30 Jul How Designers Create Homes That Feel Larger Without Adding Square Footage

When your home is built, your square footage is pretty much fixed. Sure, you can add space at some point depending on lot size and building codes, but that’s not always a possibility. If you want your home to feel larger, copy the ways designers create a home that feels larger without adding square footage. 

Professional designers know the perceived size of your home has much more to do with light, color, sightlines, and strategic placement of furniture than it does with physical space. Here’s how they use their ideas to create homes that feel larger than they actually are.

How Light Can Boost Space

Shadows and dimly lit rooms automatically feel smaller than they are. That’s the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve in your Quad Cities home. The first place to conquer the shadow effect is by changing your window treatments. 

Replace heavy drapes with sheer fabrics, or, if you can get away with it, forego the window coverings altogether. Place mirrors across from the windows to bounce the light back into the room. This doubles the light in the room and diminishes the shadows. 

Pay attention to your artificial lighting as well. One overhead fixture makes a space feel flat. Adding ambient lighting and accent lighting adds depth and dimension to a room. Well-thought-out lighting creates homes that feel larger without adding square footage.

Use Color to Create Homes That Feel Larger

Trick the eye to perceive fewer boundaries within your home when you use color continuity. In other words, select shades in the same color family to paint walls, trim, and even your ceilings. The best shades to create homes that feel larger are soft whites, warm neutrals, and muted, barely there pastels. 

By using color continuity, the eye doesn’t pause to adjust or transition but continues past the boundaries as the colors visually flow into the next room. You may opt to extend the same flooring into rooms that adjoin for the same reason. When there are fewer visual boundaries, the brain actually perceives one unbroken area instead of several smaller ones. 

Choose the Right Size Furniture

The quickest and most common way to make a room feel tight is by choosing oversized furniture. When designers want to create homes that feel larger, they use furniture that leaves breathing room around each piece. Furniture that has visible legs can make the floorspace appear more vast. And multi-purpose furniture, such as an ottoman that also offers storage, helps keep clutter to a minimum. And nothing makes a space feel smaller than clutter. 

Speaking of Clutter

Dealing with clutter is essential to create homes that feel larger. Built-in storage such as the above-mentioned ottoman, built-in storage, and closed cabinetry that serves as a statement piece help keep your room looking open and expansive. 

Of course, most Quad Cities homeowners want their space to feel personalized, and to that end will have meaningful objects scattered throughout their home on shelves or mantlepieces, etc. Designers follow this rule to keep clutter from overtaking a home: One item per surface space. That means only placing one decorative item on a coffee table or shelf to keep the clutter “noise” from robbing your visual space. 

Think Vertically

Draw the eye up by using vertical elements to visually add height. Floor-to-ceiling windows or window treatments, tall bookcases, and artwork that’s arranged to draw the eye up make the ceilings feel higher than they are. 

Borrow Available Views

Designers create homes that feel larger by placing chairs and couches to face windows or the opening into another adjoining room. The eye travels further before hitting a boundary such as a wall or fence. This ‘trick’ utilizes available views to extend the interior space. 

Reflect the Light

One of the simplest ways to expand the feeling of space in your home is through reflective materials. Mirrors, polished metals, glass tabletops, and glazed tile create the illusion of space by reflecting adjacent areas. A well-placed mirror can visually double the size of a small or narrow foyer. 

Create The Home You Want

When designers create homes that feel larger without adding square footage, they use these methods. These tips, tricks, and techniques easily fit into any home. For more on how you can create the home you dream of, contact Seiffert Home Design today.