Opening Up Your Living Spaces
Every home is different, no one home is designed to be the same and that’s what makes them unique and personal. Every home starts out as a shell, until you inject your own style and personality into the interiors and add your stamp to the design. Sometimes, working with the space and layout you have can be difficult, especially if you know exactly what you want but just don’t know how to do it! Whether you have a small or larger living area, you can make your space work perfectly for you, it’s just about looking at the right features to help you do so.
There are a few ways in which you can create a spacious, sizable feel to your room, even if you think it’s small and slightly cramped. With any room the main things to consider are colour, style and practicality. If you consider these whilst designing your room, then you can work around any obstacles you may have and make the room work for you. The best place to start is your colour scheme. If your living area is made up of dark colours and heavy materials, then you may find the room seems a lot smaller and busier than it should. Try and incorporate light colours such as light blues, thought to give a sense of peace, similar to light pink, thought to open the heart and help with relaxation. Then we have the neutrals such as black, grey, white and cream, these colours will help add brightness and a fresh atmosphere to your room, instantly opening it up and giving it a welcoming feel.
Open plan living has rapidly become a very popular style in many homes today, however, not all homes are designed or suited for this kind of layout. Another perfect way to open up your living space is to look at opening up two or three rooms into one, dependant on your home layout. A great way of doing this is by adding sliding doors to your rooms. By adding sliding doors, you eliminate the excess room needed for the door to open/close, as well as being able to have rooms opened up together, or sectioned off when you require privacy, or simply to have different rooms for different purposes. Portman Pocket Doors also enable you to add an extra source for natural lighting, as when the rooms are opened up together, the light can flow between the rooms, brightening them up and adding an inviting atmosphere. Having the option of simply sliding your door open and having an extra room to use is brilliant, especially when it comes to parties, get-togethers or family occasions where you all want to be in the same place, but have some room at the same time!
Your next thing to consider when trying to create a larger feel to a room is the furnishings. Your furniture is one of the main things that makes your room complete and, whilst how you style your room is completely down to personal preferences, you do need to consider making the most of the space that you have. Items such as ‘L’ shaped sofas are perfect for making the most of a corner, adding an ‘L’ shaped sofa allows you to use the corner of your room for seating, and have the seats facing on into the centre of the room. Having seating arrangements that are raised with legs also adds light and space to the room, instead of having seating flat on the floor which can make a room feel smaller and cramped.
Your additional items such as rugs, curtains and cushions should be made up of simple, neat patterns, or simply plain. If you feel that you need to add a little character to the room, neutral colours and simple designs are a perfect way to create some additional character without making the room look busy and messy. Mirrors are also the perfect addition to any room, as light bounces from the mirror enabling the room to feel and look larger and brighter.
Finally, the most obvious, yet sometimes most difficult way to open up your living space is simply to de-clutter. Your home is your oasis, it holds everything you own, from items you have bought over the years, to small pieces of ‘stuff’ that seem to accumulate from nowhere. Either way, it’s very easy for it to build up and begin to make a room look messy. It’s really easy to have a spring clean and sort through what you need and what could possibly be placed in a storage box until you need it again. By storing items away, you reduce the amount of space used up from these items and you’ll instantly notice a difference in the look and feel of the room. You don’t even have to remove everything from your displays, bookshelves etc., just placing them in a neater order, separating them to add a little space or stacking items such as books can really make a difference.
