A small room can be a real challenge for a designer. But in a modern city, space is often limited. We can't move the walls apart or raise the ceiling, but the visual design of a room can create the illusion of space. Great value has the color of furniture and wallpaper.
In a small room, it is very important to properly organize the space. Each thing should have its own specific place so that there is no feeling of clutter and constant disorder. Use a few tricks that will transform the space.
Plain upholstery and clean lines
Give preference to upholstery without a pattern. In a small room, it is important to get rid of all the things that clutter the space and overload it with details. Light furniture with bright accents will work better than intricate patterns. It is also better to choose laconic silhouettes. Carving or drapery will deprive the room of lightness.
Add glass furniture
Transparent furniture does not clutter up the space and allows light to flood the entire room. Choose clear glass light shades, since dark does not create a feeling of lightness. Glass table, shelves and vases will make the room seem filled with air.
Monochrome interior
Choose one color and use it in your decor various shades. It is best to use grey, beige or pale blue. But you can work with other colors, using muted shades. Be careful with variations of red - it is too stimulating to the psyche.
Remove small trinkets
Leave only functional decorative items on display. And here is a collection of elephants different sizes will have to be kept in the closet. A large number of small details can turn a small room into something like a junk shop. If you are not too attached to a particular item, it is better to give it as a gift or donate it to charity.
Multifunctional furniture
The space of a small room needs to be used as much as possible. Modules that perform several functions at once will come to the rescue. The sofa should have storage space, and it is better to choose chests of drawers with hinged lids that serve as a table. Don't neglect folding furniture. You can hide it in a closet and take it out only when you need it. Residents of small rooms will have to replace armchairs with chairs, and the bed with a sofa or sofa.
In some cases, open shelves are appropriate
But make sure that all things on them are in perfect order. And let all the accessories work with the overall color scheme of the room.
Design windows without frills
IN small room You should not use heavy curtains with voluminous drapery. Avoid massive cornices, lacing and fringe. It is better to replace heavy material with light tulle. Instead of traditional curtains, use blinds or roller blinds; they will provide privacy while leaving the window light and bright.
Opt for a light color scheme
A light palette visually increases the area of the room. Complement plain walls with light-colored furniture and accessories. You can put several bright accents, but don't overdo them.
Pay attention to furniture with legs
By lifting traditional chests of drawers, cabinets and sofas, you fill the room with additional air. Of course, you will have to pay more attention to cleaning, but it will be worth it.
Add mirrors
Cover the surface of a wall or cabinet door with mirrors. The room will seem almost twice as large. In addition, mirrors will reflect sunlight, thereby prolonging the natural light in the room.
Use stripes in decoration
Vertical stripes will add height, while horizontal stripes will expand the room. Use colors that complement the main interior. If you couldn't find plain wallpaper striped, paint the walls using masking tape.
Use molding to make the ceiling appear higher
You can visually make the ceiling higher and expand the wall space. Add different shades for some areas, and the room will be filled with new volume.
From the editor
Owning an apartment is the dream of almost every modern person, and for many it becomes a reality. But not everyone can afford a large, spacious living space. We have collected best tips interior designers and are ready to tell you how to visually enlarge the space. Square meters This article will not help you, but we promise a visual effect.
The easiest way to visually expand a room is wallpaper for walls. The choice in this segment is unlimited, from budget options to elite ones, and the process of wallpapering itself does not require the work of a professional.
Tatyana Avramenko, designer: “ If we talk about what colors make a room look bigger, these are definitely warm shades: green, yellow, beige, cream, apricot. This will make the room seem lighter and, accordingly, more spacious. For a room with low ceilings, I would advise choosing wallpaper with vertical stripes - such a pattern will visually lengthen the walls in height. If, on the contrary, you need to make the room longer, use wallpaper with horizontal stripes».
To achieve maximum effect, plain light wallpaper professionals recommend combining with simple and functional furniture. Don’t clutter up an already small space: let the sofa unfold only at night, and hide non-essential items in the closet.
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Wallpaper for a narrow room
You can visually correct the proportions of an elongated room by combining different types wallpaper We design long walls in light colors, which are one of the trends of 2014. This visually enlarges the space between them. The short ones need to be brought closer to each other. To do this, one of the walls should be made darker. You can play with contrast: glue wallpaper with a small pattern on one wall, and wallpaper with a large pattern or photo wallpaper on the other.
