You find yourself daydreaming about what your home could be. Fantasies of your ideal home flood your mind while you stand in your living room.
You happily imagine hosting lively dinner parties for friends and family that flow effortlessly from the kitchen to the dining room. You watch your kids play in the living room as you calmly cook mid-week dinners. You smile as your mother-in-law offers kind words of approval: “What a wonderful home you have, just look at all this space!”
You snap out of it and feel slightly disappointed that the daydream is over. As reality sets in, you accept that your home isn’t large, but it’s yours, and you love its cozy nooks and character.
Is there a way to maximize what you have and create an illusion of space?
In this article, we’ll reveal how to make a room look bigger with flooring types, colors, and clever design principles in mind.
Table of Contents
- 3 Types of Flooring That Can Help a Small Room Look Bigger
- What Color Flooring Will Make a Room Look Bigger?
- Which Way Do You Lay Flooring To Make a Room Look Bigger?
- 10 Ways To Make a Room Look Bigger With Flooring Choices
- Interior Motives Flooring Has the Tools and the Experience To Create Beautiful Floors in Your Home That Can Make Your Smaller Rooms Look More Spacious
3 Types of Flooring That Can Help a Small Room Look Bigger
Although there are many flooring trends to choose from, these three types of flooring are the top choices if your main goal is to make a smaller room appear bigger.
#1: Wood
Like any informed decision, there are many factors to consider when contemplating hardwood as a flooring option for your home.
However, one of the benefits of wood flooring is that it can provide a small room with depth and texture, increasing the appearance of space.
Your rooms appear even larger if the same wood flooring is used throughout your house. This illusion creates continuity and helps your rooms feel as if they flow seamlessly into one another.
In addition to making your room look more spacious, hardwood flooring can also increase the resale value of your home. According to Realtor.com, a new hardwood floor can add up to 2.5% to your home’s sale price.
Accomplishing two goals for the price of one, wood flooring may be an optimal choice for improving your home’s space and value goals.
With over 30 years of experience, Interior Motives Flooring offers a premium selection of high-quality flooring and expert installation services. Family-owned and operated, we aim to make your experience as stress-free and efficient as possible.
Contact us today so we can help you find the solution you need for your flooring goals.
#2: Tile
Big tiles can have a master of illusion effect — giving the appearance of having more space than there really is.
When you see large tiles in a room, it creates an illusion that tricks your mind into thinking that there must be a large amount of space to fit such big flooring materials.
Tiles also can withstand moisture and humidity, making them ideal for small bathrooms or homes located in high-humidity locations.
#3: Carpet
Smaller rooms and carpets have something in common — they can both be incredibly cozy.
But cozy doesn’t necessarily have to mean small.
One of the benefits of carpeting is that it comes in various colors and materials. Some colors can make a room appear more spacious by reflecting light and creating visual interest.
A light-colored carpet does a great job of making a room feel both spacious and cozy.
Plush carpet offers a soft and luxurious texture that can create depth and enhance the quality of the room’s atmosphere by making it feel airy and comfortable.
What Color Flooring Will Make a Room Look Bigger?
When used in the right way, both dark and light colors can magically make a room appear larger.
When research was performed on optical illusions in interior design to improve the visual size and proportions of rooms, findings indicated that color, lighting, forms, patterns, and texture can all have a significant impact on the size and proportion of your space.
Which Way Do You Lay Flooring To Make a Room Look Bigger?
How you lay out the flooring can also create a feeling of visual space.
Research shows that the perception of the spaciousness of any room is an objective variable and not a physical one. Using design strategies to lay flooring that plays with shape, volume, color, and light can alter your perception of how spacious a room is.
Here are some design methods that can make a smaller room seem bigger:
- Parallel planks
- Diagonal installation
- Wide planks
- Large tiles with minimal grout
- Room-to-room consistency
10 Ways To Make a Room Look Bigger With Flooring Choices
#1: Install Flooring in a Parallel Pattern
The direction in which you install your flooring can make a huge impact on the flow and spatial feel of your room.
By placing the planks parallel to the widest wall, you can create an elongated look and draw instant attention to the longest portion of the space.
A parallel pattern can also help to make the room appear airier and open because it attracts your eye outward towards the perimeter of the room.
#2: Install Flooring Diagonally
Another way to create an illusion of a bigger space is to lay the floor in a diagonal pattern.
The wide part of the pattern should face you when you enter the room. Similarly to how we view a piece of artwork on the wall, our eyes are drawn to the widest part of a pattern.
The diagonal pattern tricks your mind and eyes into seeing the space differently, offering a lengthened, more vast appearance.
