Photo by Max Vakhtbovych from PexelsWhen it comes to building a home, size matters. Unfortunately, the prospect of moving to a bigger property may not be deemed suitable for your family. Whether it’s due to finances, convenience, or other factors, finding an alternative is crucial. Ultimately, the best solution is to unlock the full potential of your current living spaces.
By making your home look bigger, it can take on a whole new sense of character and function. Here are 11 top tips to help transform your living spaces in a convenient and cost-effective manner.
1. Clear The Space
Overcrowding is one of the most common reasons for homes feeling claustrophobic. The harsh reality is that most families are guilty of hoarding products unnecessarily. Using professional services to get rubbish cleared is one of the smartest steps you’ll ever take. This should be supported by the process of selling any unwanted valuables online or via other methods.
Once you have successfully cleared the space, it will become a lot easier to clean too. Therefore, you will find that maintaining a positive vibe will be a simpler task. Extra steps to clear some space are utilising more storage systems and trading large units for wall-mounted shelves.
2. Make Full Use Of The Garden
Before you introduce wholesale changes to the internal parts of the property, think about the garden. This outside space adds a whole new dimension to your home life. Whether building a deck or creating an area for gardening is entirely up to you. Either way, encouraging your family to spend more time in the garden can work wonders by reducing the strain on internal spaces.
The garden can be used for a whole host of activities to suit your lifestyle. A gardening area, a place to play games, or a garden gym area are all good examples. Likewise, BBQ pits and summer houses can be added. Once the backyard is utilised to its full potential, you can begin to focus on internal changes.
Image by Barry D from Pixabay3. Introduce More Natural Light
Colour schemes and lighting set the tone of any home environment. Crucially, they can expand the space to make rooms look bigger and brighter. Therefore, you should want to increase natural lighting by dressing the windows correctly. You may also wish to consider adding sliding doors, skylights, and other features to add more light. Mirrors can be used to great effect too.
Increased natural lighting is the perfect starting point. However, you can take the atmosphere to even greater heights by adopting a lighter colour scheme. Using creams, whites, and other light neutrals helps reflect the light. Moreover, it can help any colourful features or furniture stand out. Rooms will seem larger and blessed with character.
4. Transform The Guest Room
Every room of the property should offer a distinct function and purpose. Sadly, thousands of households are guilty of wasting an entire room by leaving it as a guest bedroom. Sure, it’s nice to have a place for the in-laws or friends when they can pop over. However, you need to be practical. Even if you had a guest once per week, that’s over 300 days of the year where it’s wasted.
Whether you turn it into a home office, home gym, or playroom is entirely up to you. A few coats of paint and a few furniture additions will soon give the room a new purpose. Aside from the direct benefits gained from creating a new living space, it will indirectly reduce the strain on other parts of the property. Perfect.
5. Use The Attic Or Basement
If your home is blessed with a loft, converting it could be the key to making your home feel physically bigger. Of course, this is an expensive and time-consuming project. However, it will add value to the property while the transformation is probably cheaper than stepping up the ladder. Particularly if you take stamp duty and solicitor fees into account. It can be the best move for your pocket.
Similarly, a basement can be turned into a stunning living space if you make the right preparations. Or, even if it becomes a storage space this move will free up space elsewhere. Similar methods can be used to turn the garage into a more effective part of the property. The combination of direct and indirect benefits will be telling.
Photo by Max Vakhtbovych from Pexels6. Fill The Gaps
Oddly shaped rooms can be a real problem for homeowners because they seem to cut off the space. Thankfully, the growth of online firms and made-to-measure pieces has changed the arena forever. You can now find wardrobes, bookcases, and other features to fill alcoves and other gaps in a very effective way. For starters, they utilise the space with far greater results.
Secondly, it can give rooms a far greater sense of cohesion. There’s nothing worse than a room that carries a vibe of Frankenstein’s monster. Conversely, though, when you make the right changes to areas that are upstairs and downstairs, you will see big results. Working around the chimney is a common solution.
7. Understand Feng Shui
Getting the basics of the room in a good place will provide a strong platform to build upon. However, you must not overlook the importance of choosing the right layouts for your living spaces. Furniture can be used to section off a room or ensure that the eyes are directed to the main features. One thing you should never do, though, is block off the walkways. This will make the space feel cramped.
While the feng shui is probably most important in the living room, you should consider the bedrooms too. The room should ultimately be built to promote a better night’s sleep. Therefore, cupboards and other big products should not compromise this desire. In all living spaces, you must keep any radiators unobstructed for greater results.
8. Trick The Eyes
When creating your living spaces, it’s always important to think about practicality. So, if an idea aimed at visual benefits is not supported by functional rewards, you may wish to discard it. Nonetheless, picking a clear glass and frameless shower cubicle, for example, is a far smarter option than opaque glass. It allows you to see the full size of the room while the frame itself can trick the eyes further.
There are plenty of additional options to consider. Using a serving hatch from the kitchen allows the room to feel bigger. Likewise, sliding doors can have a positive influence on internal spaces as well as the external ones. When your eyes perceive the room to look bigger than it actually is, the whole vibe of the home will change.
9. Go Vertical
Anyone who is image-conscious will know that an emphasis on vertical lines rather than horizontal ones can have a telling influence. Unsurprisingly, it may be equally significant for the appearance of your rooms. The idea of focusing on an item that promotes the vertical elements will give rooms a more open feel. A feature wall that faces the door is ideal because it’s the first thing you’ll see.
However, tall shelves and vertical shiplaps can have an equally impressive influence. You can embrace the concept with even greater results by using different floor heights. A step down to the kitchen from the hallway, for example can open up the space. Similarly, a raised dining area may work well if you have an L-shaped room. The key is to match your home.
10. Use The Walls
The idea of utilising oddly shaped spaces has already been mentioned. However, another top trick is to focus on saving valuable floor space. Adding canvas art to the walls and fixing TV wall brackets will save you from needing bulky items. Even when you save a few inches of floor space, the influence on the overall aesthetic is vast. Besides, many of those ideas look very modern.
It’s an old cliche that the walls should tell a story, but there is a lot of value to be gained from it. When you have a compact room, the benefits are even greater. You can support this idea further by removing rugs and choosing furniture where the legs are visible. They visually take up less space, which can transform your home.
11. Change Lifestyle Habits
Finally, it’s not only the decor choices that will dictate the atmosphere within your property. The way in which your family uses the space will be equally crucial. Arguably the easiest way to prevent the home from feeling cluttered in future is to adopt paperless tech. A combination of paperless bills and digital streaming services can reduce the need for so many items. In turn, your available storage can be used for other items.
The decision to trade your treadmill for street running, for example, can also work wonders. Similarly, if you have a fold-up treadmill, keeping it upright when not in use is vital. Gym equipment isn’t the only example, though. Furniture throughout your property can be used to keep the home looking spacious forever.
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© Copyright 2021 Antonia, All rights Reserved. Written For: Tidylife
