfort and tranquility!