How to Make a Small Home Look Twice as Big

Small homes tend to have a bad reputation. With less square footage, compact houses give inhabitants the sense that they’re less functional, comfortable, and welcoming, all of which hurts the appeal and resale value. 

Fortunately, there are several borderline brilliant tactics that you can use to make a small home appear larger and more organized: 



• Control your home’s clutter.
• Make good use of your closets and pantries.
• Use some pro tips for home decor.
• Furnish your home with the right pieces.

The difference between cozy and cramped can be razor-thin. Particularly when you live in a smaller home, remember that less is more: Less items, clutter, and chaos. Keep reading to find out how you can make your home look dramatically bigger with some simple home organization design and furniture choices.

Nothing shrinks the appearance of your home like tables, counters and furniture, overflowing with excess items. In addition to giving your home a sense of chaos, these overstuffed surfaces send the signal that your space is too small to hold many items. 

Not surprisingly, experts agree that you need a solid strategy for reducing the number of items you own if you live in a smaller space. Instead of owning duplicates of items, choose high-quality products designed to last. Martha Stewart also recommends reframing the decluttering process by thinking about it as “editing” rather than “purging.” This paradigm shift asks you to consider your items at a holistic level by considering how they fit in with your identity and how you want to live. This can dramatically help you cut down on clutter that’s taking over your home.

Even if you don’t necessarily have too many items, your organizational style may be hurting your home’s sense of order and free space. If you’re like many homeowners, you probably haven’t consciously made an effort to give every item a “home,” which only allows the disorganization to persist. 

When everyday items don’t have a dedicated storage spot, they’re never in the same place when you need them again and you have no idea where to put them when you’re done using them. This all contributes to a frustrating, chaotic environment that is the antithesis of home organization.

Martha Stewart also recommends against the use of too much open shelving in compact homes. Although trendy today, open shelving essentially puts all of your home items on display. For books, vases, and plants, this is a nice touch. However, routine office equipment and home supplies don’t necessarily make the best display items, particularly when they’re littering each and every shelf.

For too many homeowners, their closets, pantries, and other storage spaces have become the landfill of their home. Anything without a home (see above point) gets tossed in without any rhyme or reason. Before long, the area has become a tangled mess of random items that have transformed some of the most valuable real estate in your home into a disaster zone. 

How does this make your home look smaller? If you abuse your closets and storage spaces, you’ll have less space to store away items and get them out of your rooms, meaning all of your possessions will be permanently on display. Plus, treating these spots as the default dumping ground allows you to push off discarding, donating, or selling your unused items. 

As a result, these extraneous products sit in your home and continue to eat up square footage long after they’ve worn out their welcome. HGTV explains that a big barrier to closet organization is allowing in items that have no business being there, so make sure to kick out anything that doesn’t belong. For example, this could include paperwork and office equipment in a bedroom closet meant to store clothes.

Don’t know where to start to tame your closet chaos? Check out Five Tips for Organizing Your Master Bedroom Closet.

One surprising trick to maximize the look and feel of a room is to pay attention to lighting. Dark rooms tend to feel cramped, while even compact rooms with generous lighting give the impression of ample space. Fortunately, designers have some tricks for you to boost a room’s brightness even if your access to windows and light sources is limited.

According to HGTV, designers recommend incorporating “oversized mirrors” to “reflect light and make spaces seem larger” by positioning them behind lamps. Instead of stopping at the wall, that backside lighting is reflected back into the room. 

Like lighting, your home’s interior color palette can dramatically alter the sense of space. Business Insider points out that the best color scheme for smaller homes involves lighter hues. Light-colored walls open up a room and give the impression of ample space. Darker colors, on the other hand, tend to make rooms feel smaller by giving a dungeon-like impression that the walls are closing in on you. 

When you cloak the walls of an already tiny room in dark colors, it exaggerates the small area. No matter how popular a dark tone may be, opt for lighter colors if your room’s square footage is on the smaller side.

For a variety of reasons, your furniture choices can make or break the appearance of your room’s square footage. To maximize a small home’s floor plan, you must pick appropriately sized furniture. Huge, bulky couches, tables, and bookshelves can overwhelm compact spaces. Instead, opt for pieces of furniture that are in proportion to the dimensions you’re working with. Remember, a California king bed will shrink even a decent-sized bedroom, so keep that in mind when you’re furnishing your compact home.

Exercise restraint when decorating and furnishing your home. You need to maintain a discerning eye when deciding on what your home really needs to be functional and comfortable. Bob Villa notes that you should avoid the temptation to incorporate entire sets of furniture, even if they hold sentimental value. Instead, opt for pieces that are scaled and sized to fit your space and lifestyle. 

Even your furniture design style can help influence the sense of space in a room. Business Insider mentions opting for furniture pieces that have legs to give the “illusion” of more open area throughout your room. For example, choose a television stand that sits on legs instead of a bulkier piece that is a one-panel, solid block extending to the floor. The exposed legs on the furniture will create negative space, making even cramped corners feel less confining.

Even if you live in a relatively small home, you have numerous options to make it appear much larger. In some cases, your options include maximizing the storage space you already have, but you can also make clever design and decor choices that open up an area and imbue it with a sense of airiness. The only limits to your home’s feel and functionality are your imagination and work ethic. 

Does it take a little more effort, self-control, and consideration to keep compact spaces clean? Absolutely, but the results are undeniably worth it. Your environment plays a tremendous role in your day-to-day happiness, so why wouldn’t you take control of it? If you’re like most Morristown, N.J, homeowners spending the bulk of your time in your house these days, you can’t overstate the importance of a neat, organized home that creates a welcoming sense of calm.

• https://www.marthastewart.com/1509935/foolproof-ways-make-house-look-less-cluttered 
• https://www.hgtv.com/lifestyle/clean-and-organize/10-steps-to-a-decluttered-closet 
• https://www.hgtv.com/design/rooms/living-and-dining-rooms/13-ways-to-make-a-small-living-room-look-bigger-pictures
• https://www.businessinsider.com/ways-to-make-even-the-tiniest-room-feel-bigger-2018-1
• https://www.bobvila.com/slideshow/10-decorating-mistakes-that-make-your-house-look-smaller-50635