13 Design Tips To Make Your Small Living Room Look Larger

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Small living rooms can present many challenges. One of them is that cluttered look, especially when you have larger pieces of furniture. Fortunately, you can use these design tips and layout strategies to create a bigger living room feel.

Small Living Room Ideas You’ll Love

A small living room can present décor challenges, especially if we have larger furniture. We can’t always run out and replace all of our furnishings, but there are some options you can try instead.

More so, a small living room makes entertaining next to impossible. Plus, we tend to avoid small, cramped spaces, especially when we want to relax with our loved ones. Fortunately, with these design tips, you can help your small living room look and feel bigger.

Decorating your home is usually a fun and exciting process. However, after a few years, we grow weary of the same décor and look for creative ways to update our homes’ design elements.

Below, you’ll discover some creative ways to transform your small living room into a place you love and appreciate.

More so, a small living room makes entertaining next to impossible. Plus, we tend to avoid small, cramped spaces, especially when we want to relax with our loved ones. Fortunately, with these design tips, you can help your small living room look and feel bigger.

1 – Include Multiple Decor Focal Points

To draw attention away from the size of your small living room, be sure to add multiple focal points of interest when decorating. In the image below, your eye is drawn to the verticle points of interest: the draperies, the coffee table, the wall clock, the sofa pillows, and the perfectly placed orchard plant.

Never feel skittish about including pieces that will pack a punch and add decor drama to your space. Place your favorite decor pieces in key locations, step back, and decide which to keep or remove. You always want to encourage the eye to move around the space and flow instead of completely taking it all in. 

If you can, replace some larger pieces of furniture with smaller, more decorative styles. For example, ornate sofa sets and big armchairs can leave a small room seriously space-starved, no matter how comfy they are.

Instead, opt for furniture with sleek, clean lines like the ones you’ll find at Papaya Australia.  There, you’ll find elements with key focal points to make your small living room look and feel majestic!

2 – A Large Area Rug Will Open Up Your Space

Using a large area rug is great for defining a dedicated zone, which translates into the visual effect of a separate space. You can use a large or generous-sized area rug that reaches out to the wall borders of the room, which will draw the eyes in different directions. 

This larger area rug will draw the eye wider across the full width and length of the room. A generously sized area rug will make your small living room appear bigger than it really is. Using a rug that’s too small for your room will simply accentuate the lack of square footage.

3 – Light Colors Will Open Up Your Space

We all know that painting walls with light colors will open up a room. You can also use light shades like soft pastels, soft grays, and whites for your furnishing. Even if you have little ones, you can still pull off using light colors by choosing fabrics that are easy to clean.

For instance, using light colors always creates an airy open space, which translates into a visually larger living room. In the photo below, the pops of light color clearly open up the small living room area. And, you can see how the sofa slipcovers are so easy to pull off and clean too. 

4 – Uncover Your Windows – Yes! Remove the Drapes Altogether! 

The image below is also a perfect example of how removing the draperies from your window immediately opens up any space beautifully. In this small living room, you can see how the designer used two elements to open up the space: light colors and uncovering the windows.

This is a perfect solution if you don’t have privacy concerns. Leaving the windows uncovered will pull the eye outdoors and bring the beauty of the outdoors into your living room space. Regardless of your living space’s size, you can do simple things that open your area up. 

5 – Use Smaller Barely There Tables

Smaller end tables can dramatically make your smaller living room look larger. While we are all used to larger, traditional-sized end and coffee tables, removing bulky furniture will not only make it look larger but also feel bigger.

You and your guests will be able to stretch out their legs and enjoy the extra space, too. Plus, small end tables happen to be in vogue right now! The three grouped tables below are chic and stunning and a great way to add more space to your living room. 

Adding smaller end tables is a great way to open up your living room space—and you’ll have more staging ideas, too! Using a small but taller end table like this Rosewood Tall End Table will bring height to your small living room, too.

6 – Skip The Coffee Table Entirely In Your Small Living Room

You can decide to go bold and skip the coffee table entirely and use your side tables instead. Your living room will look and feel much larger if you leave the open space where your coffee table would sit.

