How to make a small bedroom look bigger
15 tips and tricks from the design experts to make even the smallest bedroom look more spacious.
Image credit: Studio Dean
15 tips and tricks from the design experts to make even the smallest bedroom look more spacious.
Brain boggled by a box room? It’s time for a sprinkling of that special decor pixie dust that makes a small bedroom look bigger... Yes. Even yours.
After all, whose eyes aren't tricked by the magic of mirrors? And who, on entering even the tiniest bedroom, can't fail to be stopped in their tracks by a punch of a colour?
We've spoken to the experts to get their tips and tricks to turn your cramped sleeping cell into a bedroom to be proud of.
While you do have to be wary of what your mirrors will reflect, a good rule of thumb is the more mirrors you can tactfully slip into your small bedroom design, the better.
Mirror, more than any other surface, is the master of misdirection. If a mirror is placed across the width of your entire back wall, you can expect the size of your room to appear doubled.
A more subtle approach is to dot mirrors around strategically. Place a long mirror at an intersection of the walls to interrupt the sharp lines – it's a great design trick to keep the eyes from noticing dimension limitations.
A make-up mirror above a dressing table also does double duty. It is not only indispensable for ease of dressing in the morning, but it can also help light bounce around the room. Place your light next to the mirror for the ultimate space increasing effect.
There’s no way around it – even small bedrooms require ‘stuff’. We can’t physically shrink bedside tables, beds and shelves down, but we can choose to use the magic of mirrors to make bulky furniture pieces appear as light as feathers.
This furniture touch has been trendy since the Art Deco crowd realised that interesting fusion between bold and barely there. In fact, a mirrored bed not only helps add an illusion of space to a small bedroom, but it also adds a touch of decadence.
A tiny room without a nice big window may feel claustrophobic.
Cheat your way to a solution with arched mirrors that effectively mimic grand windows. Not only will the mirror make the bedroom appear visually bigger, but who doesn’t get a psychological boost from the promise of a view?
And, you can have one. As with this bedroom, a bit of foliage placed with care to be reflected in your ‘window’ can work wonders. Space permitting, place a plant or two on the wall opposite the mirror to add extra interest and depth to the faux view.
In interior design, as in fashion, vertical lines are basic yet incredibly effective tools for creating optical illusions. In the case of your small bedroom, vertical lines will confuse onlookers into thinking the space is taller and more spacious than it really is.
Striped wallpaper makes getting this effect incredibly simple as you don’t have to faff around with paint and spirit levels as you would if you tried to create this look with paint.
“We love the impact striped wallpaper has in any room, especially a smaller one," says Paula Taylor, head stylist at Graham and Brown. "The straight lines draw the eye up to the ceiling, creating the illusion that the walls are higher than they are.”
Taylor suggests not stopping at the dado rail. "If you want to highlight this even further, draw the wallpaper up into the ceiling to create a continuous line," she says.
If you want to make the job super easy, go for stick-and-peel papers.
Wallpaper is not the only – or even the most dramatic – way to add vertical height to a small bedroom. A floor-to-ceiling narrow wall panel does the job rather well too.
The idea is to fool the eye into thinking that your modest ceiling is higher than it really is. And if you do happen to have a tall ceiling, this idea will definitely get eyes shooting skywards. Good news if looking left to right in your small bedroom would leave guests underwhelmed.
A tall headboard in a tiny bedroom makes a fearless statement.
Not only does the room benefit from the deceptive vertical visual uplift, it also declares in no uncertain terms that this bed is every inch as worthy of admiration as one in a bigger bedroom.
Maybe you’ve had to downsize from a king size to a double for a bed to be accommodated. An extra tall headboard can reinstate the grandeur, making your narrower bed feel considered rather than simply like a necessity.
“If your budget doesn’t stretch to a new supersized headboard, you can always fake one,” says interiors design expert Amy Cutmore.
“You could do so by wallpapering the area behind the width of your bed, then up to the ceiling. Or you could draw a semi-circle behind your bed, and paint that. Another great benefit of ‘flat’ treatments like these is they won’t take up any space whatsoever.”
Like this painted sunny yellow ‘headboard'? It’s Golden Sand in Dulux’s Simply Refresh paint range.
Fair enough, it’s a bibliophile’s worst nightmare – but at first sight, they’ll think they’ve stumbled into a perfect dream.
Either way, a faux bookcase wallpaper behind the bed in your small bedroom is the perfect decor trick for making your bedroom feel more spacious than it actually is. Why? Bookcases by their very nature have depth.
That means that when onlookers see your ‘ceiling height bookcase’, they naturally assume the back wall is further away.
Dot a few actual books around to keep the bookworms from boycotting your bedroom.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to painting a small bedroom. One says keep it light and bright, and very nearly white. The other says grab a paint brush and let rip with the cheeriest colour you can get your hands on.
