Your home only has a certain amount of space, but there are many tips and tricks you can employ to maximize how you perceive that space. What are some of the best ways to create more space in your home?

Declutter

Start with obvious trash: Decluttering can be difficult because you don’t know where to start. An easy way to get things in motion is to just throw away obvious trash. This will give you a starting point and some momentum before you move on to the non-trash items.

Organize into categories: Separate items into keep, donate, and throw away categories as you declutter in order to keep the process organized along the way.  

Move from room to room: Don’t tackle your whole house at once—start with decluttering and cleaning one room before moving to the next! This will make the task seem more manageable as well as give you the satisfaction of seeing a clean room.

Detach from the sentimental: You may be holding on to some unnecessary items because of their sentimental value. Try to consider if this is an item you really need, or if you’re only holding on to it because it holds memories.

Organize

You’d be surprised how much space you can create by just organizing! Take your drawers as an example; they may be seemingly packed to the brim because everything is thrown inside haphazardly. Add some space organizers and—poof!—suddenly things are both easy to access and not overflowing.

Tips for organizing:

Out of sight, out of mind: For items you can’t declutter but don’t use all the time, store them away in closets or drawers so that they don’t visually clutter the space.  

Optimize Sightlines

One of the things that can make a home look smaller is many small rooms being closed off from one another. You can’t change the actual room shapes and sightlines without renovating, but you can direct the eye through multiple rooms with thoughtful furniture placement and using colours well.  

Try to keep lines of sight open in your home. A good way to move the eye around is by using accent colours in furniture pieces, artwork, or statement pieces.
A properly-lit room can open up so much space! Natural light is a great option, but artificial lighting can also help (literally) brighten up a space. 

Some lighting tips for your home:

Don’t rely on one light source: Using multiple light sources throughout a room can help enhance its overall appearance. For example, having an overhead light, a table lamp, and a floor lamp that are on different levels can help illuminate different parts of the room and complement one another.

Use natural lighting when possible: Take advantage of natural light sources where you have them, they can help open up a space immensely.

Take advantage of recessed lighting: Recessed lighting can help make a space look bigger since it helps light the room without adding any visual bulk itself.

Free Up Floor Space

Open floor space can help create the illusion of a bigger room. That’s not to say you shouldn’t make use of a nice, big carpet or decorate the space, but be mindful of how much space you’re leaving in a room.

You can create the illusion of more floor space by:  

Plastic furniture or thin-legged furniture: Using furniture with smaller legs or see-through pieces made from glass or plastic can help create the illusion of more floor space.

Use mirrors: Mirrors can reflect the available space back at you, making the room appear larger than it actually is.

Floating storage: Using floating storage units or shelves not only opens up more floor space, but it gives you a way or organize your items, too.
Even a small room can be made to look big with the right design tips! Maximizing your home’s space and keeping everything organized in the process can make for a comfortable and stylish environment.