Living in a city like Boston can often mean negotiating when it comes to apartment space – but with some clever flooring hacks, you can open up the space in a room. As 2017 rolls on and new interior trends emerge, in this post, you’ll find several ways you can make the most of the available floor space in smaller apartments or bigger homes.
Wider floor strips
Just as large bathroom tiles can be used to open up a small washroom, wider floor strips can help to make your apartment appear more spacious. The more breaks there are in your flooring’s design, the more crowded a room will look. Go to a flooring store and check it out in contrast to others for yourself. Find the longest wall in the room and use this to run your strips alongside. This will help to elongate a room, so opt for larger strips or planks, and use as few as possible in each room.
Consistency
Quite often, apartments are open-plan and while this might seem like it restricts your space, it can actually work to your advantage. While larger houses may benefit from different flooring designs in each room, smaller apartments should employ precisely the opposite tactic – particularly if you want to create the illusion of more space. In open-plan apartments, the kitchen, living area, and, often, the bedroom shares a lot of the same space – so if you use different flooring each area can appear blocked off. Interior designers suggest using consistent flooring to visually fuse rooms together so that one area flows seamlessly into the next.
Unconventional patterns
With patterned tiling proving one of the popular interior design trends of 2017, this is a great time to experiment with the layout of your flooring. Different designs will change the appearance of a room, and one layout that’s proven to create the impression of a larger space is a diagonal design. The eye is naturally predisposed to expect to see patterns in a particular way, so, when we create a layout that jars with expectations, this automatically makes a room appear more spacious.
Darker shades
While some people believe that dark wood can make a room feel constricted, when used correctly and paired with more neutral shades of decor, darker wood can really open up a room. Whether you choose a rich walnut shade or opt for distressed oak laminate flooring, dark wood can serve as a highly effective design solution for smaller rooms.
Strategic pairings
From exposing furniture legs to choosing warmer shades of paint, complement your flooring choices by ensuring the rest of your decor is working to trick the eye, and making the room appear larger than it actually is. White is particularly powerful when it comes to creating the illusion of more space. Due to its reflective qualities, white paint can really open up a space – and when paired with dark wood and accessories in warmer shades, you needn’t worry about the room feeling cold.
Making the most of your space will help you not only in the short term but also when it comes to selling your property. If you’re short on space in your apartment, these low-cost ideas are a perfect starting point for opening up a room and making the most of the space you have.
