Just because you have a small room doesn't mean you have to downsize the furniture. Sometimes going with big or overstuffed items helps to fill the space and pull a room together.
Most people think bigger furniture will make a room feel tight and cramped. But larger pieces can actually help a room feel more cozy and intimate. Take a lesson from these small space dwellers who chose big, comfy couches and chairs, giant lamps, and full-size beds to fit their inner large-room selves.
Images: 1, 2 Country Living; 3 House to Home; 4 BackGarage; 5 Apartment Therapy; 6 My Deco; 7 Bright Bold & Beautiful; 8 Apartment Therapy; 9 Color Outside the Lines; 10 Sunset
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I know this works, but somehow it always surprises me when it does.
Can anyone tell me what the adjustable floor lamps in the second picture are called?
I love the mirror in #7.
My few attempts to bring large-scale furniture into my itty bitty house have resulted in an Alice in Wonderland effect, and not in a good way. I think there's a skill to judging when a large piece will work and when it won't, and I don't have that skill.
Any tips on judging when it will work and when it won't?
That first photo makes me claustrophobic! TOO MUCH STUFF.
I think it works best with a larger scale but cleaner lines, in repeated/related colors.
It has a lot to do with balancing out visual "weight" too.
I find that people generally do too many small (and scattered) things in a small space.
Open corners help.
I know people are going to say that first room has too much stuff or is too crazy looking, but while I might or might not be able to live with it, I'd sure loved to visit it everyday for coffee and a chat! Wouldn't you? Yes, it's full, but it's one of the friendliest rooms I've seen on AT. Maybe *the* friendliest.
The checkerboard ottoman and patterned ceiling in the first photo is an unfortunate combination. Instead of getting a sense of perspective, I feel like I'm in a funhouse.
>I feel like I'm in a funhouse.
i was going to say that that room looks kind of fake to me for some reason. it sort of looks like someone photoshopped all of that furniture in there. i'm guessing i'm wrong but i definitely see what you mean about losing perspective.
7th photo is my favorite. love the mirror.
The mirror really does make that room in #7, its too bad the coffee table is so juvenile better in a child's room.
I think this lady really was able to pull off the living large in a small space -
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/suzis-european-countrystyle-condo-house-tour-112542
jick, I also thought that the first photo was photoshopped together at first. It has an unreal quality, I'm not sure exactly why.
I'm calling a 'shop job.
without a closer look at the pixels I can't be sure, but that lighting looks WAY off in pic #1. If it isn't a 'shop, they had to use some crazy lighting when they took that picture, but I'm guessing 'shop.
hunted and patrick, sounds like you are thinking along the same lines as far as visual weight. Thank you for the advice!
The 1st photo is so cheerful... I love the creamy yellow walls and ceiling!
Living in a small apt. myself... i've come to the same problem everyone has.... What i've learned:
1- I really hate "scaled" furniture (I don't live in Hobbiton!)
2- Real scale stuff gives you a certain sense of wellbeing, security and stability.
3- I've come to prioritize what i really need in terms of furniture and accessories.
4- Big furniture is comfortable, period.
What i've done... is selecting very few large pieces and mixing them with smaller pieces... here come into play mirrors, art, plants, side tables, lighting....
A good trick is too keep the most off the floor, that means hang your lamps... no unneccesary magazine racks (get an i-pad instead)... get a grip on your decorative accents (you don't need all the 100 china dalmatian figurines on your coffee table!), have only what you actually need to make your place your own. (all the rest that you can't live without could be in a glass door shelf, trust me, they'll be ok there). Don't make clusters of decorative stuff, the fewer, the better.
Instead of two armchairs facing your awesomely comfortable couch, have two dining armchairs (they are traditionally wider and deeper than dining side chairs), throw an accent pillow or a throw on them and they are good to go...
Art can be large but keep it to a minimum. If you don't really need a coffee table, don't have one...
How can you move into the room with all that stuff? It'l like a gimkana! I don't like it.
@klt108: the lamp is called SAMTID and come from ikea :-)
I like pics 7 and 10. Most of the other ones just feel cluttered to me. I do feel like I would have benefited from this advice a lot if I had thought about it before buying a small sofa (more of a loveseat, seats 3). I find the sofa to be perfectly comfortable as a small person, but I do think my living room would look better with a larger scaled piece to take up some more space/visual weight. Even in a small apartment, I have never felt like my living room had enough visual impact... I think the smaller sofa makes for less of a focal point and the eye wanders around the space, which as Patrick observed probably has too many smaller things instead of several big pieces. When I replace the sofa eventually I will buy something a bit bigger.