Ten Interior Design Tips to Make Small Spaces Look Bigger
Top Tip Number 10
Make sure that all of your small rooms are as open plan as possible and try to avoid any blockages. A heavily furnished room will look more like a cluttered space rather than a living space. Avoid at all costs putting too much furniture and accessories into your space. Less really is more, more space. Keep things off of the floor as much as possible to create an air of space.
Top Tip Number 9
Utilise all of the space that is available to you, don’t let obstacles get in your way; use them in your designs. This designer hasn’t let the window stop them using the wall to full capacity. They have used bespoke fitted shelving to create bookshelves, a window seat and an alcove all from utilising an obstacle and have actually managed to create oodles of space whilst using the window as a feature instead of a problem.
Top Tip Number 8
The use of colour is very important when trying to create the illusion of space. White is an obvious choice as it opens up and lets natural, along with home lighting, bounce off of its surface creating light and space. The use of snippets of a bold colour with a neutral colour like beige creates a clean, open, smooth spacious look.
Top Tip Number 7
To utilize all of the space in your room you have to think outside the box. Don’t just go to one level; go to as many as you can, without compacting furniture on top of each other. In this design we can see the clever use of a hanging bed with the use of the underneath of the bed turned into a living, relaxing space or indeed, another bed but with extra height above you.
Top Tip Number 6
Clever use of your walls and ceiling are another great way to really get the most from your room. By keeping the walls and ceiling a plain pattern, and by using a neutral colour, this not only opens out this room, but the bespoke adustable shelving is a wonderful idea to add extra storage without making the room heavy and cramped.
Top Tip Number 5
If you have a small gallery type kitchen and you think you really don’t have enough space to store all of your kitchen equipment, think again. From what looked like a standard Tall Boy with cupboard space for one unit above, is actually two kitchen units, with microwave, kettle, and utensil storage – everything including the kitchen sink! Very cleverly designed.
Top Tip Number 4
The use of colour with lights not only emphasises certain objects you want to display but it actually creates a space and light effect within your room. The hue from the light creates such a light airiness for the wall, especially because it is unexpected, and the colour is a nice ice blue, which bounces perfectly off of the white gloss doors.
Top Tip Number 3
Use strong vertical objects to elongate the room. You can see here that the white wardrobe doors have been made deliberately thinner, out of six doors, instead of the usual eight. This is for two reasons. One, for the doors to open in to limited space, as they are smaller, and two, the more long vertical objects you can use literally elongates the room making it seem bigger. The clever use of the longer inserted mirrors work very well here also.
Top Tip Number 2
The use of mirrors is a very effective way of making your room feel a lot bigger than it is, this is a known fact and it really works. It literally makes the room seem to go on forever and it is a very effective and easy way to create more space. By keeping the colours to a minimum in this design really creates the impression that the room is double the size. This wouldn’t have worked so well if the colour scheme had been too much, with more than two colours.
Top Tip Number 1
Bring your outside inside - to create extra space literally! If you have any space outside at all that you can bring in to your kitchen, as shown below, or into a lounge area then it’s a real winner. To create this look you have to blend the outside area in with your inside area to really get that feeling of extra space. The use of clear huge sliding glass doors also adds to the effect. By keeping the style and colour of both areas very similar, it’s hard to distinguish where one starts and the other one stops.
What makes a bedroom different from everyone else’s, and should you want it to be?
Your bedroom is ultimately a place to relax and sleep. Some people want more from their room than others. Some people aren’t particularly interested in their room at all. So, what is the best course of action to take? Well, that depends on what you see your room is required for and who you are and what your needs for that particular room are.
Some people like to do everything in their bedroom from working into the night, watching TV, or a late night film and some want the complete opposite and feel the bedroom should be a place to wind down and relax with no outside distractions allowed like a TV, computer or radio.
Most people will agree that whatever you feel you need your room to be, there are factors that you definitely require in a bedroom. The bed being one of the most important elements in the bedroom would be a surprise if I didn’t mention that! However, not everyone thinks of a bed as everyone else does.
There are several different types of beds from water, bunk, futon, double, king to a queen size bed but also some people really think outside the box, think hammock, think birds nest, think loft beds.
The second factor that is really needed in the bedroom is storage, somewhere to hang your hat so to speak. Fitted bespoke wardrobes and furniture don’t need to be boring, dull or like your aunty Pearls. Think colour, think style, think – what do you need the most?
If you are looking for relaxation I would recommend smooth, clean lines in a plain colour, with maybe a splash of colour to add interest.
If you want to bring some vitality to your bedroom how about going completely wild and different with either your colour scheme or a themed bedroom.
At Cupboard Love Design we can make your dreams a reality. We create, design and manufacture any bespoke bedroom in any colour to any design. If you can dream it, we can make it happen.
