Tips For Making A Space Feel Spacious and More Relaxing
Over the past few years, the home has turned into a multi-use space in more ways than one. For a lot of individuals, this means bedrooms have turned into makeshift offices, living rooms have turned into daycare for toddlers, and kitchen and dining rooms have become even more central and the most active part of the home for family members to gather and spend quality time together.
Here are some tips for making your space feel spacious and more relaxing:
The first and easiest is simply incorporating the color green in any interior part of the home. The color green adds a lively energy when used as a paint finish or decor, and it is also known to relieve stress when applied in interior design. Some ways to achieve this can be done with green accent walls or green-tinted wall paints in bedrooms, kitchens, and hallways. Another is adding touches of green decor such as green glassware or ceramics on coffee tables and display shelves. The most obvious and effective can be simply decorating your home with live indoor plants that are beautiful to look at and functional (plants help purify indoor air). Some beginner-friendly plants are Pothos, Spider plants, Snake plants, and Aloe Vera; these plants require minimal sunlight and do not need to be watered as often compared to other indoor plants. Pothos and Spider plants come in different variations and each tends to do well in both high-light and low-light conditions. One example of a high-light condition is a south-facing living room, and an example of a low-light condition is a north-facing bedroom or bathroom.
The second is opting for lighter-colored furniture. Using darker-colored furniture in small living spaces with dark-colored walls and floor finishes can easily make a room feel cramped and crowded. If you have the option, I recommend choosing a muted color couch: this can simply be a lighter or pastel shade of your favorite primary color. Now, when it comes to the material of the couch, you could go with a sturdy material like polyester or a more comfortable and softer material like cotton.
The next tip is more of a DIY effort and it is the process of swapping out your wood-paneled cabinets for a glass-paneled cabinet. Using glass in an already small space creates visibility through and into other spaces: this design choice ultimately creates the illusion of depth. In a small kitchen, having transparent cabinet doors opens up the space in a manner a solid cabinet door would not be able to achieve. Glass-covered cabinets create continuity by making it seem as if the entire space is one big area with no enclosure. Additionally, with a glass-covered cabinet, you are allowed to treat your ceramic and glass dinnerware like art pieces; you can experiment with the display and organization of cups and plates, and you can also be playful with the colors and textures of items you purchase and bring into your kitchen, after all, everyone can see it. Glass-covered cabinets are an excellent way to encourage friends and family to appreciate the beauty that is your dinnerware.
The last and final tip is to decorate your windows with curtains. Most homes come with standard louvered shutters, but if you want to take the next step in making your home feel more comfortable, I recommend installing curtains in the living room, dining room, and bedrooms as it makes the space feel more cozy and intimate. When it comes to using curtains to make a space feel more spacious, I recommend using short to medium-length curtains instead of floor-length curtains. Medium-length curtains start from the top of the window and end a few inches below the window; these types of curtains are more suited for smaller spaces because they allude to comfort without making the space feel too crowded or overly shaded. Another approach is combining louvered shutters with sheer curtains. By installing a set of sheer curtains over existing shutters, the curtains can begin filtering in the sunlight while also providing airflow and privacy.
Photo: Hazel’s living room