No floorplan is perfect. It’s what you do with a floorplan that can make it work for your household. Some homes have awkward hallways, some have narrow living rooms. Some bedrooms feel cramped once you place the bed, and some bathrooms have barely enough room for your knees. However, there are a few simple tricks that anyone can use to make their rooms feel larger. In fact, the right tricks can get a surprising amount of space back.
Of course, as murphy bed experts, we would know all about getting back space. If you have a cramped room that needs to feel – and be – more spacious, try these tricks for yourself to discover what can be used to optimize any room in your home.
Define the Space with a Rug
In some rooms, the perfect solution is a rug just a few inches smaller than the distance between the walls. Defining your space with a rug can help to encapsulate the busy section of your room – entertainment and seating areas – while emphasizing the open floor space created by the lines of the rug.
A good space-creating rug stops short of interfering with doors and may favor one side of the room over the other to help indicate the most comfortable and open lanes of traffic through the home.
Simplify the Decor (and Storage)
Visual clutter almost always feels closed-in. Small rooms feel smaller when every surface and shelf feels like a page of Where’s Waldo. If you have busy decor, pull back to simple flat colors and one or two art pieces per wall.
If you are simplifying a room packed with everyday items, your solution is hidden storage. Chest tables, benches, and ottomans are practical choices for a family room, while cloth cube storage is a big hit for both organizing and decluttering bedroom shelves.
Fold Away What You Don’t Need All Day
You can create ample space by folding away furniture that you only use at certain times. Murphy beds can transform a bedroom into an office or playroom during the day. By folding up the bed, you turn its entire footprint into open space for moving, playing, exercising, or just enjoying the free flow of traffic. Fold-away murphy beds with desks can also help to repurpose any room as a home office without permanently impacting the floor space.
Chairs with Long Legs
Blocky upholstered armchairs and couches tend to block up a room. But that doesn’t mean comfy seating is off the list. Instead, favor comfortable chairs, loveseats, and couches with long, visible legs. Whether you prefer wood, metal, or wicker furniture, visible legs and airy, arching chair arms provide less visual blocking in the room, therefore make a seating area appear roomier.
Use Narrower Surfaces and Shelves
Side tables and shelves are both useful and elegant when added to a room, but they don’t need a large footprint. Consider smaller side tables, coffee tables, and sidebars which fulfill their place in the room’s design without sticking their corners into the walking path. Bookcases and shelves can also look just as elegant – and provide almost the same amount of effective storage – if you choose low-profile shelves that extend a shorter distance from the wall.
Brighten the Corners
Dark colors and dim corners tend to make a room feel cramped, while light, bright walls give rooms a sense of airiness. While most rooms are already painted white or cream, you can help your eyes and sense of space reach out to the corners by increasing the light. A brighter central bulb or lights distributed to the corners of your room can both help to brighten and seemingly broaden the space.
Optimize Your Space with Wall Beds and Fold-Away Furniture
Here at Wallbeds ‘n More, we specialize in furniture that doesn’t get in the way. If you need a spacious home office that doubles as a guest room, a children’s bedroom that opens up into a playroom, or a studio apartment that doubles as anything else, we have a beautiful selection of wall beds, big and small, folding vertically or horizontally to perfectly suit the needs of your space.
Contact us today to consult on the perfect murphy wall bed to reclaim your square footage in any bedroom or guest room.