How to visually enlarge a small room: the right use of color and lighting. How to visually enlarge the space in a small room Ideas for expanding the space in a room

Armed with these techniques, you can easily create a spacious and voluminous interior in your room.

1. The very first thing is color. When choosing materials, choose light pastel colors without bright and dark elements.

2. If you need to lengthen the room, then the opposite wall must be decorated with a colder and lighter shade. If you have some kind of print on your wallpaper, then you need to remember that a large pattern brings it closer, and a small one lengthens it.

3. If the room is long and narrow, then it can be expanded using wallpaper with a horizontal stripe, as well as visually bringing the opposite wall closer with wallpaper or paint in a dark warm shade.

4. Wallpaper with a small floral print will visually enlarge the room, and if you combine and stick the same wallpaper with only a large flower on the opposite narrower wall, you will also expand the room.

5. Low ceilings can be leveled using a light, or better white, glossy ceiling or, more extreme, “mirrors”. If the height allows, then you can “play” with a multi-level plasterboard ceiling. The ceiling and floor should be light, like the rest of the walls in the room. A light floor with longitudinal lines will also help increase the space. A light glossy tile will also help with this.

6. It is necessary to work very carefully with borders in a small room, there is a risk of reducing it even more.

7. A good tool with which you can always increase or expand the space is mirrors. But the main thing here is not to overdo it.

8. Light and light textiles on the windows will also visually enlarge the space and make the room more airy and bright.

9. Choose simple furniture, preferably with straight lines and functional. In color, it is desirable that it does not differ from the general color scheme of the room. Avoid large furniture. It is better to put an average sofa and one small armchair than a full-fledged soft corner.

10. By placing some bright decor item in the farthest corner of the room, you will create the effect of a great perspective, and the person who enters will perceive the room as spacious.

11. Brighten up the room with extra lighting. In addition to sunlight and central lighting, use interior lighting and additional light sources. Sometimes, with just the right lighting, you can create stunning visual effects. If you are not confident in your abilities, contact professional designers.

12. In a small room, a lot of small decor items (trinkets, candlesticks, figurines, etc.) will look ridiculous and visually litter the space even more. Therefore, try to remove all unnecessary.

13. Do not take up space in the center of the room, place furniture along the walls and in the corners.

14. Choose "transparent" furniture with glass surfaces.

15. Use mirrors. With their help, you will create depth in the room. Mirrors also make a room lighter and brighter by reflecting natural and artificial light.

16. If you need to divide a room by highlighting some area, use “shelf” and glass partitions.

17. Instead of ordinary doors, you can also put a glass partition into the room.

18. When choosing household appliances, give preference to narrow options. Fortunately, today there is a very wide selection of flat wall-mounted TVs and narrow monitors.

19. By making a niche with circular illumination in the wall, you will visually push the wall further, which will increase the volume of the room.

20. And finally, if you have the opportunity to combine rooms by removing partitions, use this method as well, but here you will have to work hard and run around all sorts of authorities to agree on the redevelopment of the apartment.

Starting renovations, we want to not only update the interior of the house, but also adapt the space for ourselves, so that small rooms seem larger, lighter, and ceilings higher.

For large rooms, the opposite task is how to make the room not look like a ballet hall.

Everyone wants to have a large apartment, and it has cozy and spacious rooms, but this is not available and possible for everyone. To expand the space, you can break the partitions, but why start a big renovation when you visually expand the area of ​​​​a small room, some simple design solutions will help.

To the question of how to visually increase the space in a small room, the answer is simple, use the available tricks of optical illusion (optical illusions). Such visualization techniques are powerful and very important in design, and are often used by architects, interior designers, and fashion designers.

Visually enlarging a room, even a very cramped one, can be achieved by combining techniques such as the play of light, harmonics of color and its shades, the right selection of wallpaper, an increase in reflective mirrors in the room, the use of frescoes and photo wallpapers. This should include the correct layout and selection of furniture, interior items, the location of cornices and correctly matched tulle, curtains and curtains, as well as the use of textiles in the room, creating an atmosphere of freshness, softness and lightness.

First, let's remember the basic principles that guide designers:

• Light colors increase space, dark colors reduce space.
• Every time you draw a line it breaks space apart
• Every time you use a contrast spot, it visually reduces the space.
• Any large object in a small space reduces it even more
• The fewer objects in the room, the more it looks.

The key rule is to give preference to cold colors.

