How to Make a Room Look Bigger

When staging a home for sale, you want the rooms to look BIG. Because despite the “tiny house” movement and recent trends toward minimalism, research still shows that buyers in almost all demographics want more square footage. So if you’re prepping your home for sale and dealing with a room that feels a little cramped, we have a few clever staging hacks that can help even the tiniest rooms appear more spacious.

• Add light. Open the blinds and turn on all the lamps and lights, especially for listing photos or when potential buyers are visiting the home. Eliminating dark corners makes a space feel bigger and brighter (which is what buyers want). Opening the curtains or blinds extends the feeling even further by connecting the space with outdoors.
• Use light colors. It’s a pretty straight-forward color principle that most of us are familiar with: pale colors reflect light, whereas darker tones absorb it. Painting a room in a light color scheme will almost always make the space feel larger.
• Use mirrors. A well-placed large mirror can make a room feel twice its actual size. In many homes, mirrors are well-suited for specific focal points, such as over the fireplace or above an entryway table or a dining room sideboard. They reflect natural and artificial light, making a room feel brighter and bigger.
• Simplify and tidy up. With less room to move and too many focal points for the eyes, a messy space or a room with too much “stuff” will feel tinier and more cramped.
• Hang curtains higher. Hanging curtains as close to the ceiling as possible will make windows appear larger, walls seem taller, and leave the room feeling more spacious because the eyes will be drawn upward. And if you’re getting your house ready to sell, you may even want to evaluate whether you should hang curtains at all (spoiler alert: you probably shouldn’t).

• Minimize patterns. Large swatches of busy patterns or bold prints (such as rugs, wallpaper, bedspreads, or couches) can feel fussy and cluttered. This is especially important to keep in mind if you’re staging a home for listing photos (which tend to exaggerate certain patterns and colors). Instead, choose soft colors and subtle prints for a more spacious feel.
• Remember scale and placement. The size of the furniture should be in harmony with the dimensions of the room. In other words, don’t try to fit a matching set of chunky, oversized sofa and love seat and chair into a small living room. No walkways or conversation areas should be blocked off by furniture size or arrangement.

How We Can Help

Creative staging can definitely help you get the most from a small room, helping it look bigger and feel more spacious without tearing down walls or breaking the bank. If you need a little help? Here’s how we’re helping homeowners all over the country: