Living spaces can vary in all shapes and sizes. Although your living room may be small, you don’t have to feel cramped using it. Space is all about perspective. Intentionally arranging furniture and decor will make the most of any living space, big or small.
8 Ideas to Make a Small Living Room Appear Bigger
For those of you working with a small living room space, the following ideas and concepts can make that small area suddenly seem much more spacious. For households seeking living room furniture in Sarasota, you will find this task even easier and more fun by working with Florida Leather Gallery.
1. Sectionals
One large couch plopped in the center of a small living room can seem to swallow up all the space and air. Rather than having one huge piece occupying the bulk of the living area, consider a sectional sofa which still provides lush comfort without eating up all the floor space.
Here are just 5 benefits of sectional sofas:
- Versatile – people who love rearranging furniture absolutely adore sectional sofas, as they can easily change the layout of the space.
- More Seating – couches, no matter how large, seem to limit the number of users to three people. However, sectional sofas can host twice as many by their split design.
- Aesthetic Control – there’s not much you can do with one big couch, but possibilities are unlimited with a sectional sofa.
- More Space – you can take one section and make it a meditation corner seat, or even create walking space between the sections.
- Extra Bed – for places where space is a premium and there is no extra bedroom, a sectional can serve as a wonderful and comfortable bed for visitors.
At Florida Leather Gallery, our specialty is providing homeowners and renters with one of the best selections of sectional furniture at unbeatable prices, making your first step to a roomier living room space that much easier.
2. Use Furniture With Legs
Another way to keep space in a small living room area is to select furnishings that utilize legs instead of solid foundations, which smother the floor space. Side tables, coffee tables, and entry tables all appear smaller, and fit better with longer, narrower legs. To highlight table spaces, use of a small carpet as its foundation (Tip #7 explains the value of small carpets in greater detail).
3. Hidden Storage Furniture
Look for furniture with drawers and cabinets for extra storage space. In this way, you have access to lots of items you may wish to utilize in your living room area. You do not need to have them placed at the ready, but can instead have an orderly arrangement of important items easy to grab when needed.
Another advantage of utilizing furniture with hidden nooks and crannies, is you can avoid a cluttered look in your already snug living room area. Remember, with less clutter, each item on display is that much more noticeable and appreciated.
4. Avoid Medium Shades
While using medium shades and colors in your decorating may seem like a good idea to avoid extreme contrasts, those color tones will actually “shrink” the room size. In this situation, you are actually better served to look for bright white shades and deep black tones. When tastefully combined and contrasted, these colors create the perception of depth and space.
If you do not like extreme contrasts, stick with light and bright colors, which always make a space look larger. Avoid deep dark tones as a background, as it absorbs light and with it, the illusion of extra space. Illuminating corners and other areas that are naturally dark not only sheds light on darkened spots, but increases visible space. This is what tells your mind there is now more room. Finally, consider which background color may work best to enlarge the look of your small living room.
5. Fewer Knick-Knacks
In smaller spaces, having a lot of little knick-knacks displayed on every flat surface can quickly turn into clutter. For small living room areas, minimize the small curio displays. If you must, simply show off a few precious items. Think simplicity, and place them in groups of 3 or more (no more than 5 per display area).
6. More Lamps
Instead of one central overhead light illuminating the room, a few table/floor lamps artistically placed in a small living room creates separate pools of light. To the subconscious mind, these “bright” spots appear as smaller spaces within a larger space.
Once more, to avoid the “clutter” feel, you may be better served by employing two or three floor lamps, keeping premium table space as open as possible. If there is a table which can accommodate a lamp that doesn’t take over the entire surface, go for it. But be judicious with your table space when it comes to lighting, as floor lamps can do a better job of diffusing illumination more effectively.
7. Extra Carpets
Smaller rugs are an ideal way to establish different areas within the small living room space. A large carpet hides the floor space, and also defines the area covered as one single space. Plus, there is not much you can do when it comes to rearranging a large carpet (if it’s rectangular, you can shift the direction of its length). However, with a handful of small rugs, you can change the look regularly, or modify it for special gatherings. Following tip #4 about avoiding medium shades, look for small carpets with distinctively bright or deeply dark tones to emphasize the contrasts.
8. Mounted Television
Although the TV remains a central point of entertainment in your living room, it doesn’t need to occupy that much space. Most new televisions are manufactured to be mounted on the wall. It may seem like a hassle to wall mount your TV, but it’s easier than you realize. If it’s too overwhelming, you can call in a professional installer and pay a couple of hundred dollars for the security of knowing it won’t come crashing down unexpectedly.
So there you have it. No room is so small that you can’t use a few tricks to make it spacious, beautiful, and, most importantly, livable! If you are looking for more ideas and some fantastic furnishings to not only enlarge your living space, but make your visitors and guests go “Wow!”, then visit the best furniture store in Sarasota, Florida Leather Gallery. We invite you to contact us or visit one of our five locations to learn more ways to make your home a spacious and comfortable palace!
