5 Ways to Make a Room Feel Bigger

“How to make a room look bigger?” is one of the  questions we receive the most…

and although the idea of a few pieces or colors making your space look larger might sound too good to be true, with a few tips and tricks, it really is possible! 

Even in our projects with significant square footage, we often want to make the rooms we design feel more open and expansive, and we’ve learned a few things over the years that make it easier than you’d think! 

Today, we’re sharing some of our favorite ways to create elevated, airy spaces. 

Here are five ways to make a room look bigger: 

No. 1: Incorporate reflective surfaces 

We doubt we’re the first ones to tell you that mirrors can make your room look bigger, but it’s true! 

Natural light creates the illusion of space, and mirrors create the illusion of natural light, so even in dim spaces or small, windowless corners, a mirror can help expand the look. 

If you don’t have room for a mirror, try other reflective materials to create a similar effect! Anything from light-bouncing backsplash tiles to metallic decor will help create that dimension that all well-designed spaces bring. 

From The McGee Home: Master Bedroom

No. 2: Utilizing furniture with legs 

One of the most important elements of a balanced design is the distribution of weight, and in smaller rooms, choosing pieces with lighter silhouettes helps open up the space.

Our favorite way to achieve this is by selecting focal pieces with legs to create the feeling of more floor room.

For example, even if your couch is on a solid base, adding a legged coffee table and legged accent chairs would create more balance, making the look feel light and airy.

In bedrooms, we like to play with this idea between beds and nightstands. Because so many beds are on a solid base, contrasting them with a legged nightstand is pretty fool-proof.

From our Beckham Project

From our Swan Lake House

No. 3:  Grounding the space with light & neutral tones 

If you’ve ever remodeled, you know how much some new white paint can do, but it’s about more than just a fresh coat — light and neutral tones make rooms look bigger, too! 

Lighting the color palette of your space will do more than you think. Anything from replacing dark curtains with light and bright ones to switching out a few textiles with softer colors will lengthen your visual plane, creating a spacious feeling. 

From The McGee Home: Ivy’s Room

From The Cliffside Netflix Remodel

No. 4: Adding substantial pieces 

This one might sound strange, but there’s something about large, substantial pieces in a small space that bring it to life and make it feel larger. 

Whether it’s replacing a gallery wall with one large scale art piece or switching up your coffee table styling to incorporate two more significant sized pieces rather than five little things, this trick can elevate nearly any room. 

Substantial pieces give a space a focal point, giving the eye a place to rest, which is especially important if you want to make a room feel bigger. 

From our Midcentury Loft 

No.5: Layer your lighting 

Bringing dimension to a design can be done easily with layers of lighting, especially overhead statement pieces that draw the eye up and make the room look taller. 

Adding in lighting at different levels like table and floor lamps can illuminate dim corners and create the feeling of a larger room, too! 

From our Beckham Project