Small room decorating tips: Interior designer’s simple secret for making small rooms feel bigger

Small rooms don’t mean your home has to look and feel that way, with just a few simple tweaks you can have those spaces feeling as grand as a palace.

For the most part it seems the mindset you need to take when working with these spaces is to ‘think big’.

Interior designer Claudia Lambert shared her bigger is better philosophy for small rooms with 9honey Living.

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And it starts with embracing big furniture even though it seems counterintuitive.

“One mistake people make is using small furniture in small rooms, this usually has the opposite effect. Using standard proportions or even larger furniture can make it appear bigger,” she says.

“Use rugs to delineate spaces so the room feels like it naturally has defined areas. Use low lying sofas and storage units to create a sense of height with low ceilings. Don’t go small on the size of your art, make them big.”

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It’s a similar situation for décor and furnishings where the size of the room can put people off from decorating it the way they’d really like to.

“People tend to overthink this. If a room is filled with your personality and pieces you love work with the fact that it’s small; create a jewel box [by using] paint, lighting and art to distract from the size.

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“If pendants are too large, try decorative wall sconces and loose lighting like floor and table lamps.”

Perhaps the easiest way to make a small room feel bigger is to use the right kind of paint colour, even on the ceiling.

“This is often overlooked and can create a real sense of drama and occasion to the room,” Lambert says.

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When choosing the type of paint and colour, she recommends avoiding white which “magnifies the pieces you place in the space” and choosing something with a sheen to help light bounce around the room.

“Use a colour that works tonally with your palette – if you have a chocolate sofa use a warm latte on the walls to really lean into the vibe you are trying to create. Wallpaper is another option to bring a purposeful intent to the home.”

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For living rooms the interior designer suggests going against your instinct to put everything against the wall to make the small space feel bigger.

“Pushing furniture out to the walls bring things in. Create snug moments with rugs and give the pieces room to breathe, like having a sofa off a wall and perhaps lighting next to it,” Lambert explains.

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In the bedroom, a bed with a slim yet decorative frame is recommended to make the best use of space, while a curtain will add to the illusion of a grandness.

“Using curtains that run the width and height of the window wall will create this effect,” she says.

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The bathroom is a little harder to change with so many permanent elements in it, but if you’re choosing tiles for a space or planning a revamp vertical tiles “all the way to the ceiling will create a sense of height”.

Regardless of whether that’s an option, it’s all about maximising storage to make the bathroom feel more spacious.

“Hooks on the backs of doors, storage inside the shower, mirrored shaving cabinets that run the entire height of the ceiling are a good example of this,” Lambert says.

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