Make your apartment look bigger with simple hacks

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) Rented and studio apartments come with space limitation but simple home d?cor tricks like limiting yourself to a single look for the entire house and ditching louder colour shades that absorb light can give your small abode a more spacious and welcoming look, says an expert.

Ritu Malhotra, co-founder and chief of Operations of Renomania, an online home d?cor platform has shared a few tips that can help you make your appartment look more spacious:

• Use light colours: Since you cannot make changes in terms of space and architecture, playing with the d?cor and colour of your house is a good way to give it an amplified look.

  Go for light colours on the walls like basic white or yellow or other pastel shades that reflect light and make a space look larger. Darker shades absorb light and make your house look smaller than its actual size. Bed linens or sofa colors in a light colors also helps in making the space look more spacious.

• Lighting: Lights play an important role. If the house is not properly lit up, it can cast a shadow in the house and make the surrounding look dull and give a crammed feeling. Natural lighting is the best way to keep the house lit up.

  Make sure that there is no furniture in front of windows to block the way of light. If your apartment does not get enough natural light, then use artificial lighting. Go for white lights instead of yellow because it can give your house a brighter look hence, making it look bigger.

• Use that wall: When the floor area is less, it is a novel idea to convert your walls into storage spaces. You can mount wooden shelves or slabs that can store a lot of things like books and showpieces.

  Paint these in bright colors to give your room a bright and cheerful look. Not only do mirrors make a classy option to decorate your space, but are also extremely illusional. If you use mirrors in different forms in the house, they can help you give an impression of a larger house than it actually is.

• Multi-functional furniture: The furniture occupies the maximum space in the house, hence its important that its chosen wisely. Leather or velvet sofas and couches take a lot of space and make a place look claustrophobic. Go for tables with glass tops, because of their transparent quality, they don't obstruct vision and make a space look bigger.

• Declutter: Don't keep things that need to be discarded. It's a good idea to donate unused furniture and other clutter, and will free a lot of floor space and make your room look bigger. Keep desk clear of papers, glasses and unnecessary articles as that tricks the eye into perceiving that there is more room available.

• Accessorize: When you are hanging the curtains on the windows, hang them close to the ceiling. It gives a taller look to the house.