Cool tones include: violet, violet-blue, blue, including with a green tint, green, yellow-green, and pastel shades.
Warm colors are: red-violet, red, red-orange, orange, yellow-orange, yellow.

Cold gamma should not be too saturated 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 the room should be almost smooth, without a 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. Cream-colored Venetian plaster 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 cold shades of walls, especially in the bedroom. Therefore, they make the most of the visual transformation of space in this way, upwards, in the living room, kitchen, bathroom and hallway.

Another effective method that designers use is photo wallpaper on one of the walls of the room. The image must be in perspective - a park alley or a city street that goes 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.

Floor options

Make the flooring in the dwelling plain and light. The look should not be overloaded with squares, color inserts, decor or rich colors.

• If you will lay parquet or laminate in a square or rectangular room, lay the modules from the door along or diagonally.
• If there is Venetian plaster on the walls, the floor of stone or light laminate will be harmoniously combined with it.

Give preference to carpets with a tone or a few darker floors, always with a small pile. They can occupy either the main area or cover separate areas: bedside, sofa, dining.

Ceiling Ideas

It is advisable to make the ceiling in a small room white. Ceilings in white or light colors are suitable for almost all styles and features of the premises, which will also seem more airy and lighter.

Materials for the implementation of the idea may be different:

• dye,
• plaster,
• tension structures.

The latter option gives a beautiful glossy sheen.

A mirrored ceiling will give the desired effect, but not everyone likes such a solution, and it does not suit all styles.

Use stained-glass windows: they can take up 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 is suitable for art nouveau. If the stained-glass window has a large area, the sky can be depicted on it. For small stained-glass windows, a green floral decor on a white background is suitable.

We select furniture

Choose furniture in 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 a small area, furniture is used that folds and transforms. There are many options for compact and folding sofas, armchairs, soft corners. Furniture decor should not be in abundance, with large carvings. This solution is suitable for large halls in the style of baroque, empire, classic.

Glass tables and mirror cabinets

Tables use glass or mirror small sizes. Cabinets and walls - with closed shelves. After all, they place things that, on public display, will "take away" space. 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. Furniture is placed around its perimeter, and the central part remains free. They do the same if the room is square, only in this case there will be less visual space. In a small living room, the table is placed not in the center of the room, but near the wall. In the event of the arrival of guests, it can be situationally placed near the sofa area.

Hanging shelves

Use hanging shelves. If they have a few plants and few things, they can be open. But for storing many things, get a closed version. Suspended structures for household items unload the lower part of the room, and therefore increase the area not only visually, but also in fact.

Many people love large double beds, often with a canopy and / or headboard with large carved decor. However, in small bedrooms, such a bed will take up most of the room.

A practical and visual expansion of space can be achieved if the bed is small, and it will stand along the wall. Then it will not be possible to place cabinets and lamps on both sides, but the room will be much more spacious and comfortable.

In one-room apartments, a small folding sofa is also used as a sleeping place, which can be easily and effortlessly unfolded. 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.

How to deal with decor?

The main rule is that it does not clutter up the room.

• Small trinkets placed in different parts of the room make it cramped.
• If you like to collect souvenirs from different countries, allocate one place for them on the hanging structure.
• Place a bright lampshade, a floor lamp with a carved leg or a floor vase closer to the room door.

When a person enters, he first of all looks at the wall opposite the entrance, and then to the sides. If these zones are not cluttered with decor, then the room will appear visually larger!

It is quite acceptable to hang pictures on the walls.

Option 1: composition of medium-sized rectangular images.
Option 2: one rectangular picture 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 in size. For example, violets, cyclomen, balsam, spathiphyllum. It is advisable to place flowerpots on hanging shelves or a windowsill. If you have an abundant climbing plant, such as epipremnum, you can make a small rectangular phytopanel. Firstly, it will look original, and secondly, it will not take up much space.

What reduces the space in the room?

• Large, contrasting patterns.
• Decorative niches, even medium sizes.
• Massive furniture, beds and sofas with figured backs and rich carved patterns.
• Tall cabinets with corner open shelves, on which there is a lot of things.
• Massive curtains, drapery, multi-layered window decorations, multi-layered frills, pelmets and similar items.
• Large plants: palms, monsteras, ficuses.

How to visually expand the space in a small room?

Consider the premises where it is most often necessary to make the area visually more spacious.

Hallway

Since many hallways are windowless, make sure the lighting is good, even bright.

• Combine spotlights with a wall lamp, install an LED strip.

