19 Renovation Ideas For Small Houses

Opting for a lighter and neutral color scheme effectively enhances the dispersion and reflection of natural light throughout the room, creating an impression of greater space and openness. Conversely, darker colors evoke a sense of intrigue and intimacy, but also create an optical illusion that shrinks the perceived size of the space.

To create the illusion of a larger space, consider painting your wall trims and moldings in a lighter shade compared to your walls. This technique deceives the eye by making the walls appear more distant than their actual position, thus enhancing the room’s depth.

Placing mirrors strategically around your room is perhaps one of the longest-standing and most successful techniques to create an illusion of spaciousness. Additionally, they enhance the distribution of natural and artificial light, resulting in a brighter and more open ambiance which is often difficult to achieve in a smaller area.

Installing sliding doors is a great solution to the problem of valuable living space being consumed by swinging doors.

Installing sliding doors in any room, whether it be the bedroom or living room, will enhance both functionality and style. By swapping your swinging doors with sliding ones, you can create a more lavish and sophisticated atmosphere while freeing up living space. Additionally, sliding doors featuring glass panels permit ample natural light to enter the room.

If you gather more belongings, your room will become more cluttered and your space will feel smaller. It is advisable to refrain from amassing an excessive number of knickknacks as they tend to occupy a significant portion of your valuable living space.

If you are looking to incorporate vibrance into your color choices and art pieces, try doing it in a subtle manner by including a few pops of color in your throws or cushions. Alternatively, you can select a bold and eye-catching feature piece to serve as the focal point, while decorating the remainder of your room with a neutral color scheme to create a contrasting effect.

In order to free up floor space and prevent clutter buildup, think about incorporating collapsible furnishings like a murphy bed or desk that can be folded up when not in use.

Furniture that can be folded blends effortlessly with the surrounding design and effortlessly alters your space. Likewise, incorporating versatile pieces like ottomans, which serve as both a coffee table and a seat, minimizes the quantity of furniture required to accommodate your area.

As previously mentioned, an excessive amount of knickknacks can create a cluttered atmosphere in a room, and this applies to your furniture as well. Opting for large-scale furniture serves as a remarkable element that adds personality and elegance to your space, enhancing its overall magnificence.

Hint: To create the impression of depth, make your room appear wider than its actual size by moving your furniture away from the walls.

By choosing to mount your TV on the wall, you can free up some much-needed floor space by getting rid of the need for a TV cabinet. This enables you to make the most of your available floor space and allocate your money to other areas.

Opting for a bigger rug creates the illusion of an expanded space. Conversely, a smaller rug draws attention to the room feeling cramped and cluttered. To achieve the desired effect without overpowering the room, select an oversized rug with a minimalist monochrome pattern or a single tone. When opting for a colored rug, coordinate the room by incorporating the same color in decor elements like cushions or throws.

When it comes to maximizing storage space, consider incorporating height. Focus on taller decorative furniture pieces that draw your eyes upwards, like high shelving units that efficiently utilize unused wall space. Utilizing vertical lines is key to achieving a more expansive atmosphere, while bulky and low furniture can quickly crowd a room.

One more excellent method to store unnecessary items is to think about purchasing a platform bed equipped with built-in storage, including a pull-out drawer beneath the mattress.

If you have exhausted all ideas for storage space and still don’t have enough, don’t forget that you can utilize your door. Implementing over-the-door racks, organizers, and shoe racks can effectively declutter your closet and improve organization in your living area.

11. Decorate with large-scale art

Although it may be tempting to follow the gallery wall trend, filling up the walls with numerous items in a small space will only make it appear even smaller. Instead, opt for a captivating statement by choosing one large-scale artwork for your living room wall. A single striking piece will command attention, diverting focus away from the room’s limited size.

Place your captivating artwork in the center of the wall, ensuring it is hung at a height of 57 inches from the floor, which corresponds to the average eye level. Museums and galleries also follow this guideline. Choose contemporary or abstract designs instead of intricate or detailed patterns, as the latter may lead to visual confusion.

