Space is a Valuable Asset | Martha Stanton-Smith | May 17, 2006
All else being equal, bigger homes are generally worth more. When you're getting ready to sell, it makes financial sense to show off all your space to best advantage. But, if you're like most of us, some of your rooms are just not that big. The question is, how can you give them a feeling of spaciousness. Here are a few ideas.
Resist the temptation to take everything out and leave the room empty. For one thing, empty rooms don't necessarily give an impression of spaciousness because there is no furniture to give the viewer a size reference. Empty rooms may also leave the buyer confused about the best use of the room and make them think "wasted space". Plus, empty rooms look pretty unattractive in photographs and 74% of today's homebuyers will get their first impression of a home from photos on the internet.
Often you've heard that you should paint small rooms in pale, cool colours. It's generally a safe rule, but there may be exceptions. Some tests revealed that light coloured rooms were perceived to be only a few inches larger than the darker ones.
Candace Olson of the TV show Devine Design says it's high contrast that makes a room seem smaller. For example, dark walls with stark white ceiling, trim, and furniture might seem busy and hence smaller. So if you want darker walls in your small space, keep the ceiling a bit lighter shade of the same and keep the woodwork a mid tone instead of white. When it comes to preparing your house for sale, if you have dark walls and don't want to repaint them pay attention to the surrounding colours. You may be able to make your dark walls work by using the right furnishings, or just painting the trim or the ceiling. However, if you are going to paint for resale, then do go for the light and airy neutrals and be on the safe side. Choose a complimentary colour scheme rather than a contrasting colour scheme.
Lighting is very important when you want to make a room seem bigger. First, arrange to let in all the natural light possible. Keep window treatments simple and sheer and wide open if possible. Hang the window treatments as high as possible on the wall to raise the eye to the top and give a greater feeling of height and spaciousness. Bring the outside in by revealing the view. Choose art with some perspective in it to create a view. Scenery with a distant horizon is perfect.
As for artificial lighting, try to have enough to lights in the room and arrange them so they light the room evenly. Otherwise, light and dark patches will visually cut up the room. Wall-washer ceiling lights are an excellent light source, as they seem to push the walls out. Choosing paint with a higher gloss such as semi-gloss or hi-gloss will reflect more light, but you will have to use it very carefully as it also will reveal any imperfections in your walls. Also, don't use it on the whole place or you will achieve a very institutional look.
Mirrors are another popular space-expanding element. If you place a large mirror perpendicular to a window, it will reflect the window, bringing in more light and giving the illusion of having another window. Mirrors that go to the floor reflect the floor and give the appearance of double the floor space.
Trims such as crown moulding between the ceiling and the walls and vertical mouldings or vertical striped patterns serve to raise the eye and add to the feeling of space. Be careful with the wallpaper border near the ceiling. The look is dated and the choice of wallpaper designs is very personal. I would scrape them off and install simple crown moulding if I had a choice.
When you choose furniture for a small room, think about this. The more floor you can see, the bigger the room will seem. So choose chesterfields and chairs with legs instead of skirts. Choose glass topped tables over solid where appropriate. Slim and streamlined furniture styles and armless seating open up the room. Avoid chairs and couches with fat arms and busy patterns. When choosing furniture for living in a small space consider items that do double duty such as end tables with storage, or an ottoman with a tray instead of a coffee table or choose a bed with storage space underneath. When choosing large upholstered pieces or bed coverings, generally opt for solid colours or very subdued patterns in a colour that will blend into the wall colour to increase the feeling of spaciousness. Avoid things sitting on the floor if they don't have to. Mount pieces on the wall if you can. For example, try using wall mounted shelves or cupboards as night tables.
It's easier to create interest by introducing a wide variety of textures than by using patterns. Use everything from fuzzy to shiny but all in keeping with the monochromatic scheme. If you simply MUST have pattern and colour, use the smaller items such as cushions or accessories to introduce hits of it. An accent with any scheme could involve some black and white, maybe black picture frames and white mats. Or, you could choose one really dramatic item of furniture as a focal point and keep the rest plain.
Be sure to keep the traffic patterns open in the room so you can move around easily. This is especially important when buyers are going to be viewing your home. If possible try to make enough space to have two people walk side by side. Avoid anything jutting out which will seem to cut off the room. Avoid big screens or furniture pieces that will block the view to the back of the room, as they will visually dissect it. In a tiny bathroom, for example, choose a clear shower curtain. If your closet is big enough, put your dresser in it and hang the short clothes on that side. This will free up floor space in the bedroom.
Even though you need room for traffic flow, you shouldn't place all the furniture smack up against the wall all around the room. Pulling some out even a few inches from the wall helps give a more spacious feeling. Try putting some furniture on an angle to the walls of the room. It doesn't even necessarily have to be 45 degrees. Just a bit of angle sometimes works. In the bedroom, angling of the bed from one of the far corners of the room will open up more wall space and emphasize the diagonal measurement of the room which is always greater than the length of the walls.
With small spaces, less is definitely more. Edit your belongings and edit again. Use a few larger accessories rather than many small ones. The same goes for pictures, a few larger ones are better than many little ones. A few regular sized pieces of furniture are better than numerous small pieces. Clutter is never good but in a small room it is overwhelming. If you're moving anyway, purge or pack everything you won't use during the listing period.
Perhaps when you are preparing to sell your house you don't feel you have the time to play around with changing your decor. That's where the services of a professional home stager would be a very good investment. They can show you how to use what you have to showcase your home's features. They can give you guidance as to what to change or they can carry out the changes for you. Besides general decorating skills they have some great marketing ideas that will make your home extra memorable.