Ulyana Shevtsova, designer, Perfectionism company: “ An image with a perspective will help to visually dissolve the usual boundaries of a room: be it an Italian street or the Cote d'Azur stretching into the distance. And also a set geometric shapes, located in a certain way.»
Contrasting colors and large patterns literally “eat up” the space. But in the case of a narrow room, they work the other way around.
In order to increase narrow room with high ceilings, the designers have a little trick up their sleeve: wallpaper should be glued to the walls at a distance of 10-20 cm from the top edge. In this way, the ceiling will settle a little, and the room as a whole will seem more spacious.
How to "raise" low ceilings?
The exact opposite problem is how to visually increase the height of the ceiling. This is where wallpaper with a vertical pattern will come to the rescue. They will stretch the walls upward, making the room seem more spacious. 
Curbs for walls lower ceilings. Don't use them if you want to make the room look upward.
An original idea is to put photo wallpaper with a picture of the sky on the ceiling. Such a pattern will create the illusion of infinity, due to which the room will seem more voluminous.
Wallpaper for a dark room
A bright room seems airier and more spacious. Therefore, if your windows face shadow side, add artificial lighting: all kinds of sconces, lamps. But avoid massive chandeliers.
Large interior items steal space. The freer the room, the more voluminous it looks.
Essential in a dark room light wallpaper for walls. Warm yellowish shades are best. In the same color scheme You can also choose popular photo curtains.
The space-saving furniture and visual tricks in this article will help you make any room in your home look bigger. You'll learn how to save space, visually expand the area, raise ceilings and make a small room as light and bright as possible. We bring to your attention 7 secrets on how to visually enlarge a room!
1. How to save space in a small room: smart furniture
When buying furniture for a small room, you can save a lot of space by choosing shallower cabinet depths (especially for the kitchen, bathroom and hallway), narrow armrests and thin legs. The latter will help not only visually enlarge the room, but also simplify the cleaning process, while furniture without legs will look much more massive and accumulate dust underneath.
- Sliding or folding table, which can be expanded when guests visit. Just stock up on extra folding chairs that can be hidden against the wall or in the closet. Choose a table model with wheels to make it easier to move.
- A bar counter that can also act as a narrow dining table, kitchen island, window sill, or even a partition between the kitchen and living room.
- Sofa with lifting mechanism and storage space. It is convenient to hide bed linen, bedspreads and various old things. The armrests can be equipped with additional shelves for decor and accessories.
- A folding bed-wardrobe that solves the problem of decorating small single- or two-room apartments along with .
- Banquettes and ottomans with a hinged lid and a cavity inside.
Finally, built-in and corner furniture allow you to make maximum use of the available space. Corner hallways, a reading chair in the living room, a built-in wardrobe above the head of the bed and similar solutions will make the interior of your home more comfortable and interesting.
2. Optical illusion: transparent and mirrored interior items
3. How to visually expand a room: horizontal lines
Choose wallpaper with horizontal lines or cover the walls wooden planks to visually expand a narrow room. A striped runner will play the same role in a hallway or hallway. In general, in small rooms it is better to avoid using carpets, as they visually break up the space and make it narrower.
4. We increase the space with lighting
Lighting up every dark corner and avoiding massive pendant lamps- another way to visually enlarge a small room. Use oversized ceiling lamps, behind the sofa and armchairs, sconces above the tables, built-in spotlights and LED lighting that will not steal your free space.
5. Which color expands the space of the room: choosing wallpaper for the walls
What wall color is best for a small room? And how to visually enlarge a room with wallpaper? We offer some ideas with photos!
For a free and fresh atmosphere, choose light, natural and pastel shades beige, gray, green and blue tones. Fashionable olive and mint tones would be an excellent choice. Combine them with white and different textures that will make the design more expressive. Please note that it is better to choose medium and large wallpaper for walls, but not small patterns which can make a small room look crowded.
A good option is to decorate the walls and furniture in the same color. The interior will look holistic and spacious, and colorful accents can be introduced with vases, indoor plants, sofa cushions and other accessories.
Tall shelves, racks and ceiling-high cabinets will help you make the most of your space and also make it look taller. Just as horizontal stripes expand a room, vertical accents help to “raise” the ceiling. Therefore, instead of one wide wardrobe in the living room, it is better to put two narrow but tall ones. Two tall display cases for decoration, kitchen cabinets under the ceiling and shelving with open shelves are also suitable for fulfilling this role.