Furniture should be the most necessary and functional.

• Use a special chest of drawers to store shoes and accessories.
• Put a wardrobe with a mirrored door.

On the walls you can hang a picture narrow in width and a mirror without a massive frame.

• You can "push" the walls if you put a laminate (parquet) across the room.
• You can extend the hallway by carrying out the longitudinal installation of modular structures.

Instead of doors to other rooms, make arches or even combine the hallway with the living room. The zoning of the living room from the hallway is done with the help of decoration and furniture.

Kitchen

It will turn out to visually increase the space of the kitchen if the furniture is cold tones with a smooth texture and glossy sheen.

• Store dishes, small household appliances on closed shelves, and build large appliances into the kitchen set.
• Use closed hanging cabinets that can be almost up to the ceiling.

If the color of the kitchen furniture is close to the color of the walls, then 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 against the wall. Well, if it is foldable.
• A glass table will add space, as it will be visually inconspicuous.

The protruding window sill itself takes up the area. Therefore, you can make lockers under it, unloading the walls, on which, first of all, the eye falls.

A double-leaf refrigerator is not suitable for small spaces.

• Instead, put a compact model in classic white.
• Loved by many magnets, will load the eye.

The kitchen is sometimes combined with a balcony, 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 a dining table. Then the area will expand significantly. It is advisable to put a small sofa or a soft corner along the wall; and comfortable, and the kitchen will not seem "empty".

Bathroom

First of all, plumbing and accessories must match the dimensions of the bathroom.

• If the area is 3 - 4 square meters. m, leave the "body" of the bathroom open, do not tile.
• The outer walls of the bathroom can be finished with mosaics or painted in a color close to the flooring.

Sometimes a washing machine is placed instead of a sink, such a solution "steals" space. The machine is better built into the kitchen.

Instead of a bath, they put a shower, but not everyone likes this solution.

If it is safe for the construction of the house, the bathroom is combined.

• Bathing products are placed in closed hanging shelves, leaving only the most necessary in the public domain.
• Hang a shower curtain in a translucent or light tone.
• Use reflective surfaces: mirrors, glossy tiles, glossy furniture.
• Pipes and utilities are closed with a box. Open only heated towel rail.
• To access the pipes make revision windows.

It will turn out to visually increase the space in the bathroom if the strip of walls along the perimeter, bordering the ceiling, is the same color as it. The ceiling will appear higher.

With proper design, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe 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 designers, which we talked about in today's article.

If the room is very small, then you can enlarge it with the help of visual techniques. To do this, you just need to know some design tricks. In this article, we will tell you how to visually enlarge a room using various methods (wallpaper, curtains, colors, furniture).

Most often, wallpaper is used to decorate the walls and ceilings of residential premises. They also affect the interior design and even the visual perception of the room. Wallpaper pattern can visually expand or reduce the room.

It is better to give preference to wallpaper in light colors. It is important to bear in mind that the drawing also affects visual perception. So, a large image narrows the space, and a small one, on the contrary, will make the room more voluminous. Therefore, in small rooms, wallpaper with small ornaments looks great. Also, excellent results can be achieved by combining wallpapers.

• A large pattern on the wallpaper brings the surface closer, and, therefore, reduces the room. If such a pattern is placed only on the back wall, then the room will visually shorten.
• A small pattern on a light background creates the illusion of volume.
• The transverse stripes on the wallpaper seem to push the walls apart, which makes the ceiling seem lower. Just as in the case of wallpaper with a large pattern on the back wall, the room will visually shorten.
• Vertical stripes on the wallpaper increase the height of the ceiling. Wide bands enhance this effect.

Imaging methods

To align a narrow and long room, you need to use wallpaper with a horizontal pattern. At the same time, to bring the far wall closer, you can use warm-colored wallpapers.

Bright and wide wallpapers hide the height of the ceilings. Therefore, bright wallpapers can only be used for accents. The room looks very impressive, the small walls of which are covered with wallpaper with a large pattern, and the large ones, on the contrary, are small. Large patterns can successfully divide the room into functional zones.

Small dark rooms with low ceilings can be enlarged by pasting darker wallpapers in the lower part of them, and as light as possible in the upper part. The joint can be closed with a suitable horizontal strip or left as is, without focusing on this place.

Wall murals can also expand the space. There is only one condition - they need to decorate only one wall. Photo wallpaper should have a perspective drawing. For example, with a road going into the distance, mountain ranges, a field or a water surface, etc.

