While adding a little extra square footage to your home may sound ideal, it’s expensive, really time-consuming, and mostly impossible. But designing a small space can be equally exhausting. You often end up focusing on practical elements instead of pretty ones.
However, no matter how small, your home is your safe haven, and it should feel like one. This means that you should feel content and comfortable when you step in through the front doors, not claustrophobic.
So, if you feel like the walls are closing in on you, and your home is feeling cozier than you need it to, here are some ideas you can try to make your interiors appear more spacious.
Keep The Color Palette Muted
Whether you’re designing a small or large home, it’s always a good idea to start with a muted color palette—it’ll be like a blank canvas for you to work on.
So, for starters, you need to paint the walls in soothing shades of white. Also, make sure to keep the floors light, too, instead of going with a darker shade of wood. Lastly, install steel windows and doors to keep the palette metallic and minimal.
Later, you can add pops of color with decor items or fittings like the curtains for your steel windows.
Replace Some Interior Walls With Room Dividers
While switching down the color palette will make a significant difference, another change that should work is getting rid of some of the walls in the house.
Interiors walls in spaces like dining lounges and living rooms are unnecessary and often in the way. Consider knocking them down and installing room dividers and bi-fold doors instead. Because they’re mostly just vast expanses of clear glass, they’ll make your spaces look more prominent. With bi-fold doors, you can also open them all the way to connect the spaces when you need to.
Install French Patio Doors That Swing Outward
French doors are popular as patio doors, but while they look great, the chances are that you’re making a huge mistake while installing them. Many people have their French doors swinging inward instead of outward—this isn’t helpful to your space.
When the patio doors swing inwards, they take up precious floor space inside your house. So, when you install patio doors, make sure you’re installing French patio doors with an outswing.
Use Large Steel Windows To Bring In Maximum Sunlight
Light and space have a very close relationship. Spaces that are well-lit look more spacious, while darker spaces with shadows are smaller in appearance.
You can install a lot of artificial lighting to make your space brighter, but it’s best to install large steel windows in every room and even exterior doors with glass to bring in plenty of natural light. It will make your house feel more spacious and livelier.
Put Up Large Mirrors In Smaller Spaces
Another smart hack for making small spaces look larger is with mirrors. Mirrors reflect light and create an illusion of space. So, for small spaces like tiny bathrooms, narrow corridors, and other nooks and crannies in the house, you can place mirrors strategically to make these spaces look bigger.
Consider placing mirrors right across from the steel windows so that the natural light can be reflected all over the room.
Use Pocket Doors And Sliding Doors Inside The House
Interior doors are elements that are taking up too much of your interior space unsuspectingly. Regular doors are going to swing one way or the other and will take up floor space, but there’s a way to get around this.
Instead of installing typical interior doors, choose pocket doors and sliding doors instead. Pocket doors slide into the wall, completely disappearing from view—something you ideally want in a home with less space for things to disappear occasionally. And sliding doors are also a great option since they look pretty chic and modern and are very convenient.
Be Minimalistic With Decor Choices
Busy patterns and prints and too much furniture and decor can also make your space look cluttered and crowded. For a smaller home, it’s best to keep a more minimalistic theme and choose only what you need.
So, for instance, instead of having too much artwork with varying art themes, it’s best to go with similar-looking art pieces in a room. Also, consider limiting the color palette to one or two more colors per room (besides the base colors). So, for instance, if you already have white walls and black iron or steel door, add a pop of color to the interior spaces with a bright yellow and midnight blue—but don’t go overboard with the color palette.
Invest In Smart And Multi-Purpose Furniture
Another thing you need to consider for a smaller home is furniture. Heavy wooden furniture pieces look beautiful and regal, but only in bigger spaces. In smaller rooms, they look plain awkward.
If you want your rooms to feel spacious, you need to reduce the visual clutter, which means eliminating unnecessary furniture. You can do this by buying smart multipurpose furniture, for instance, a desk that doubles as a vanity and nightstand!
Use Sleek Interior Glass Doors Instead Of Bulky Wooden Doors
Another thing you need to consider when choosing interior doors is the material of the doors. While you could have sliding doors and pocket doors made in wood, it’d be best to invest in steel and iron door with glass for your home.
These look modern and minimalistic and work better for smaller homes.
We can help you out with the interior doors if you're remodeling your home soon. At Pinky’s Iron Doors, we have an extensive iron and steel doors collection, including interior and exterior doors. Some of our best-sellers are French patio doors, sliding barn doors, accordion doors, bi-fold doors, Dutch doors, and modern front doors in iron and steel.
You can also check our inspiration tab for modern interior doors and front door ideas.
Give us a call to learn more or to place an order.
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