7. How to visually enlarge a room with curtains
A small room needs something good natural light. Therefore, the curtains here should emphasize the windows, leaving them open. Regular long curtains are good for this, they can make the room taller if decorated in bright color(like vertical stripes). On the other hand, for a small room you can safely choose curtains that match the wallpaper, stripes and transparent tulles of a simple cut. From lush French curtains It would be better to refuse, as well as any decor on the window sills.
Thank you for your attention!
Small space: how to visually enlarge a room? updated: December 5, 2016 by: Margarita Glushko
The key rule is to give preference to cool colors.
Cool tones include: violet, violet-blue, blue, including with a green tint, green, yellow-green, and pastel shades.
Warm colors considered: red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow.
Cold colors should not be too rich and dark. Interspersed with warm tones are acceptable, but they should be in the minority.
We decorate the walls
- Wallpaper that visually adds space to a room should be almost smooth, without pronounced relief.
- Choose a small wallpaper pattern or the walls can be striped (stripes without pronounced contrast).
The same rule applies to other finishing materials: paint, plaster, etc. Venetian plaster in cream tones will not only give the desired effect, but will also shimmer beautifully in any light, filling the room with freshness and luxury.
Not everyone prefers an abundance of cool shades on the walls, especially in the bedroom. Therefore, they make the most of the visual transformation of space in this way, in the direction of enlargement, in the living room, kitchen, bathroom and hallway.
Another effective method, which designers use - photo wallpaper on one of the walls of the room. The image must be in perspective - a park alley or city street stretching into the distance, a seascape, a flower field. For example, if the interior is in Provence style, the kitchen wall can be covered with wallpaper depicting lavender fields.
Flooring options
Make the flooring in your home plain and light. The look should not be overloaded with squares, colored inserts, decor or rich colors.
- If you are laying parquet or laminate in a square or rectangular room, lay the modules from the door along or diagonally.
- If on the walls Venetian plaster, a floor made of stone or light laminate will harmoniously combine with it.
Give preference to carpets that are a tone or slightly darker than the floor, always with a small pile. They can occupy either the main area or cover separate areas: bedside, sofa, dining.
Ideas for the ceiling
It is advisable to make the ceiling in a small room white. White or light-colored ceilings suit almost all styles and features of rooms, which will also seem airier and lighter.
Materials for implementing the idea can be different:
- dye,
- plaster,
- tensile structures.
Last option Gives a beautiful glossy shine.
A mirrored ceiling will give the desired effect, but not everyone likes this solution, and it does not suit all styles.
Use stained glass: they can occupy most of the ceiling or be in the form of inserts.
The shape is at your discretion - round, square, rectangular, irregular with smooth corners. The last option fits Art Nouveau. If the stained glass window is large, it may depict the sky. For small stained glass windows, green floral decor on a white background is suitable.
Selecting furniture
Choose furniture light colors, close to the color of the walls, but with a slightly different texture. Don't worry that the furniture will blend in with the wall decoration. There is no such effect in small rooms. Moreover, there will be differences in scale and texture.
Folding furniture
For smart apartments and dwellings with small area They use furniture that folds and transforms. There are many options for compact and folding sofas, armchairs, and soft corners. Furniture decor should not be in abundance, with large carved figures. This solution is suitable for large halls in baroque, empire, classic style.
Glass tables and mirror cabinets
Use small glass or mirror tables. Cabinets and walls - with closed shelves. After all, they place things on them that will “take up” the space for everyone to see. The contents of cabinets should be hidden from view behind mirrored or smooth doors. Do not use whatnots for the same reasons.
Rectangular room
A significant plus if the room is rectangular in shape. The furniture will be placed around its perimeter, while the central part remains free. Do the same if the room is square, only in this case visual space there will be less. In a small living room, the table is placed not in the center of the room, but near the wall. If guests arrive, it can be placed situationally near the sofa area.
Hanging shelves
Use hanging shelves. If they have a few plants and few things on them, they may be open. But to store many things, purchase closed version. Suspended structures For household items unload bottom part rooms, which means they increase the area not only visually, but also in fact.
Many people love large double beds, often with a canopy and/or a headboard with large carved decor. However, in small bedrooms such a bed will take up most of the room.
Practical and visual expansion space can be achieved if the bed is not big size, and she will stand along the wall. Then it won’t be possible to place cabinets and lamps on both sides, but the room will be much more spacious and comfortable.
