A small room can be either the bane of your life or the special place you retreat to when you need to escape from the world into your own private haven. It’s not so much the lack of floor space that makes small rooms feels cramped as it is the size, type, colour and arrangement of the furniture and accessories you bring into it. If you’re battling with small-room blues, see if these few tips can’t help you get the most out of your private spaces.

Choose Furniture Wisely

For small bedrooms, choose a slightly smaller bed. Beds come in a large range of sizes these days, so you’re not restricted to either standard singles or doubles.

Lose the oversized, old-fashioned items that were popular in bygone days. Choose modern furniture with clean, simple lines that don’t create eye clutter through too much ornamentation. You can buy white bedroom furniture online, which makes choosing and buying a breeze.

Make furniture work doubly hard by doubling up on uses. In the bedroom, if you can store both clothes and shoes in one large piece, you’ll free up floor space that would be lost through having two smaller storage units. In the living room, a coffee table that opens up to reveal storage can hide away remote controls or games.

Back in the bedroom, under the bed storage is great for all those items you need but don’t access every day, such as spare blankets or pillows.

Consider wall shelves. They’re up off the floor, look sleek and modern and provide a great area for books, DVDs, ornaments or personal effects.

Use Colour Sparingly

As the fashion for brighter, bolder colour takes hold, it’s tempting to fall for the large patterns that abound in modern wallpaper. If your room is small, try to avoid an overlarge pattern in your wallpaper. It will make the wall draw in and give the room an even smaller appearance.

Choose one wall as your accent wall and indulge your love of bold patterns on that wall and nowhere else. The feature wall will draw the eye, lifting attention from the small floor space.

Neutral colours are always in fashion and it doesn’t have to mean beige. Paint your other walls with a gentle, complementary colour that’s light and refreshing. It will push those walls back, giving the illusion of greater space.

Remove the clutter from small rooms. Avoid having too many small things littering your surfaces by having storage boxes or baskets on shelves. Keeping surfaces clean and clear creates a restful atmosphere.

Put attention where you want it by creating a focal point. This can be a favourite picture hanging over the sofa, a bright spray of flowers in a colourful vase on the dresser, or bold curtains pulled back from the window. The idea is to remove attention from problem areas and instead direct it to an area that’s more pleasing. Although the focus is one area, this somehow manages to lift the whole room.

Small rooms needn’t be cramped and uncomfortable. With a little forethought for how the room is used and which furniture items are needed, you can create a space that not only seems spacious, but is also restful and pleasant to be in.

About the author:

This article was contributed by John, a freelance blogger, who is writing on behalf of Archer Sleep Centre.