Where is the Room Expander?
Space is a very big deal in the real estate world. Everybody wants more space, bigger rooms, and larger wardrobes. Particularly if you’re engaged in arranging the furnishings to stage your home, you’ll find that furniture styling Sydney can be challenging.
In the construction world, there is an ongoing prank – a rite of initiation – for the new, inexperienced apprentice. New carpenters are frequently sent to find the “sky hook” or the “stud stretcher”. These things don’t exist, of course. Neither does the “room expander”. Pity. Those of us who love furniture frequently find that we’d love to add a few more centimetres to the room we’re arranging. Alas, a room is only as big as it really is.
Fortunately, even though we can’t actually stretch our rooms, we can make them appear to be larger. This is done with magic. Okay. It’s done with optical illusions, but such feats of legerdemain are highly effective, especially if you are preparing to list your home for sale.
If you’re not working with a local home stylist or a specialist in furniture styling Sydney, you’ll need a few pointers to help you. Read on.
Paint
A monochromatic colour scheme can expand your room dramatically. If you choose colours that are contrasting or in different colour families, you will only manage to segment the room, making it appear smaller. Use different values of the same colour to avoid jolting the eyes of the beholder.
Use a lighter value of the same colour for the trim. This gives the illusion of depth and automatically makes the room seem bigger than it is.
Painting the ceiling a darker shade will pull the eyes upward, creating the impression of high ceilings, even if they are not especially tall. A bold pattern on the ceiling will do the same thing.
Art
As a rule, designers and home stagers tend to hang art much lower on the wall than amateurs do. First of all, art is meant to be seen. You shouldn’t have to crane your neck to see wall-mounted art. Divide your wall into thirds; leave the top third blank, and hang your art at about eye level – the bottom of the middle third of the wall.
Shelving, on the other hand, wants to go to the ceiling in a small room. Why? Because it pulls the eyes upward, once again creating visual “space”.
Mirrors are the ultimate eye-foolers. By strategically hanging mirrors to reflect your space, you can visually double the size of your room. (Do check your feng shui manual before hanging mirrors though. There are some rules in relation to mirrors and while you won’t get a feng shui ticket for bad placement, your chi may suffer).
Using Furniture to Expand a Room
Use caution when selecting furniture pieces, according to our specialists in furniture styling. Sydney home buyers don’t want to feel overwhelmed by overstuffed or out-of-scale furnishings. Instead, select furnishings that serve dual purposes. It should go without saying that there is no law that says you must have three large pieces in a bedroom and the furniture police will not issue a ticket if you don’t have all three. Try this. Outfit your bedroom with an under-bed storage system. This can eliminate the need for a dresser or a chest of drawers. This can free up room for a small sitting area, giving buyers the impression of a large and roomy space.
Replace heavy, tall, and/or dark furniture pieces with clear plastic. From desks to chairs and tables, these transparent acrylic surfaces can literally disappear, making your room appear to be much larger.
Pieces that have exposed legs give the impression of roominess. Don’t choose a sofa that sits directly on the floor. Instead, show a little leg. As a matter of fact, whenever it’s practical, use the vertical space around you to lift eyes higher. It “appears” to balance the weight of the room by spreading your stuff more evenly within the space.
There are valuable lessons to be learned from good furniture styling. Sydney home buyers want space and roominess in the homes they buy. It makes sense to provide such, even if it’s only pseudo space.