Do you know any tips or tricks for making a small bedroom look bigger?

Question

I'm moving into a small room, and I get claustrophobic. Any ideas?
Thanks!

Oh, and to the guy who said "no rugs," I was actually planning to buy a large, off-white rug to cover the dingy, dirty, light blue carpet. Is that a bad idea?

Answer 1

Mirrors always make any space look bigger.

Answer 2

If the room is part of an apartment rental, then by all means cover the existing carpet, or get the landlord to rip it out and replace it. See if a professional shampooer can get the dirt and stains out of the carpet before you cover it with anything. It will be more sanitary. If you own the house and if the carpet is too far gone, just rip it out. If you can't afford new carpet, vinyl tile is fairly inexpensive so that can be an option. You'll need to prep the subfloor if you put vinyl down.

Oversized furniture does not make a small room look bigger. It just fills up the small space and makes it feel more cramped. Use furniture that lets the air through like wrought iron and tables with one drawer or no drawers to give the illusion of more space. Use a narrow armoir or dresser.

Choose a paint color that coordinates with the bedding and wall treatments. Keep the color light to keep the room from feelling like a cave. Choose colors that are within a few shades of each other because it will make the room look less choppy. Fabrics should be within a few shades of the wall color and any prints should be very small. Vertical stripes will add a feeling of height, and horizontal stripes will add a feeling of width. Hang drapes from just under the ceiling for a feeling of height and hang them far enough off to the sides to make a small window seem larger. Keep the room clutter free, and keep any collectibles grouped together on a shelf or in one small area. Choose decorative items with care so they don't look busy, but add to the overall appeal of the room. A great way to start is to look at pictures in decorating magazines, then model your choices after the room you like the best.

Answer 3

I know how you feel - my bedroom in our last house was tiny!

If you have a rug, get rid of it. Rugs make a room look smaller. And maybe even get rid of any furnature that you don't really like or use. If you have a large desk you can sell it to buy a smaller one - and you may even have money left over.

Make sure that you find the best possible layout for your furnature, so there is maximum space. I also suggest painting the room a light colour, like off-white. My room in was a yukky blue colour, but after we had painted it off-white and moved my bed, bedside table and desk around it was amazing how much bigger it felt!

Also get a big mirror. It will create an illusion of space and you can also use it for getting yourself dressed. If you get a large ornate frame around the mirror it makes it look like really cool and gives it more purpose than just enlarging the room.

Answer 4

There are several tricks.
- Use oversized furniture to skew the sense of scale in the room. Oversize art works well too.
- If the room is rectangular, paint the end walls a lighter shade of the room color.
- Use mirrors to increase the visual space.
- Create a room within the room to make it multi-purpose. That will again give an illusion of space, but on more of a mental level than a visual one.

However, the most important thing to keep in mind, is to keep the room ABSOLUTELY clutter free. Keep everything neat and tidy, with clearly defined walkways at least 18" wide.

-SD-

Answer 5

Oh babe - one of my favorite topics!

1. NOTHING on the floor - keep all surfaces as clutter free as possible.
2. Light colors, light carpet / floor
3. Mirrors yes, but not lots of them (too much clutter)
4. Wall layouts (shelves, pictures etc) should be more horizontal than vertical (probably badly worded, what I'm trying to get at is imagine a panorama of a skyline, it's wider than it's tall, as opposed to a picture of the Empire State Building, which is taller than it's wide)
5. Keep patterns to a minimum but if you have to get one then go for horizontal stripes.

Answer 6

I take Architecture and i've learned that the color white gives it a more spacioues look. Diagonal lines make it look more spacious too, it's better than orizontal or vertical lines. You should also not use big furniture. Minimize the amount of furniture as much as possible and have mutli-purpose furniture. That's all i can think of right now besides knocking down a few walls

Answer 7

Painting the room a light color rather than dark helps the room look larger.
I recommend going to the library and checking out books on interior design or the use of color, design, and furnishings in room renovation. Plus you can find magazines with titles like "Renovation of Your Home" or even particular rooms. There are all kinds of resources (many of which are free) that you can use to get great ideas for redoing your bedroom.

Answer 8

Mirrors Mirrors Mirrors!!! they open up spaces when creatively placed. And good lighting. Floor lamps might help but they do take up floor space. If the lighting occurs too "low" in the room it might make the room look shorter
I've also heard light colors help, but I'm not a fan.

Answer 9

Use items that do double duty. Or convert into something. I use hanging shoe racks for house shoes ( I love house shoes) and this keeps them off the floor. I keep shampoo in one hanging off the shower curtain rod. Go vertical. Don't try to get everything on a horizontal plane. Lighting can hang or be sconces. Wheels on everything and use back of dressers to frame out and hang a peg board. Tell me your challenges and I can come up with specific solutions.

Answer 10

We are all so different....I always choose the smallest bedroom as I only sleep in my room and like it cozy....first, get rid of any dirty used carpet.....can you???? if there are hardwoods under it, I wouldn't even worry about whether they need to be refinished...just clean and use them....then call the glass man and have one wall mirrored from the middle of the wall up to ceiling...it is not that costly. go from there ..Keep it simple and clean looking as in window treatment and bed treatment.