Expert Advice: How To Make a Small Bedroom Look Bigger

Maybe you’ve just moved to the big city, or you grew up the youngest of many and drew the short straw when it came to sleeping assignments, but at some point in your life you’ve probably lived in a tiny bedroom.

When we have too many things, or those things are too large, they can quickly overwhelm a space, displacing the feeling of the bedroom as a place of rejuvenation and retreat.

Photograph by Matthew Williams for the Remodelista book. 1. Choose a low-slung bed. Despite the narrow width of her bedroom, designer Michaela Scherrer created a more spacious feeling by lowering the bed and installing a hanging pendant, elements that emphasize the generous height of the room.

2. Paint the walls, floor, and ceiling all the same color (preferably white). Ceramicist Paula Greif s small all white bedroom feels light and airy Similar to the effect of being outside whereby the horizon...

...and sky are indistinguishable painting all sides the same color makes them pull away from each other creating a more open feel

In my own summer cottage bedroom on Cape Cod I used a spidery antique iron bed and a delicate bedside table... 3. Choose a lithe bed frame. Photograph by Matthew Williams for the Remodelista book.

...to enhance the breezy light filled feel of the room These styles will create a sense of air flow around the bed

Photograph by Kate Sears. 4. Streamline your bedding. In their tiny Fire Island cottage Ann Stephenson and Lori Scacco created an airy retreat with minimal lightweight...

...bedding and a total whiteout For textured warmth without the bulk try a vintage wool army or camp blanket

At the Rivertown Lodge in Hudson, New York, Workstead placed their brass Orbit Sconces on either side of a lithe iron bedframe; $725. 5. Light your small bedroom with sconces (or hanging pendants). Photograph by Matthew Williams.

6. Install floating bedside tables and shelves. Brooklyn-based architecture firm Pelle designed a Bedside Console that appears to float by the bed; $2,400.

A bedroom by New Zealand based Father Rabbit Limited demonstrates several of our favorite small bedroom design... 7. Toss the extra pillows. Photograph by Louise Hyatt and Duncan Innes.

...concepts including a low bed vertical pendant lighting white walls floor ceiling and a restrained use of pillows

Minimal bedding is key to maintaining the illusion of space, and that means reducing the number of pillows on your bed to only those you actually sleep on.

8. Buy (build) a bed with built-in drawers. Architect Sheila Bonnell maximized storage in her small but lofty bedroom with a built-in bed with drawers. Minimize furniture in the bedroom with two-in-one pieces such as a bed with incorporated drawers. Photograph by Matthew Williams for the Remodelista book.

A generous wardrobe provides ample storage at the Palladian Hotel in Seattle. Adding a large piece of furniture may seem counterintuitive, but the idea here is to minimize the total number of pieces in the room. 9. Consolidate clothing in a large armoire. Photograph by Laure Joliet.

10. Replace your headboard with a wall-mounted shelf. Fashion buyer Lisa Jones ditched a headboard in favor of a wall mounted shelf in her Shelter Island home...

...Designing a small bedroom is a delicate balance between maximizing storage while minimizing the amount of excess in the room

11. Use shades or shutters, or dare to go bare. Photograph by Matthew Williams for the Remodelista book. Taking advantage of their secluded locale, Robert and Stephanie of Workstead were able to leave the windows bare in their own upstate New York retreat.

Photography via David Fahlén. 12. Create an accent ceiling with paint. At Sa gverket Mo ten Rum Ko k in Sweden a sunny yellow ceiling provides a cheerful touch while making the...

...room feel larger Anything that emphasizes the vertical or draws the eye up increases the sense of space in a room Read more