8 Styling Tips to Make a Small Space Feel Bigger

When we moved last year we lost a fair amount of square footage. One room that seemed significantly smaller to me was our living room. As we started to make our new home our own I started to research and think of ways that could make a small space look bigger

A lot of the furniture in out house is hand-me-downs that we been been fortunate to get passed down in such great condition. With our love seat, rocking chair and (my personal favorite) the vintage pink chair, I knew I had some work to do with making them all look like they “go together”. At first I thought that the hardest part would be making the different types of wood match. Though, as I continued to bring in more repeat shades and tones of wood into the decor, the more I loved the uniqueness of each piece and how they complimented each other.

With these mismatched pieces and our small space to work I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out. For a while I was moving furniture around every couple days. A had a few people even message me on Instagram saying how every time they watch my stories my furniture was in different places, ha! It’s been a couple months now though, and I think I have it how I like love it.

Photography: Julie Christine Photography

Disclosure: Please note some of the items within this post “8 Styling Tips to Make Your Living Room Feel Bigger” were gifted. My views and opinions of the products are always my own regardless of this partnership. This post also contains some affiliate links.

I absolutely adore our rug, faux marble coffee table, sea grass baskets and white floor mirror from Wayfair. Some of the items were gifted to be styled and other items I purchased from the website myself. I adore their home decor items, and find they often have really great sales to get remarkable prices! See the direct links below to shop.

Some new items that were brought into our Living Room to help make the small space feel bigger included:

• marble top coffee table
• white patterned area rug
• custom made floating shelf (thank you husband!)
• white large floor mirror
• set of three storage baskets
• seagrass basket (holding plant) Amazon Link

With a lot of trial and error, here are a few styling tips that I feel helped make our small space feel bigger. The last tip was something that I read from another site after I had already moved our furniture away from the wall. I didn’t realize at the time that that actually aided in making the room feel larger, I just knew that I loved the feeling of it so much better. You can see what the space looked like with our love seat against the wall here.

7 Styling Tips for How to Make a Small Space Look Bigger

1. Light Coloured Walls

   I had been wanting to paint the walls in our house white for a loooong time. Finally, got the husband on board (so long as I did the painting) and we have a white living room! I feel like it makes the space feel so open, bright and spacious.

2. Open Furniture (even on the legs of chairs)

   When picking out our coffee table I wanted to choose something that would be “see through”. With the empty space beneath the table and the minimal structural base the coffee table takes up minimal space within the room, despite the surface area of the top being large.

   This also includes choosing furniture with legs that are lifted off of the ground. The more airy feel and space that is left seen the better.
   

3. Large Pictures or Art Pieces

   Choose items for your walls that make more of a statement piece then multiple items. Gallery walls can clutter small spaces really quickly where large pictures or art can make the room look and feel larger.

4. Greenery

   Had to add this one in. Really, I don’t know if it makes our small space feel larger, but I do think it makes it much more liveable. Bonus tip: Helps to improve your home air quality too! I typically buy a few plants a year as I don’t have the greenest thumb around, but even if you can’t keep them alive it is still worth it to keep trying.
   

5. Minimal Decor Items

   During Christmas we had way more decor in the living room and the space felt SO much smaller! I had a lot more items on our shelf, though I liked it, the room did feel a lot more cluttered. We have focused on decor items that open up the space, large images and minimal knick knacks. You can also find toys tucked away in storage bins.

6. Mirrors

   This wall mirror was the last addition to the room and it not only opens up the room but it also maximizes the amount of light. One of my favorite additons to the space, the can often be found with my kids doing silly dances in front of, who knew it would also provide entertainment.

   

7. Neutral Colours and Patterns

   I can’t help but point out those blush pink curtains (see image above). Not only are they pretty much exactly on brand to my blog branding, but they also pair so well with our vintage arm chair. With different wood tones and the blush pink as our main colours I found that keeping the space with more neutral colours helped keep it feel less overwhelming and breathable.

8. Keep Furniture Away From Walls

   The last point and one that I didn’t realize till after a few trial and error room set ups that it made a huge difference in making a small space feel bigger. Our arm chairs and love seat are all three pulled from the walls, creating an intimate space for communications and games. I’ve also found with kids it illuminates so much opportunity for mess. I’ve moved most of the toys downstairs and kept it pretty clutter free, minus a few wooden toys that are tucked away in storage boxes.

It feels so great to walk into this room when I come home, it is right now my favorite in the house. I am so excited to continue to share more room transformations and styling tips and we hop on over to the bedroom soon! Be sure to check out the links above for information on where our living room furniture is from. Happy decorating!