Create More Visual Space in Your Home

There are a wide variety of ways to make your home seem open and airier than it currently feels. This process of creating more visual space should truly be a fun and exciting one, in which you can use the opportunity to improve and experiment. By using light, rearranging furniture, and reducing clutter, you can make your home seem a whole lot bigger.

Steps

Lightening and Brightening Your Home

1. Redecorate your home using light colors. Light colors tend to add to the visual space of a place, rather than detract. Consider replacing reds and browns with whites and creams. In the end, the lighter and brighter the colors you use, the more spacious home will feel.
   • Replace dark paint with light paint.
   • Replace dark colored furniture.
   • Remove dark carpets.
2. Leave your windows uncovered. A great way to open a room – or your whole home – is to leave windows uncovered. You can do this by either by taking down blinds and drapes, or installing blinds and drapes that have less of a presence. In the end, the more natural light you let in and the less stuff crowding your windows and walls, the more open your home will feel.
   • If you do have blinds or other window treatments, keep them open during the day.
3. Add more light to dark rooms. Light tends to open rooms and spaces much more than anything else you can do. To add more light, open your blinds or install more or brighter lights. Ultimately, a brighter space will appear bigger to you and your guests.
   • Try replacing old bulbs with brighter LED or other types of bulbs before you install new lighting.
   • Opt for cool white or “daylight” light instead of warm yellow or orange light.
   • Add a table lamp, free standing lamp, or install some recessed lighting to add light to a space.
4. Use mirrors to create the illusion of space. Strategically place mirrors around your home to create an airier feel. Mirrors are an easy way to create the appearance of more space in areas that may feel cramped. Look around your home to see where you can put a mirror. Some places might include:
   • Your entryway or parlor
   • Hallways
   • Mudrooms
   • Guest bedrooms
   • Bathrooms

Placing Furniture to Open Your Home

1. Avoid clustering furniture close together or on walls. Walk through your home and take a good look at how you’ve positioned and spaced your furniture. If you find that you have furniture taking up entire walls or squished together in certain areas, you may need to rearrange your furniture.
   • Consider allowing 6 inches (15 cm) between end tables and couches, instead of right on top of each other. The same goes for positioning nightstands next to beds – space them apart by 6 inches (15 cm).
   • Don’t push your couch completely against a wall. Instead, space it 1 to 3 feet (.3 to .9 m) off the wall.
2. Arrange furniture to create open space and a flow. Place your furniture so you and your guests can easily walk around and through your home. You want to create the feeling that a person can flow from one living space to another without being slowed by furniture that might be in the way.
   • When placing furniture in a parlor or sitting area, make sure people can enter through the doorway into the middle of the room before taking a seat.
   • When placing furniture in a living room or family room, make sure you and your guests can walk into the middle of the room before sitting down. If you have a couch or coffee table blocking people’s walkway, you may have to rearrange it.
3. Use furniture with exposed legs. An easy way to create more visual space is to use furniture that has exposed or raised legs. By purchasing couches, china cabinets, and other pieces of furniture that are raised with legs, you’ll create much more visual space.
4. Get rid of unnecessary furniture. Perhaps the easiest way to create more visual space is to get rid of unnecessary furniture. If you have items – couches, desks, bookshelves – that you don’t really use or don’t really need, get rid of them. You’ll find that once you downsize your furniture, your home will feel much larger.

Reducing Clutter

1. Avoid putting too many things on your walls. Walk around your home and take a good look at your walls. Take stock of paintings, photographs, and other artwork you have on your walls. If you find yourself having a difficult time locating open wall space, then you may have a problem. Make sure you have some areas of your wall that are open.
   • There are no universal rules about how much wall space you need to have. However, some decorators suggest leaving two inches between large pictures and an inch and a half (5 to 3.8 cm) between smaller ones.
   • Large pictures should be about 60 inches (152 centimeters) off the ground.
2. Limit the items you display. Take stock of items you have on top of desks, side tables, bookshelves, and elsewhere in your home. Then, reduce this number. Display only your best pieces of art work or your most memorable keepsakes. Store the others and consider rotating the items you have on display.
3. Store things in furniture with cabinets. One of the most common things that ruins the illusion of space in a home are items stacked on pieces of furniture or on bookshelves. Instead of doing this, you should store books and other items inside furniture that has cabinets.
   • If you have a lot of books, buy bookshelves with cabinets. Either the entire bookshelf can have cabinets, or just the lower part.
   • If you have a lot of dishes displaced in your dining room or kitchen, put them in cabinet. If you want people to see them, consider getting glass cabinets. This will add character but create a neat and open look instead of a crowded look.

Sources and Citations

See also

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• Become a Home Improvement Contractor
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• Automate Your Home
• Get Free Building Materials
• Succeed at Any Home Improvement Project

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