#3: Use Wide Planks
Wider planks take up more space than thinner planks or strips causing there to be fewer seams on your floor. This can make your space feel less crowded and overall more spacious, making it look like there’s more square footage.
Another benefit to using wider planks is that you’ll need fewer of them to cover your space, possibly making it more affordable.
#4: Lay Large Tiles
Large, wide tiles can make a room appear larger than using an overwhelming amount of very small tiles.
Small tiles can make a small room seem busy, our eyes are drawn to the intense amount of grout lines, and this forces us to take notice of the size of the floor and room.
Larger tiles have fewer grout lines for our eyes to land on, and they help to expand the space between these lines, making your room feel more spacious.
One additional tip to accentuate space is to keep grout lines as narrow as possible and choose a grout that’s the same color as the tiles to draw less attention.
#5: Keep Consistent Flooring From Room to Room
Installing the same flooring in every room can help a small home feel larger and can offer an elevated and cohesive design aesthetic.
Mixing different types of flooring in the same house can make the space feel cramped and disoriented, ultimately making it feel smaller.
Eliminating the visual barrier between your rooms can be extremely effective at opening up small spaces and creating a smooth flow that helps the space feel airy and unified.
#6: Make Use of Area Rugs
Area rugs are more than just decorative pieces, they can transform the way the room appears, creating a larger and more cohesive look.
Here are some tips when making use of an area rug in a small room:
- Use only one large area rug rather than several small ones to make a room feel larger. Measure the room’s dimensions and select a rug that will rest within twelve inches of all four walls.
- While texture in a carpet is visually interesting, it can easily overwhelm a small space. Select an area rug with little to no texture to avoid the feeling of being too crowded in your small room.
- Light-colored rugs make a room look brighter and feel spacious. When searching for your perfect area rug, consider pale pastels, natural-looking neutrals, and off-white.
#7: Avoid Multiple Colors and Busy Designs
Keep it simple.
When choosing flooring for a small space avoid bold patterns with tons of contrast and opt for simple solid colors or subtle textures.
Too much contrast can make a space feel crowded and less inviting. This general rule applies to anything in your small room, including:
- Flooring
- Walls
- Area rugs
- Decorative tiling
- And more
Remember, less is more when it comes to creating an illusion of space.
#8: Leave Some Visible Floor Space
You just added new flooring, it’s time to show it off!
Don’t cover it up with too much furniture or decor. A room with too much clutter can feel congested, cramped, and tiny—even if it’s large. Keep any floor items to a minimum to help encourage the feeling of ample space.
#9: Contrast With Complementary Colors
Contrasting flooring colors is a dynamite way to make your room appear bigger and can be your secret weapon for ensuring a room draws the eye while still seeming cohesive.
One of the most foundational concepts in interior design is contrast because it adds visual interest to a space that makes a striking and dynamic impression.
Contrast creates a balance.
The color of the flooring should contrast with the color of the walls. For example, if you have dark walls, light-colored flooring looks best. On the flip side, if you have light-colored walls, it may pair best with dark flooring.
Too much of just one color can shrink the space. Developing a contrast between the walls, floors, and furniture can make the space appear larger and doesn’t restrict you to just one shade.
#10: Consider Both Dark and Light Colored Flooring
Light-colored flooring does wonders to brighten up a space and make it feel larger.
Natural light through the windows or skylights can intensify the brightness in a room with light-colored flooring, and even warm artificial lighting can provide an extra cozy touch.
A darker-colored flooring has its benefits, too.
Darker colors for floors, especially hardwood, can add depth to a small room, allowing it to feel more expansive.
When paired with lighter, cool-toned walls, darker-colored flooring can make the ceiling appear higher. This pulls your attention upward, making you focus on the room’s brightness.
Interior Motives Flooring Has the Tools and the Experience To Create Beautiful Floors in Your Home That Can Make Your Smaller Rooms Look More Spacious
At Interior Motives Flooring, we take pride in offering a wide variety of top-notch flooring options, including:
- Carpet
- Vinyl plank
- Sheet and tile
- Hardwood
- Laminate
Our mission is to provide the level of care and attention you would expect from a small-town company.
When you make an appointment to visit our showroom, we’ll walk you through the many flooring options that best suit you and your home space. We’ll even come to your home for a free flooring consultation to provide an accurate estimate for your floor installation.
With our advanced visualization technology, we can show you how our products will look in your home before you make a purchase.
If you’re interested in quality Auburn flooring installation, and you have questions about how to make a small room look bigger with flooring, we’ll happily answer all your questions and do our best to direct you to the optimal flooring option for your space.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation or book an appointment to experience our showroom.