IN one-room apartments as sleeping place a small folding sofa is also used, which can be easily extra effort unfolds. When guests arrive, it is assembled, and the rest of the time, if desired, it is disassembled and covered with a blanket, like a double bed, or assembled.
What to do with the decor?
The main rule is that it does not clutter the room.
- Small trinkets arranged in different parts rooms make it cramped.
- If you like collecting souvenirs from different countries, allocate one place for them on the hanging structure.
- A bright lampshade, a floor lamp with a carved leg or floor vase place it closer to the room door.
When a person enters, the first thing he does is look at the wall opposite the entrance, and then to the sides. If these areas are not cluttered with decor, then the room will seem visually larger!
It is perfectly acceptable to hang pictures on the walls.
Option 1: composition of medium-sized rectangular images.
Option 2: one rectangular painting larger than average.
Option 3: a composition of narrow-width paintings, the dimensions of which can be 15x60, 30x60.
An important nuance regarding the paintings: the baguette is not wide, light, without an abundance of decor. The frame is one or two shades darker than the wall.
Plants will decorate any interior, and a small room too, if they are small size. For example, violets, cyclamen, balsam, spathiphyllum. It is advisable to place flowerpots on hanging shelves or windowsill. If you have plenty climbing plant, such as epipremnum, you can make a small rectangular phytopan. Firstly, it will look original, and secondly, it will not take up much space.
What reduces space in a room?
- Large, contrasting color patterns.
- Decorative niches, even medium-sized.
- Massive furniture, beds and sofas with curly backs and abundant carved patterns.
- Tall cabinets with corner open shelves that hold a lot of things.
- Massive curtains, drapery, multi-layer decor on windows, multi-layer frills, lambrequins and similar elements.
- Large plants: palms, monstera, ficus.
How to visually expand the space in a small room?
Let's look at rooms where it is most often necessary to make the area visually more spacious.
Hallway
Since many hallways do not have windows, make sure the lighting is good, and even bright.
- Combine spotlights with wall lamp, install the LED strip.
Furniture should be the most necessary and functional.
- Use a special chest of drawers to store shoes and accessories.
- Install a wardrobe with a mirrored door.
On the walls you can hang a painting that is narrow in width and a mirror without a massive frame.
- You can “move apart” the walls if you lay laminate (parquet) across the room.
- You can lengthen the hallway by carrying out longitudinal installation of modular structures.
Instead of doors to other rooms, make arches or even combine the hallway with the living room. Zoning the living room from the hallway is done using decoration and furniture.
Kitchen
It will be possible to visually increase the space of the kitchen if the furniture is cool tones with a smooth texture and glossy shine.
- Store small dishes household appliances on closed shelves, and build large appliances into the kitchen unit.
- Use closed hanging cabinets that can go almost to the ceiling.
If color kitchen furniture close to the color of the walls, it will seem less noticeable, and the space will visually expand. Use no more than two bright colors.
- Instead of a soft corner, use stools.
- Place a medium-sized table near the wall. It would be good if it was foldable.
- A glass table will add space, as it will be visually inconspicuous.
The protruding window sill itself takes up space. Therefore, you can make cabinets under it, relieving the walls, on which the eye first falls.
A double door refrigerator is not suitable for small spaces.
- Instead, put a compact model in classic white color.
- Magnets, beloved by many, will load the eye.
The kitchen is sometimes combined with a balcony, and a refrigerator is also placed there. Where the left side of the entrance to the balcony was dismantled, you can make a bar counter and use it as dinner table. Then the area will expand significantly. It is advisable to place a small sofa or soft corner along the wall; and comfortable, and the kitchen will not seem “empty”.
Bathroom
First of all, plumbing fixtures and accessories must match the size of the bathroom.
- If the area is 3 - 4 sq. m, leave the “body” of the bathroom open, do not cover it with tiles.
- The outer walls of the bathroom can be finished with mosaics or painted in a color similar to the floor covering.
Sometimes washing machine They put it in place of a sink; this solution “steals” space. It is better to integrate the machine into a kitchen set.
Instead of a bathtub they install a shower stall, but not everyone likes this solution.
If it is safe for the structure of the house, the bathroom is combined.
- Bathing products are placed in closed hanging shelves and left in open access only the essentials.
- Hang a translucent or light-colored curtain for shower procedures.
- Use reflective surfaces: mirrors, glossy tiles, furniture with a glossy sheen.
