Try this Easy (and Free!) Fix When Your Furniture Feels Too Small for the Room

Upgrading to a bigger space? Good on you! You’ll love waking up every morning without the guarantee of smashing your shins on the foot of the bed as you walk around it. But you might find your old stuff looks a little, well, small in that new, more spacious apartment.

It’s not a common problem to have, furniture that’s too small (although, in fact, I think most people buy furniture that’s too big), but it can be a difficult problem to overcome without selling off all your old gear and starting anew.

If you want to go that route, I’m not going to stop you. But I will offer this alternative that costs exactly zero dollars: Make a quick twist.

Once you have a furniture layout you like, take the whole thing and turn it on the diagonal. I can’t tell you exactly how to get the look just right – the angled room layout is an art, not a science. But play around with options until you find a layout that works for you. Try 45 degrees or just 10 or 20 degrees. Decide to tilt just the furniture or also the rug and light fixtures, too.

You can see exactly why this trick works in the photo at the top of this post from Chelsea Fullerton’s Austin home featured on The Everygirl: Turning the dining table on a diagonal slant makes it appear bigger and wider.

And just above, in a shot from Lagerlings via Coco Lapine Design, the same effect in a Stockholm space; the diagonal arrangement juts out into areas of the living room that would remain empty if they’d stuck to the forced lines of the room.

Have you tried this trick at home?