The design experts’ guide to living larger in small spaces

In real estate terms, it’s not the size of your floor plan that matters; it’s what you do with it. Small spaces, and smaller windows can leave homes feeling cramped and claustrophobic.

Here are the tried and true techniques the design professionals use to make the most of the available space.

Clear the clutter

Before you do anything else, consider what needs to be in this space. As obvious as it sounds, the fewer things in the room, the larger it will feel.

Asking yourself the purpose the room serves is a good place to start. If you need to keep a number of smaller items in the room, whether it is toys, board games, craft supplies, tech, or something else, streamlined or multipurpose storage could be the answer.

“[Small spaces] often feel really cluttered,” says Melbourne-based architect Emma Holmes, from Formery. “A lot of people try to fit way too much into a small space.

“Good joinery is one of the most expensive things [to add], but you want to have well-designed, built-in storage if you can. Alternatively, multipurpose functional furniture that doubles as storage, like an ottoman with a lift-up lid, is a good option.”

Keep it consistent

Whether it’s flooring, built-in timber joinery or your wall colour, using the same materials throughout creates a sense of continuity that can give the impression that a space is larger than it is.

“The thing that consistently works is continuity,” says Sydney-based interior designer Nic Kaiko, of Kaiko Design Interiors. “Think about continuous flooring that runs without interruption through room to room.

“Most people paint ceilings white by default, but if your walls are a strong colour, a white ceiling just cuts the room off at the top. Letting the colour climb up and over creates envelopment rather than confinement.”

Just because it’s consistent doesn’t mean it has to be white.

“The dogma is always light colours for small spaces, and it’s not wrong, but it’s not the whole story either,” says Kaiko.

While light colours reflect the light, it doesn’t work for every room.

“The question I’d ask is whether the room gets enough natural light for a pale colour to actually do that work, or whether it’s just going to look flat and dingy,” he says. “In a poorly lit room, a deeper colour used consistently on the walls, ceiling and even joinery can actually read as more spacious than a pale colour that’s fighting against bad light.”

Holmes says a limited palette is key.

“You want to see repetition, whether it is wood or a colour like green,” she says. “If you repeat those colours throughout the space it will feel large because you are not introducing five different materials into the mix.”

Hit the heights

Even if floor space is limited, high ceilings can make the room feel bigger, mainly because the overall space is indeed larger.

“If you can get any extra ceiling height, it makes the space feel bigger,” says Kate Nixon, a Sydney-based interior designer and author of Everyday Joy.

“If you can change ceiling heights, that is effective too. You can have a drop ceiling over an entry, and then it pops up [as you step into the living room]. That change in ceiling height gives you the feeling of more space.

“Not using a cornice and doing a square set finish also draws the eye up.”

If you’re not blessed with high ceilings, visually extending other elements in the room can help.

In kitchens, think about installing cupboards to the ceiling. In living areas, floor-to-ceiling drapes are useful devices, says Kaiko, regardless of the size of the window you’re working with.

“Hang high and wide – always,” he says. “The rod or track should go as close to the ceiling as possible and extend well beyond the window frame on each side so that when the curtain is open, it’s sitting on the wall rather than eating into the glass. It’s a simple thing, but the difference is dramatic.”

Time to reflect

The more light you can add to a space, the larger it will feel.

Kaiko says a common go-to technique is placing a mirror in a small space.

“Used well, they’re genuinely powerful,” he says. “Used lazily, they’re a cliche that doesn’t actually do very much.

“The key is that a mirror needs to reflect something worth seeing, ideally a window, a view or a well-lit part of the room. If it’s reflecting a blank wall or a dark corner, all it’s doing is doubling the problem.”

After the sun goes down, Nixon says, reflective materials such as brass as well as lighting the space properly will make it feel larger.

“Ambient lighting really helps. Light the corners of a room so that space extends as much as possible.”

Scale up

While the temptation in smaller rooms is to scale down your furniture, the results can be less than satisfying.

“A sea of small furniture reads as a sea of small furniture,” says Kaiko. “The room doesn’t feel larger, it just feels fussy and like a waiting room.

Rather than choosing a smaller table, choose something that suits your needs and team it with a built-in banquette, Nixon says.

“You still need to be comfortable,” she says.

“Invisible” furniture, such as perspex coffee tables or lighter-frame dining chairs are good choices, while sofas with thin backs and arms put the focus on the seating.

“The profile of the [sofa] arm makes a big impact on a space because that is wasted space, and a lot of sofas have a big padded back, which gives volume in the space,” says Nixon.