Making Small Rooms Look Bigger

There are many different reasons why you might be living in a small space: downsizing, necessity, choice, age of your building and so on. But if you sometimes feel a touch of claustrophobia in your small spaces, good lighting can really help make your room feel expansive without having to do any demolition! Read on for some more tips on how to make your room look bigger with lighting.

One commonly-used way to enlarge small rooms is to introduce as much natural light as possible. What if you can't rely on or include natural light? Other types of lights can help!

First of all, make sure you are layering your lighting. Even in small spaces, using the four basic types of lighting (ambient, task, accent and decorative) will get your room lit properly and looking great. Click here to read more about the four basic types and what kinds of lighting fixtures are best for each one. These are some lighting fixtures that are especially wonderful for enlarging small spaces and can fulfill the different basic lighting types:

Wall sconces. Make sure the sconces use uplighting, which points light up towards the ceiling and is an effect that will spread light around, widening the space. Sconces come in all shapes, sizes, styles, colors and price points, so you're sure to find one that fits you and your space. ADA-compliant sconces cannot extend more than four inches from the wall, which is also a good thing for space-starved rooms.

One neat trick to use: try hanging a small mirror in a corner so the light from the sconce bounces off of it. In fact, mirrors are another arrow in your quiver of good lighting, but don't overdo it with reflective surfaces in a room.

Track lighting. These lights feature separate heads that can be adjusted to shine light exactly where you need it, helping you customize the illumination you need to make your little space look huge. Track lights come in a great variety of styles now, including cool contemporary looks and styles that recall industrial lighting.

Torchieres. These are lamps that aim light up and spread it around the room. Often seen in floor applications, they do also come in smaller heights for table use as well as in sconces and even some chandeliers. When considering floor lamps, obviously try to look for one with a small footprint!

Pendant lights. Like sconces, pendants come in a nearly endless variety of choices, but they have another special weapon for making a small space look bigger: their stems. Hang pendant lights down low and the long stems will make people think the room is tall and enormous. Plus, they can spread light all around for even more lighting lift.

Another tip for small spaces that involves making conscious choices with light fixtures is decorating your spaces with light colors. Hues like white, neutrals and pastels are ideal choices for walls and ceilings. (Small spaces, by the way, should have light-colored ceilings so they can look as big as possible.) If going all white is your dream design, go for that, though it is also perfectly okay to have colors in small spaces.

For your lighting fixtures and accent furniture, if you don't go white or neutral, pick just one color and decorate with different shades of it. Try blue, green or yellow, for example.

The most important thing to remember when lighting a small space is to make it your own. Make it a space you're going to love living in, no matter how many (or how few) square feet it has!

If you need more help making your small rooms look huge, give our trained lighting specialists a call at 1-866-688-3562. 

Emma Harger-Young - Lights Online