Give your home more space with these six design tips
A goal for many South Africans at the start of this year was to make their home a stress-free sanctuary. It may sound like a simple goal, but it can be a lot more difficult to achieve than expected.
A cluttered and claustrophobic environment can create a lot of tension in the home and so giving your household some space is important. The good news is that you don’t need to own a huge home to create a sense of space.
Here are a few tips to make your home feel bigger.
- Choose your décor wisely
We all need some décor but cluttering your smaller home with excessive items will do the opposite of creating a relaxing environment. Instead, it can make you feel cramped and claustrophobic. Use mirrors and glass as they are synonymous with creating a sense of space and the illusion that there is more to the room than exists. When choosing furniture for your home, don’t forget about using the height. Choose furniture with legs, opt for a lofted bed and oversized art – this all draws the eye upward, adding length to the room.
- Declutter
Minimalism is growing in popularity both as an aesthetic trend as well as an uncluttered lifestyle. Decluttering your space has the potential to make a room feel significantly larger. If you want to declutter start by discarding items that you no longer want, donate quality items that you no longer have use for and strategically and safely store items that you plan to use at a future time (or hold too much sentimental value to discard). The last of these groups of belongings can be the trickiest to deal with. Where do you store items that you don’t have space for in your home? The answer is incredibly simple – self storage.
- Paint your walls in light colours
When you paint your walls in light colours it allows for the light in the room to reflect and create an illusion of space, while darker colours make a room feel smaller. If you want to make the room appear larger, choose whites or monochromatic schemes of greys, creams and yellows. Lighter, cool colours will encourage a feeling of openness. Don’t forget about the ceiling – painting your ceiling a light colour will maximise on the feeling of space by reflecting light and complementing the walls.
- Take advantage of natural light
One of the easiest ways to open up space in a home is to take advantage of natural lighting. This can easily be done by uncovering windows or using sheer coverings. Not only does this add a bright airiness to the room but it also expands the space of the room to include the outdoors.
How you choose to hang your curtains also plays a role in the amount of light that enters the room and how much space the room appears to have. Shorter curtains that fit your window perfectly have the potential of stunting the length of the space. Choosing to hang your drapes near your ceiling and extend them past the window frame can add to the illusion of larger windows and a greater space.
- Choose ‘smart’ furniture
Chances are that your home is already furnished and it would be a waste to get rid of useful furniture. If your budget allows, you could consider selling your current furniture to subsidise the purchase of new furniture that serves multiple purposes. For example, an ottoman can hold items as storage and be sat on at the same time. You could also place the larger items into self storage for later use.
- Layout
Simply laying out your furniture strategically can make the world of difference to the space in your home. Some tips for layout include never allowing furniture to block pathways or light sources, filling up corners of the room with the likes of a corner bookshelf and prioritising large furniture items, planning smaller pieces around them.
Creating a sense of space in your home can make a remarkable difference in achieving that stress-free sanctuary so many of us are after.
If you are interested in using self storage to achieve this, we are only a phone call away. Call us on 0861 18 18 18 or get a self storage quote online.