How to Make Any Small Room Look Bigger: 8 Easy Tricks 🛋️💡

You walk into your own living room and the walls seem closer than last week (they aren't; the lamps and layout ganged up on you). Room size is partly a trick of the eye, and tricks can be rearranged.

Here are eight renter-friendly fixes, A to H, one letter each.

The small-room alphabet, A to H

A is for area rug, sized up. A small floating rug chops the floor into pieces. Size up so at least the front legs of the seating sit on it, with roughly 12 to 18 inches of bare floor around the edges.

B is for big mirror, leaned. Lean one large mirror across from a window and it throws daylight back into the room (art and an extra window at once). Sun in your eyes on the sofa? Slide it to a wall beside the window.

C is for curtains, high and wide. Mount the rod about half a foot above the frame, or higher, so the window and ceiling look taller. Then run it 8 to 15 inches past each side. The panels stack against the wall, not the glass, so you keep all the daylight.

Hidden tip: no drill? Tap-in brackets grip wooden window trim, and they leave only tiny marks on top of it (read the lease anyway).

D is for doorway view. The doorway is where a room makes its first impression. Keep the entrance and windows clear of bulky furniture, and park tall pieces against walls.

E is for exposed legs. A sofa, bed or dresser on legs lets the floor (and light) run underneath. Skirted, boxy pieces sitting flat on the floor look heavier.

F is for free space. Count the pieces standing out in the open floor. Fewer interruptions let the room read as one space. Keep one; move the rest to a wall.

G is for glow at three heights. One ceiling light makes a small room flat. Add a floor lamp in a dark corner, a table lamp at seat height and a small lamp on a shelf: three heights, light reaching the edges.

Hidden tip: aim some of that light at the walls or ceiling. In a study published in Lighting Research and Technology, a room appeared more spacious when more of its light came indirectly. An uplighter or open-topped shade does it for you.

H is for hushed hues. Keep big surfaces light and close in tone: curtains near the wall color, a rug a shade or two away. In perception research, a lighter ceiling looked higher, and lighter walls added to the effect.

And the tricky letters?

I stopped at H on purpose (nobody needs "X is for xylophone storage").

Z is for zero holes: every trick above leans, stands or clips.

If you remember one letter

Make it G. A room with one overhead bulb has a mood problem, not a size problem. I'd add a warm pool of light before moving a single chair (Ottoman, my greyhound, agrees from his rug).

Cheat sheet: small room, bigger feel

Bookmark it, skip to your letter, and come back when you need the next one.