12. Add wood trim to the ceilings

By incorporating a basic wooden trim on the ceiling, one can create the optical illusion of height in the room, which is a well-known technique. Additionally, this enhancement will contribute to the overall aesthetic of the space. Depending on one’s personal style, they can opt for a subtle and simple molding or a more extravagant three-piece molding design.

13. Install recessed and track lighting

When a room is well-lit, it will give the impression of being more spacious compared to a room with poor lighting. However, if floor and table lamps are scattered throughout the room, it may give the perception of being crowded and even smaller. If natural light is insufficient, these suggestions can guide you on how to professionally install track and recessed lighting in your rooms.

• Replace a traditional ceiling light with tracks if you want to direct lighting on multiple spaces — like shelves, work surfaces, or gathering spaces — in a room.
• Install track light between 20 – 40 inches away from the walls of a room.
• Use track lighting in addition to other lighting in the room, since it’s more specialized.
• Use recessed lighting to bathe the walls of your room in light, making the space appear larger.
• Put recessed lighting under kitchen cabinets to illuminate the countertop and reflect light into the rest of the room.
• Place recessed lighting 12 – 18 inches away from the object you want to illuminate.

14. Put in a glass shower stall

Switching from an opaque shower door and enclosure to a crystal-clear one can create an illusion of a larger space, especially when dealing with a small bathroom.

According to Hunker, their step-by-step guide recommends having a second person to assist you when using a frameless glass shower kit starting from $450, as this can help you achieve a significant transformation within a weekend of work.

15. Hang curtains high

To create the illusion of height and size in a room, it is advisable to hang your curtains or drapes as high as possible. Here are some ways to experiment with space and optimize this advantage:

• In a room with molding, hang curtains 4 inches above the window frame. No molding? Hang them 6 inches above the frame.
• Extend the curtain rod beyond the width of your window, between 8-12 inches wider, suggests Apartment Therapy.
• Stick with vertical fabric prints, like stripes, to make the walls look tall.
• Find curtains long enough to almost touch the floor. Leave just an inch of space, or have the fabric pool onto the floor for a dramatic effect.

16. Lighten the floors

Just like cool-toned walls, a floor with a light color can give the illusion of a larger room by effectively reflecting natural light.

No matter what type of flooring you have, you can easily brighten it using the following methods:

The installation of new carpeting can range between $980 and $1,680 on average. While opting for a white carpet may attract stains easily, choosing a cool-toned blue, green, or neutral shade can achieve a similar effect.

You can achieve a brighter room by sanding and refinishing hardwood floors with a lighter stain. It is possible to DIY the refinishing process, which takes approximately a day and costs $200. Once you have sanded the floors, you can proceed to refinish them with a lighter stain.

Opt for a laminate with a lighter shade. Various shades are available for laminate flooring, with prices ranging from $3 to $8 per square foot. You have the option to either hire a professional for an average cost of $2,352 or accurately measure and install it yourself.

17. Maximize your outdoor space

By enhancing the functionality of your outdoor area, you can effectively create an extra room without the need for an expensive renovation or extension. Monaghan suggests that simply including two chairs and a table on the patio can make it suitable for living. This addition equates to another 400 square feet of living space, which can be significant in a 1,000-square-foot residence.

Choose low-cost brick, concrete, or clay pavers to construct a usable patio area. The crucial step to successfully accomplish this do-it-yourself task is ensuring the evenness of the ground, then consult Oregon State’s comprehensive guide on placing pavers in your backyard.

18. Open up your kitchen storage

Embrace the farmhouse trend and create a spacious atmosphere in your kitchen by removing cabinet doors. Opting for this approach requires careful organization of your cabinets, but removing doors from upper cabinets can significantly expand your kitchen space.

You can easily remove the doors in just one afternoon using a few basic tools, and the best thing is that it won’t require much expense apart from the price of paint and caulk.

19. Add built-in shelves in awkward nooks and crannies

When small homes neglect overlooked corners and cramped spaces, they tend to appear darker and more confined. To tackle this issue, one could contemplate constructing corner shelves in the bathroom or installing small built-in shelves in those overlooked nooks.

You don’t have to put in much effort and can easily customize built-in shelves to fit your space.