- Pipes and engineering Communication closed with a box. Only the heated towel rail is open.
- Inspection windows are made to access the pipes.
It will be possible to visually increase the space in the bathroom if the strip of walls around the perimeter bordering the ceiling is the same color as it. The ceiling will appear higher.
With proper design, the area of the room is not critical if you want to visually increase the space. Even a smart apartment will seem spacious and comfortable to live in if you take into account the secrets of the designers that we talked about in today’s article.
Often the problem of new buildings is the small size of housing. In this way, developers decide to reduce the price of apartments and this attracts many buyers. Small room You can make it just as comfortable to live in if you visually enlarge it.
How to visually enlarge a room with wallpaper
Choosing the right one finishing material for walls, will help not only to zone the room if necessary, but also to blur its boundaries.
- Drawing wallpaper with vertical stripes Suitable for low ceiling rooms.
- Horizontal lines, on the contrary, they will extend the room in length.
- Large decor, in the form of a panel or painting, placed on the far wall of a narrow room, will attract attention. It is better to make the remaining walls in a neutral color, this way you can partially erase the boundaries of a narrow room.
How to visually expand a narrow room
- Pop art style, applied in a small room, it will add additional meters due to optical illusions created by bright figures.
- one wall in combination with a small pattern on the second will give the room uniqueness and delimit it a little.
How to use photo wallpaper to visually enlarge a room
- Wallpaper distance from the ceiling by 10–20 cm, if the height of the room allows, it can adjust the size of the space.
- Photo wallpaper for the ceiling with the image of the sky, can make the room limitless.
- Combining wallpaper will be a good solution for non-sunny and low rooms. To do this, use light wallpaper on top of the wall and dark wallpaper below.
- Wallpapering the ceiling by 15–25 cm will help increase the height of the apartment.
A visual increase in space can be created not only with the help of properly selected wallpaper, but also with furniture, textiles and other decorative elements. The chosen curtains for the bedroom should be as simple as possible and not contain eye-catching colors.
The complexity of shapes and bright patterns create a feeling of oversaturation in the room, thereby narrowing the already small space. You can give preference to textiles with an unusual texture in vertical or horizontal stripes, or with the presence of asymmetrical lines.
Good decision to visualize space will be:
- ceiling cornice the width of the wall;
- the presence of a minimum number of folds on textiles;
- pastel colors of curtains;
- use of natural fabrics.
Choosing curtains with a prominent pattern is only permissible if the walls are plain.
The following types of curtains are also suitable for a small bedroom:
- roll;
Enlarging a small room with curtains
In order to enlarge the room, you should choose light and warm shades of the walls, such as:
- beige;
- yellow;
- cream;
- green;
- apricot.
Selected color solutions, in combination with a dark floor, will visually push the walls apart, this will be especially pronounced if the ceiling is designed to match the vertical surfaces. The following will also help expand your home:
- light walls and dark floor and ceiling;
- dark back wall and floor or ceiling;
- light floor and ceiling;
- light floor and back wall.
Visually enlarge the room using the color of the walls and ceiling
Some tricks for demarcating a small space
- Don't ignore it redevelopment small apartment for a studio, this option will significantly add space to the room, despite the fact that it will have to be divided into zones.
- Mirror. For a long time in a known way increasing space with the help of mirrors is used by many modern designers. To give the room a regular, square shape, you should mount a reflective surface on one of the long walls. A mirror originating from the floor or a reflective ceiling is a good way to adjust the volume of meters.
- Furniture in small rooms, there should be only the most necessary, so as not to overload the space; it is best if it is multifunctional. If you plan to place objects along the wall, then the same color as the vertical surface will help smooth out the narrow room. Placing low furniture will create the illusion of high ceilings.
- Decor. The use of a bright, single decorative element, a vase, a figurine or something else on a light background will draw attention to the object, thereby distracting it from the space.
- Doors. By choosing ceiling doors for your home, you can significantly extend it.
- Carpets. A large carpet on the floor, unfortunately, will not add visual meters, but rectangular and medium-sized specimens will be appropriate. Animal skins with uneven edges will help give the room the correct shape.
- It is not recommended to place large houseplants in small-sized housing, and also clutter it with a large number of trinkets.
By following the rules described above and using some tricks, you can not only adjust any shape of the room, but also make even the smallest room comfortable for living.
See also the designer’s video tips on how to visually enlarge a room: