Decorating and designing a small living room interior brings its own unique set of challenges. With limited square footage, every design decision is critical for creating a comfortable and inviting space.
This is where strategic use of colours and lighting can make a dramatic difference. Proper implementation of these elements can help trick the eye into perceiving a small living room as more expansive and spacious.
To help you with tricks, we have curated a few clever tips and ideas to enlarge a small living room visually.
Strategic Use of Colours to Visually Enlarge a Small Living Room Interior
One of the most impactful tricks is to use colour strategically throughout the room. Hues, tones and shades have a powerful influence over human perception that can be harnessed to make a small living room appear larger.
1. Opt for Light and Neutral Wall Colours
Keep the wall colours as light and neutral as possible. Whites, creams, pastels or pale neutrals like greige are fantastic options. The lighter the wall colour, the more open, airy and spacious your interior will feel.
Additionally, neutral wall colours create a clean, harmonious backdrop that allows other elements like furniture and decor to pop. Consider a light greyish tone, and pastel shades like lavender blush and airy light blue also brighten up the space beautifully.
2. Employ Accent Colours Thoughtfully
While neutral walls are ideal, the space can also benefit from thoughtful punches of accent colours. Vibrant hues are woven strategically into the aesthetic to add visual interest without overwhelming the senses.
Weave in bright and vivid hues through decorative accessories, throw pillows, small furniture pieces like ottomans or even a colourful patterned area rug. Accent walls around architectural details like niches, shelves or fireplaces also effectively catch the eye.
3. Utilise Colour Psychology for Depth
Painting one wall in contrasting complementary tones creates the illusion of extra depth and dimension in a small living room interior. Depending on the size of your living room, select two rich colours opposite one another on the colour wheel.
Aim for colours opposite or complementary on the colour wheel for maximum contrast, like:
Burnt orange and ocean blue
Lime green and crimson red
Sunny yellow and violet-purple
A monochromatic scheme featuring tonal shades of a single colour also achieves a cohesive, expansive look. Soft, muted shades keep the room feeling light and relaxed. Different intensities and saturations of the same colour cleverly trick the eye by manipulating depth perception.
4. Display Large-scale Colourful Artworks
Strategically hang a large statement mirror or piece of abstract art on the wall opposite your seating arrangement. The vibrant colours and shapes will instantly draw attention away from the boundaries of the room itself.
Optical illusions in the artwork also manipulate depth perception through clever use of shapes, lines and contrast. This makes the small living room appear much deeper than it is. Get creative with multimedia art, geometric line drawings or even unexpected sculpture pieces.
Clever Lighting Techniques for a Spacious Feel in a Small Living Room
Along with colour, lighting plays a crucial role in opening up a small living room interior. Proper placements of light sources combined with reflective materials help to eliminate shadows, brighten up dark corners and create the perception of extra space both literally and visually.
1. Maximise Natural Light Source
Start by removing any heavy drapes or curtains blocking windows. Replace them with sheer, lighter-weight fabrics or easy-to-draw cordless shades in light colours. These window treatments allow ample natural light to flood the room while still providing privacy.
Shift furniture positioning away from light sources to prevent obstructing rays. Avoid placing media cabinets in front of windows. Utilise glass-topped nesting tables and open wine racks instead of solid wood designs to allow light penetration.
Install dimmable smart LED bulbs to supplement and bounce more natural light around the room. Adjust the colour temperature from bright, energetic white during the day to warmer, softer white lighting in the evenings.
2. Optimise Artificial Lighting Placement
Overhead ceiling flush mounts and recessed canned lighting ensure consistent ambient brightness throughout the room without shadows. Compliment this with directional track lighting, accent lighting or strategically placed floor and table lamps.
Aim focused beams towards darker spots on accent walls. Wall sconces also effectively eliminate shadows in corners and archways. Multi-light floor lamps and table lamps with adjustable heads provide both ambient and task lighting flexibility.
3. Harness the Power of Mirrors
Hang an elongating mirror directly opposite and level with your window and primary lighting fixtures to infinitely reflect and bounce light around. Square mirrors work well, but oval and rectangular mirrors, horizontally oriented, especially open up space in a small living room interior by appearing wider than the actual dimensions.
Lean floor-length mirrors strategically against accent walls in dark corners to reflect light and colours. Get creative with unconventional hanging shapes like circles, diamonds and octagons for a playful look. The reflective surfaces combined with shapes and angles play tricks on the eyes to make rooms feel larger and brighter.
Mastering Space Illusions in Small Living Rooms!
By creatively implementing these simple yet highly impactful lighting and colour techniques, even the smallest living room interior can be transformed into a surprisingly spacious aesthetic.
With some strategic homework to educate yourself on colour psychology and lighting design principles, you can easily implement these small living room decorating secrets yourself.
Give your tiny living room a full-sized makeover regardless of the actual area. But if you need additional personalised guidance or interior designing assistance, you can contact us at Hipcouch.
To book our expert interior designers, schedule a consultation today!