Working on the theory that, yes, good things do sometimes come in (very) small packages, local designers offer their best visual tricks to make a tiny room appear larger.
“Cover everything in one pattern. You might think it would make a room look smaller, but the continuity makes it so that the eye is never stopped. Another trick is to actually paint the wall in a dark color like eggplant or a chocolate brown, but in a semi-gloss so there’s depth from shine and the walls recede visually.” —Barbara Bell, Barbara Bell Interiors Tarrytown
“Use a couple of very large-scale pieces, because keeping the number of pieces to a minimum but bumping up the scale a little sometimes makes the space seem larger than it is.” —Susan Anthony, Anthony and Olanow Design Group, Rye
“It’s important that furniture is scaled right and that there’s room around each piece. It’s not that much more expensive to have a piece of furniture customized than going with a standard size.” —Kaja Gam, Kaja Gam Design, Ossining
“Consider painting an accent wall at one end of the room to make it appear longer or wider and choosing a pale blue-gray for the ceiling with white or cream walls. This makes the ceiling look like the sky and appear higher.” —Laurel Bern, Laurel Bern Interiors, Bronxville
“Consider wall-to-wall or no carpet at all—but never an area rug—because the size of the floor defines the size of the room.” —Lyn Peterson, Motif Designs, Mamaroneck
“I love painting the walls a deep, rich, chocolate brown. The dark walls make a statement and make the room appear important.” —Susan Marocco, Susan Marocco Interiors, Bedford
“Either use very dark colors to make it very cozy or go very light to make it feel bigger.” —Phyllis Harbinger, owner of Design Concepts/Interiors, LLC in Cortlandt Manor