Both work a treat but we subscribe to the latter paint philosophy. Yes, your room’s dimensions will still be small, but who will notice when the colour is a real knock-out?
The best way to go about this is to lavish the colour across all surfaces. Paint it on all four walls and even on the ceiling. This approach is called ‘colourblocking’ and it can really make a space feel bigger by virtue of being hyper coordinated.
For extra visual kick that will distract from dimensions, add a bed with a frame in a contrasting hue. Your bedroom will feel less like a tiny sleeping space and more like a quirky work of dopamine decor bliss.
Light paints on walls are legendary for making rooms feel brighter and airier. This certainly holds true for the tiniest bedrooms.
Reach for either an eggshell or a satin paint finish. This will help reflect any light in the room, giving an airy feel.
Once your small bedroom is painted, you can add character with furniture and accessories.
In light spaces, the decor must work harder than ever to feel important and relevant.
Think of the light background as a canvas and the accents to go into the room as your deliberate brushstrokes. It is a good idea to choose a few high-quality accents for your small room to make up for any lack of square footage with quality.
If pale walls will lighten up a poky bedroom, then off-white walls paired with a luxurious white rug will turn up the dial on the effect.
A light neutral works better on walls than sharp white because it can look stark and cold. Best to resist the temptation to coat the walls in an unadulterated white in the hopes that it will make the room look as spacious as possible.
Breezy off-white walls paired with a decadent cream rug will visually extend your small bedroom in the most understated yet indulgent style.
Dot some quality natural accents around to emphasise the quiet luxury quality of your inviting sleeping space.
Who made the rule that doors should be kept white? Someone without a need to make a bedroom look bigger, that’s who.
If you don’t want someone to be stuck on limited wall length in the bedroom, then trick their eyes into thinking the walls are longer than they are. By taking the door out, visually, you would be lengthening one wall by at least 800cm.
To achieve the ultimate concealed look, paint the door to match the wall perfectly. For the truly DIY-inclined, wallpapering the door offers another seamless option.
Take this a step further and ditch the architrave (door frame) for a truly invisible entrance, especially effective for a small bedroom. This approach creates the illusion of a continuous wall, making your secret room truly hidden.
Breathe life into your small bedroom with a well-chosen patterned wallpaper. Unlike large, bold prints that can make the space feel cramped and closed-in, opting for a small-scale, delicate pattern works wonders.
This approach offers the perfect balance of visual interest and cosiness without sacrificing the sense of spaciousness that's crucial in a smaller room.
Think soft florals, geometric micro-prints, or even subtle stripes - these patterns create a layered effect that draws the eye around the room, making it feel larger and more inviting.
Remember, the key lies in subtlety and scale. By choosing a pattern that complements your existing décor and furniture, you can add a touch of playfulness and character to your small bedroom while maintaining a sense of calm and spaciousness.
Trying to make a bedroom look bigger means choosing furniture with care. The last thing you want in a small space is pieces that have a lot of visual bulk to them.
Even the smallest bedside table with no legs will break up the space and be an abrupt place for eyes to stop. That ‘rooted to the ground’ effect will do your small bedroom no favours.
What you really want is nice, leggy furniture. Beds, bedsides and chests of drawers with elegant, elongated, thin legs feel way more easy-breezy.
Eyes can rove freely around, creating more of a feeling of depth – precisely what you want in a tight bedroom.
There's a lot to be said for glorious maximalism – though maybe not in a bedroom that’s a tight squeeze. While all decor rules are made to be broken, we suggest showing restraint when choosing textiles for your small bedroom and steer away from bold patterns.
Why? In a small space, plain fabrics will translate into a sense of calm that makes the room feel coordinated, not claustrophobic. They naturally feel more expansive with no shifts in colour contrast to visually navigate.
Make like this small bedroom, styled by French Bedroom, and unite your headboard, bed linen and lamp shades.
When every centimetre of square footage is spoken for in your small bedroom, a pair of bedside tables can feel like a luxury too far.
A wall light (or two) can get you out of the pickle of needing to provide table-top bedside lighting, freeing up valuable floor space in the bargain. If that means you can get your bed nestled more neatly in a corner, you’ll increase circulation room. Your bedroom will naturally look bigger.
But even if you don’t lose any furniture from your bedroom after adding wall lights, your bedroom will still benefit from the light and bright effect of washing walls with light.
Opt for directional wall lighting that allows you to pinpoint the area to bathe in light. The good news is that you’re now spoilt for choice when it comes to plug-in wall lights.
Place lights close to mirrors if you can to amplify the space-enhancing power of lighting.
The best advice on preparing and painting your ceiling from a professional.