BOOM! Or should that be VOOM?
The competition site went down last week, which is why they are allowing it back open for just three days next week. At some point last week, I was tearing my hair out as I couldn’t get my pitch through and I wasn’t very happy I can tell you. I decided that enough was enough and I tweeted Richard Branson about it………….okay, he never came back to me, but the competition got re-opened for the unlucky hair pulled out grumpy hand shaking red faced strivers that had gone through this experience.
So, what do we have to do? Easy, we just need to get lots and lots, and lots, and even more lots of people to like our video. Easy right? Well…….it should be, shouldn’t it?
Because we are not allowed to get votes by any other way except getting our video out in front of people and saying please lots of times, with cherries on top, I suppose it will come down to popularity. Why does that remind me of the dreaded picking of teams at school, where someone (that would be me) would always be the last to be picked?
Well, they always say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know that counts and I’m about to find out on Monday when the competition opens at 10am until Wednesday at 5pm. I need to collect as many “Likes” as possible. I have been informed it needs to be well over 1,000 likes. I don’t even know that many people?
Plus, I have to accept that maybe no-one (I cannot be Billy no mates surely?) will actually vote for me, or worse, I get negative feedback? Or both!
But, do you know what? I am going to give it a try because, well, you only live once don’t you and if you never step outside of your comfort zone, you just don’t live enough. I don’t want to be one of those people that always plays it safe. Hey, I had 90 seconds to try and explain to people about me and my business, enough for them to vote for me. That is not an easy task, especially when you have a camera rolling in your face and a crowd gathering to see what all the fuss is about or which famous person has landed in Stratford upon Avon, or has someone just died over there?
No, just little old me, pretending to be Barbara for a small second (all will become clear when you see the video.) Well, here goes – wish me luck, and if you’re in a good mood Monday morning, feel free to vote on my video link I will post up here on Monday. (Did you see what I did then?!)
Please Click here to vote for me and please also share on your Social Media and with as many friends as you can, thank you and fingers crossed - Competition is now closed
Cupboard Love Design Ltd, why not contact us to see how we can help you make the rooms in your home a fitted furniture reality: 01789 840963 or email us at: info@cupboardlovedesign.co.uk
It’s a leap of faith
Bespoke furniture isn’t just for your standard rooms like your bedroom, kitchen or home office; it can be taken to new heights and new realms if you have a little imagination or indeed, can call upon a company that have ingenious designers who will help you make your dream design a reality.
Just think about your loved ones, not the two legged variety, but the four legged variety. We spend millions of pounds every year on our pets, we spend more time with our pets than some of our loved ones and we feel they are a real part of our family.
Have you actually thought of creating some space for them to be able to be free inside, rather than outside? Are you one of these people that say cats are too aloof, they don’t like people and “we never see them?” Look, it’s really quite simple - if you let your cats outside all of the day and night they will sleep during the day when you are at work and then when you come home they will go out because it’s much more fun to go out at night right? More things to “boo” and get into trouble with! The problem is there is a real danger, not only for your cat, but to all the nocturnal animals out there and in reality, we want to protect them and your family members don’t we? (We also don’t appreciate certain “gifts” being brought to us in the middle of the night either!)
You need to keep your cat in during the night (I can hear you all gasp in horror, but I have 7 cats and one of those was nearly a feral, named Flossy, and he learnt, and now sticks to, the house rules!) Whether they are a kitten or a much older cat, if you are strict with your house rules, they will eventually settle in and understand and then you will have your cats become more in tune with your lives and both of you will become much happier.
So, now your cats are spending much more time with you in the day, how about giving them their own little world within yours? Bespoke walk ways, Indiana Jones bridges, little hiding holes around your home. Bespoke furniture for your cats is really starting to become a firm favourite with consumers nowadays. Using bespoke furniture to create a world for your cats is not only amusing to both animals and humans alike, and saves them attacking you at your computer desk every time they are bored, we can also create this furniture for you to match your existing interior theme.
If you love your family members as much as we do, have a think about how much more contented they will be being above the ground, where cats love to be, playing within their own specially created world within yours.
Bespoke cat furniture can be designed by Cupboard Love Design Ltd, why not contact us to see how we can help you make your wild idea a reality: 01789 840963 or email us at: info@cupboardlovedesign.co.uk
If you enjoyed our blog and would like to leave a comment, please do, as we would love to hear from you.
We work with you on your projects in the Stratford upon Avon, Leamington Spa, Warwick, Kenilworth, Banbury, Solihull, Birmingham and surrounding Warwickshire and West Midland areas.
For a free quotation and design advice, or whether you just want to ask us a question, please contact us on 01789 840963 or email us at info@cupboardlovedesign.co.uk we look forward to hearing from you.