28 Tips to Make Your House Feel Larger Instantly

Maybe you're working from home more these days, or maybe your tendency to accumulate has you feeling a bit like the walls of your place are closing in. Just about all of us wouldn't mind adding a bit more square footage to our house or apartment, or finding a bigger one altogether. But if rising rents and high interest rates have you married to the home you've got, at least for now, you can utilize some tried-and-true design tricks to create the illusion of a more expansive space that seems fresh, even new. These are 28 tips to make your house feel larger instantly, according to experts. 

"The first order of the day is to keep the furniture off the floor," says Kim Depole, an interior designer and CEO of Depole Design in New York City. Wall-mounted cabinets, shelves, and consoles can make a room seem bigger. "When a piece of furniture is open at the base, it increases the feeling of spaciousness tremendously," she adds. "Add a bit of ambient light strip below, and you've increased the space twofold. Your Roomba will love you."

"The simplest way to increase the space is to keep the height of the furniture the same as the bottom height of the windows," says Depole. "This creates a horizon line." 

"Paint is the quickest and most affordable way to get an instant upgrade," says Nicole Cullum, an interior designer and color expert in Taos, New Mexico. "Whites reflect light, while darker colors make rooms feel smaller and cozy. Banish boring wall colors with a crisp white like Benjamin Moore's Chantilly Lace."

"Paint the walls, ceiling, and trim the same color to create an expansive and open feel that will make the room look immediately bigger," says Cullum. "Add color back in the room with accent pillows and artwork."

"Another simple trick is to add a rug to your room," says Cullum. "Rugs create a visual grounding zone for furniture. Leave 18 to 24 inches between the wall and the edge of your rug. Allowing some bare floor space to be seen makes the room look bigger than it actually is."

Extending the color of the ceiling along the wall about 10 to 12 inches can make the ceiling look higher, says Depole. "The line where the wall color and ceiling color meet can have a thin molding or just a paint color. Make it very subtle, without a sharp contrast."

"To amplify the sense of spaciousness in your home, leverage vertical space," says Edward Reay, owner of Build Fanatic. "Install floor-to-ceiling shelving units or built-in bookcases. This guides the eye upward and instills the illusion of higher ceilings. Complement this with tall, slender bookshelves or vertical wall art, further accentuating the space."

A monochrome color scheme, meaning one color in different tones, creates the illusion of expanse. "An interior appears larger when the colors are harmonic in this way," says Depole. "It can be tones of blush pink, taupe, or rose for a very feminine space. A palette of greys in the same value of green or blue work beautifully."ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

"Always go for light and airy fabrics for your curtains, rugs, and upholstery," says Nicole Saunders, an interior design specialist and founder of the Design Build Vault. "Heavy fabrics can weigh down a room and make it feel cramped. Opt for sheer or lightweight materials that will let natural light filter through and create an airy atmosphere.

This classic technique harnesses light to trick the eye. "Mirrors reflect light and give the illusion of added depth to a room, making it feel more spacious," says Saunders.

"Keep furniture to a minimum and choose pieces that have storage capabilities," advises Saunders. "This helps eliminate clutter and keep the space feeling open and airy. Be strategic with furniture placement and choose pieces that serve dual purposes."

Remove skirts and dust ruffles from sofas and chairs. "The more floor you can see, the bigger it feels," says Melinda Orlie-Katsiris of Orlie Katsiris Staging & Interiors in New York City. "In that same vein, buy leggy pieces of furniture that show the floor space underneath."

"Open your windows and uncover your curtains during the day," says Liran Koren, a real-estate professional and co-founder of Luxury Property Care in Florida. "This simple step floods your space with natural light and eliminates shadowed nooks, preventing the room from feeling cramped. If opening windows isn't practical, opt for lightweight materials like roller blinds or sheer linen curtains."

"Create the illusion of a larger space by incorporating transparent furniture such as acrylic and glass pieces," suggests Koren. "These materials trick the eye into perceiving minimal obstruction, making the room feel more open. From invisible shelving to glass coffee tables, explore a variety of options to suit your aesthetic."

"Select low back couches and love seats to enhance visual depth in your living space," says Koren. "The absence of tall backrests allows for a more expansive feel." 

Adding a wall of French doors as decorative elements can give the illusion of more space, says Depole. "I like to replace the glass panes with diffused glass," she says. "It can be as easy as installing a sandblasted vinyl film to the individual panes. It reflects the light in the room and adds an architectural element." You can also hang full-size mirrors on one side of the doors.

"When the furniture and rug are in the same color family, the room feels more spacious," says Depole. 

"This is one of my favorite tricks as a designer," says Depole. "To simplify and enlarge a wall, install a simple drapery on one wall. Be sure to go high, and keep hardware simple. This gives the appearance there may be a wall of windows, when in fact there is none."

"Switch out any warm, orange, dingy lightbulbs for daylight LED bulbs," says Melanie Ortegon of the Washington home repair and remodeling company Cleaner Guys. "This will make your space feel not only larger, but cleaner too! Plus, LED bulbs are cheaper, last longer, and are more energy-efficient."

If you have the room, group furniture together to create different seating areas. "Dual-aspect seating arrangements offer the ability to create distinct zones within the same space," says Koren. "The goal is to optimize the available space and foster a more open and connected feel."

Wallpaper can make a space seem smaller or larger. "While small-scale patterns can add texture and depth to a room, they can also make a space busy and cramped," says Ricky Allen, director and designer at Ever Wallpaper. "Large-scale patterns give an illusion of spaciousness by drawing your eyes upward and outward. This creates a sense of height and width in the room, making it feel more open." Look into big patterns such as florals, stripes, or geometric designs.

"Similar to large-scale patterns, vertical stripes can visually stretch a room and make it feel taller," says Allen. "This is because our eyes naturally follow the line of the stripes upward, giving an illusion of height. You can use striped wallpapers on an accent wall or even on all room walls to create the illusion of spaciousness."

Creating an accent wall with a different paint color or wallpaper can make your house feel more substantial. "By choosing a bold and eye-catching pattern, you can draw attention away from the size of the room and onto the feature wall," says Allen. "This will give the illusion of a larger space and add interest to the room."

"If breaking through walls to make bigger openings isn't an option, removing interior doors can be the answer," says Jack William, founder of Handyman Reviewed. "Opening your doors into a room might take up important floor space and detract from the natural flow of your house. The door might be completely removed, or it could just be replaced with a sliding door. Every millimeter matters in cramped areas."

"Using the same flooring style connects rooms and expands the space visually," says Adrian Pedraza of The California Home Buyer. "Wood floors especially do this well."

Rugs with simple patterns, like thin vertical lines, add warmth without clutter, notes Pedraza.

"Opening your windows to shady cover from shrubs can make your house feel constricted and small," says Melanie Hartmann, owner of Creo Home Buyers in Maryland. "If you have shrubs or tree branches blocking your view of the outside from your window, consider cutting them back or down to open up the space."

 RELATED: 2 Alternatives That Are Just As Beneficial as Walking 10,000 Steps

"Clearing away the clutter is a tried-and-true method of opening up space and making it more inviting," says Hartmann. "If you don't have time to go through your things you can always store unneeded items away in your closets and cabinets for instant space until you have time to declutter."