To increase the height of the ceiling, glue the wallpaper close to it. If you plan to stick a baguette between the ceiling and the wall, then it should be narrow.

Another option for removing the ceiling is to stick wallpaper on the walls and “go” to the ceiling, 15–30 cm. In this case, wallpapering should start from the ceiling. In small rooms, the overlap on the ceiling should be minimal and vice versa.

The depth of perception is created by wallpaper without a pattern or with a barely noticeable image. So, you can successfully emphasize interior items. The light colors of such wallpapers increase the space and allow you to decorate the walls, for example, with paintings or photographs, drawings or paintings.

Colors

Before you start decorating, you need to figure out which colors make the room bigger and which ones make it smaller. Light colors contribute to the increase in space. White color especially helps, so in a small room it is better to make ceilings white. It can be paint, wallpaper or tensile structures.

Cold colors help to expand the room, as well as warm ones. However, too bright, like deep red, compress the room.

Small details on the walls help to make the room look bigger. But a bright large drawing hides the space.

Furniture

Furniture takes up a lot of space in the room. Therefore, if you choose the right furniture, you can increase the space not only visually, but also in reality. Freed from unnecessary bulky structures, you can create an additional place to stay.

For example, built-in wardrobes are perfect for small rooms. If you have a bed here, then it is better to have a team or a transformer. By the way, transformers perfectly solve problems with a lack of space and space.

No need to clutter up the room with heavy furniture and massive chairs. It is better to make the environment in a minimalist style. Perfect for small high-tech rooms. Glass, chrome, metal - all this allows you to create an airy atmosphere.

Before making drastic changes in the interior, you need to remove all the rubbish and unnecessary things. The room will look much more spacious.

The fewer items, the more free space. You can draw up a rough plan of the room and distribute furniture in it so that it does not clutter up the space.

Interior details

Very much the visual size of the room depends on the illumination and the size of the windows. Large windows increase, small ones shrink. If possible, it is better to make windows without partitions. Solid glass changes perception.

When finishing the floor, it is better to take a uniform coating. Various cubes, diamonds and other decorations on the floor will take up space. Also, do not lay a multi-colored carpet on the floor. Especially if the carpet has a large pattern. The effect will be the same as with a non-uniform floor covering. Linoleum should also not contain explicit drawings.

If the ceiling is too low, then you should not make additional suspended structures such as a stretch ceiling. Also, no need to raise the floor. This will lead to a reduction in the space of the room. The color of doors and frames should not stand out too much. It will be great if the doors match the color of the walls.

Window

Do not decorate windows with heavy curtains. They should be light and light. It is better to remove various decorative elements, lambrequins, complex designs. If possible, window openings should be widened. When the windows are large, the room looks different. Her space is expanding.

When installing frames, you must choose the classic white color. Bright frames will work against the expansion of space. The same can be said about the bright color of the curtains.

Other ideas

One interesting idea that works great in small spaces is based on the mirror effect. It is noted that a large mirror on the wall can create the illusion of additional space. This does not mean that you need to install a mirror surface on the entire wall. However, the larger the element, the better.

If desired, you can create several mirror surfaces in the room.

Very often in apartments you can find heavy massive shelves with books. This element must be immediately removed from the premises. Because such shelves not only steal space, but also, time after time, prove how little it is. In small rooms, the owner and his guests will constantly bump into them.

The presence of lamps is good. This is especially true for built-in structures. Such lamps do not interfere and create additional lighting. When choosing furniture, you need to focus on the one that has smoothed rounded shapes. Such structures visually have much smaller dimensions.

Video

A photo

In Soviet times, everything was much simpler: the family was happy with the small rooms received in the Khrushchevs, and the thought of solving the problem of limited space did not arise a priori. Today, designers, working with small apartments, cross out partitions from the plan, creating studio apartments, combine a bathroom with a bathroom ... And such an organization of space is taken for granted - they say, as before it was possible to live with a separate kitchen with a closing door ?

The only thing to remember is that such a redevelopment can be a risky decision for an apartment where several people live in a small area, each of whom needs personal space. Therefore, when planning repairs, before going to extremes, you should think carefully, take into account the number and age of family members, their preferences and characters. In some cases, the rejection of partitions may not be the best way to increase space. However, there are quite effective, albeit less radical ways.