You can also always add a decorative smaller footstool if you enjoy propping up your feet when it’s time to relax. Let your end tables be the focal point of your living room, and get rid of that bulky coffee table. Plus, it’s a great way to save money too. 

7 – Using Large Mirrors To Open Up Your Small Living Room

Mirrors are a great way to trick the eye into thinking the room is twice as large. And it works better if you use a mirror large enough to almost appear like a door or window.

Floor mirrors are great for this; you can always prop one against a blank wall. The floor mirror below creates the perfect illusion of more space and looks stunning from a decorative perspective. 

For example, this BEAUTYPEAK Full Length Mirror will bring height and depth to any small living room. Plus, you can hang it directly on to your wall as well. Using tall mirrors will immediately open up your space and add a touch of luxury and class, too.

8 – Using Floating Shelves

As much as minimalistic living is in style, we all need and love extra storage space. You can transform your small living room and have it do double duty, too. Instead, try turning drawer units into a seating bench. Just make sure they are sturdy enough for sitting.

Furthermore, you can include some open shelving without closed insides and display your favorite decor elements there, too. You can do this without boxing in the room. The floating shelf below creates an expanded illusion in the living room, too, and it’s great for featuring your decorative items as well. 

Adding floating shelves to your small living room adds depth and character. For instance, these BAMEOS Floating Shelves work perfectly for stowing decorative items, books, vases, plants, and more.

9 – Always Include Lots Of Lighting

As far as small living room ideas go, adding copious amounts of lighting is always a perfect solution. If you don’t have natural lighting, artificial lighting will have to do, and it makes a huge difference as well.

Tripod floor lamps recently entered the decorating scene and are here to stay. This 5-star-rated Anbomo Wood Tripod Floor Lamp with its rounded linen lampshade looks gorgeous and modern in almost any room in your home or office.

Additionally, you can include plenty of light sources to create a big, bright look during the day and a welcoming, cozy glow at night. Always try to use lighting from various sources, such as table and floor lamps, hanging fixtures, recessed ceiling lights, and wall sconces. 

In the image below, you can see how using multiple lighting sources has not only brightened this small living room but made it look and feel larger, too. 

10 – Use Soft Sheers

Using the right window treatments is important when making your small living room look larger. Soft sheers are oftentimes a great pick, and as long as privacy isn’t a concern, it is a great way to open up your space.

Besides, using sheers that aren’t completely opaque lets your eye take in a hint of the view beyond, which will open up the area. It will make the area feel less closed in even when the curtains are drawn. 

These chic HLC.ME White Sheers will transform any room into an open, airy, and welcoming space. Whether your home features traditional or modern farmhouse decor, these lightweight sheers give an airy feeling that softens a room’s ambiance.

11 – Include Pops Of Dramatic Black Decor

Even if your living room decor is mainly composed of white, it doesn’t mean you can’t add some pops of drama, too. Adding small black elements to give your living room a second sense of contrast and make it more visually interesting is a great idea.

Similarly, use black and white to energize a small room without shrinking it. Adding some dramatic contrast creates an interplay of various depths, creating an advancing and receding effect. This trick can trick your eye into seeing the room as a bit bigger and far more visually interesting, too. 

Try adding decorative pillows to your small living room. For example, these Anickal Black Pillow Covers will add a lux pop of black and transform the look and feel of your sofa too.

12 – Add Wallpaper To One Wall To Create Depth In Your Small Living Room

Another great way to add depth is to add layering to a wall. You can easily do this by adding wallpaper to a wall with a window. By doing so, the wallpaper will create a dimensional effect. And make the room look larger because it will appear further away.

Adding wallpaper to a wall with window drapes will give the room a visual break and keep it from appearing too busy. You can try adding this Wenmer Geometric Hexagon Peel and Stick Wallpaper to one wall in your small living room. Below, you can see how focusing on one wall will make your space look and feel bigger.

13 – Draw The Eye Somewhere Else In Your Small Living Room

Another great way to make your small living room look larger is by pulling attention elsewhere. You can achieve this by adding a big, bold decorative element to your room, like a large plant or a bold pop of color.

However, you can also draw attention to a bold area rug or a unique table lamp. Always make sure you decorate proportionately to your room’s dimensions.

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