How can I make my small room look bigger is the age old question. It's likely that all of us will have had a small room at some point that we've drastically done everything to it in the hope that it stops looking so pokey.

Unless you're extending your house, there isn't anything you can do about the physical space. But there are many space saving tips and decor tricks to help give that illusion of a bigger room.

Don't Instantly Opt for White Paint

There is a common misconception that bright white paint will instantly brighten and give the illusion of more space. Whilst it's true that white paint reflects light, it will only reflect what is in the room. Making a room brighter is key in a small room, but you need to uncover the reason it's dark first. Is it North or South facing? Are the windows small? Is it encumbered with furniture? Understanding why it's dark in the first place is the best step to working out what the best paint shade to use is.

If your room has little natural light or colder light due to being North facing, adding bright white will actually make your room feel flat as there is not enough light to bounce off the walls. If you do opt for a white, find one with gentle undertones that bring warmth into the space. Colour chart palettes will list all the shades underneath that complement that colour through their undertones. Investing in the right type of shade for a small room will help to make it look bigger, and cosier.

High CRI Lighting

If you have small windows or no natural light available then you need to focus on adding the most effective lighting to your space. All rooms will benefit from high CRI lighting. High CRI lighting 95 > enhances the true colour of foods to aid preparation, can help with colour-based tasks such as painting, improved clarity and definition of images and text and lift your general mood and home life.

This is one of the reasons why a paint colour might look different in one room to another. High CRI lighting will greatly improve the clarity in the room, and it's the closest thing to natural 'artificial' lighting.

Space Saving Hacks

Having a small room requires all of the space saving hacks to really make the most of the space you have. Opt for a bed with a base that can double up for storage space. Add shelving to keep things off the floor and if you have drawers, purchase draw inserts so you can really look to fit as much into them as possible.

Keeping the floor as bare as possible will make the room feel more minimal, clutter will quickly take over a small room.

Floor To Ceiling Curtains

There are many things that can create an optical illusion of space to make a room appear bigger. Hanging floor to ceiling curtains is one of them, having curtains that sweep onto the floor instantly creates that illusion of space, and higher ceilings.

Adding in skirting boards with more depth can also give the illusion of having a higher ceiling. This in turn helps with making the room feel, and look bigger.

Mirrors

Mirrors are a well known object that can help to create the illusion of a bigger room. Hanging mirrors from walls allows for light to easily bounce around the room from windows whilst creating the illusion of more square footage.

There's plenty of ways to make a small room look bigger without increasing the square footage. Start with getting the foundations right like lighting and paint before bringing furniture and decorative accessories into the mix.