Masking low ceilings

If desired, the low ceiling can be extended to a feeling of infinity. This illusion can be created in several ways:

Using a glossy stretch ceiling with spotlights;
. having built a plasterboard structure on the ceiling and painting the recess in a color darker than the rest of the ceiling - this will increase the height of the room;
. visually increase the height, for example, the living room, you can slightly lower the ceiling in the hallway. Guests coming from the hallway will have a feeling of more space;
. Finally, the most extreme, but win-win option is a mirrored ceiling that creates the complete illusion of infinity of space.

Expanding space with color

Designers recommend painting small rooms in light colors - pale pink, mint blue, light green, beige - a calm pastel palette, avoiding contrasting and flashy colors, as well as dark "heavy" shades. The blue color creates a visual sensation of some remoteness of objects, and warm orange, on the contrary, “brings” them closer. However, in order not to lose the feeling of comfort in an effort to increase the space, bright and dark tones should be abandoned. Do not use in the interior, in particular, on the walls, large drawings.

If wallpaper is used to decorate the walls, the optical effect that occurs when combining shades and patterns should be taken into account:

A large three-dimensional pattern on the wallpaper significantly narrows the space;
. plain wallpaper with a pattern similar to a vertical strip will make the room visually taller;
. colored wallpaper, separated by a border, will narrow and reduce the space;
. plain light, or with a small pattern, wallpaper will visually expand a small room .. a wall with a larger pattern than on other walls will expand the space;
. You can correct the space of a too dark room by pasting the wall that is the least lit with wallpaper of the same color, but in a lighter tone.

Pastel colors soothe, setting you up for a sweet dream - therefore it is most appropriate to use them in the bedroom and nursery. Warm shades of green, yellow, beige, cream, apricot create coziness and are perfect for the dining room and living room. Fiery colors, juicy colors - orange, burgundy - drive away fatigue and energize. They are recommended for use in the office.

Expanding space with mirrors

You can expand the space of a small room in a proven way - using mirrors on the walls. This solution always gives an excellent result, but requires an error-free calculation. You can place large mirror sheets along one of the walls. However, one should be careful with such experiments - the room will turn into a dance hall, where only a ballet barre will be missing.

Therefore, to decorate the walls with mirrors, it is better to invite a designer. He will give suggestions on how to soften the mirrored wall, for example by wrapping it in fabric, creating the illusion of moving into the next room. Yes, you should be prepared for the fact that during the conversation the guests will be constantly distracted by their reflection.

Maximize space with flooring

A small room can be enlarged with the help of flooring. The same rule applies here as with walls: a dark color reduces space. You can visually expand the space by the longitudinal direction of the floorboards. Glossy light tiles will significantly expand the kitchen - the light reflected in it will fill the room with air, making the kitchen lighter and lighter.
On a glossy light parquet, you should not lay a massive carpet that covers the floor almost completely - in favor of a small soft-colored rug. The bright floor, walls and ceiling in the complex will definitely expand the room.

Furniture and accessories

Do not try to isolate the furniture from the interior as a whole - it is better to let it merge with the walls and curtains than absorb the space with a bright spot. Preference should be given to modest forms, choose a sofa and armchairs without armrests. In principle, chairs can be completely abandoned, replacing them with comfortable poufs.

As for the arrangement of furniture, it is advisable to place it along the walls or in the corners. Any piece of furniture located in the middle of the room will divide the space into two parts, which is highly undesirable in a small room.
You can decorate the wall with a medium-sized painting or a masterfully executed tapestry that matches the color of the walls, which will take due attention and add coziness.

Glass shelves, dining and coffee tables - glass or mirrored, frosted glass doors will help free up space. Professionally selected spot lighting, hidden local lighting reflected in glass surfaces and mirrors, will create an additional play of light. But it is better to refuse central lighting in favor of the soft light of a floor lamp standing on the floor.
Try not to clutter open shelves with trinkets. For storage, choose narrow vertical cabinets that “pull” the room up.

Hide unnecessary items in cabinets and bedside tables, remove dishes and household appliances from the kitchen work surface.

Curtains in a small room

Let the daylight into the room by decorating the windows with airy sheer curtains. It is now fashionable to drape windows with curtains longer than necessary, which take up a little extra floor space. It's really beautiful, plus it gives the feeling of higher ceilings. By hanging the curtains so as to cover only the window opening, you can again visually expand the space. When choosing a material, it should be remembered that a vertical pattern makes the room higher, and a horizontal one lowers and expands the space.

And yet, no matter what tricks we list, designers urge to experiment in spite of everything. The main thing is that the created space should be comfortable, cozy and not boring.