We take a look at how you can use flooring to help create an impression of space, and leave you feeling calm and relaxed.
Flooring is an important element of your room’s décor, it needs to be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing. Good quality flooring isn’t cheap, so it is a good idea to invest in high-quality that will last a long time, regardless of use and changing fashions. Bold prints may be your favourite thing at the moment, but don’t be tempted to spend thousands on a psychedelic carpet; you may regret the investment in a few years!
Rugs are a great way of changing the décor without breaking the bank, and can help make a room look bigger. So, choose neutral, hard-wearing flooring and use rugs to create the effect you want. Here are our top tips for making your room look bigger:
- If you are laying new floorboards or laminate, go for wider planks to create the illusion of space.
- Lay tiles and planks on the diagonal, to draw the eye across the room.
- The floor doesn’t have to be light – deep, rich wood can perfectly complement lighter walls. Equally, white or pale painted floorboards are a cheap and easy way of giving old wooden floors a new lease of life.
- Just as stripes in clothes can make people look wider or slimmer, they can have the same effect on a room. If you have a narrow room, lay a stripy rug or carpet widthways to make it look wider; to make a room seem longer, place the stripes running lengthways.
- Small rugs can be used to break up a space and make it look larger; use a few complementing smaller rugs, scattered around a room to divide it into areas.
- Aim for consistency between rooms; if you have several smaller rooms on one floor, consider using the same flooring throughout to optimise space and create fluid movement between rooms.
- Keep it clean! Light, neutral carpets look fantastic when they are new, but if not cleaned regularly they can make a room look dingy. Get your carpets cleaned at least once a year by a professional carpet cleaner to give them a new lease of life.
You might not be able to make a room physically bigger, but you can easily create the impression of space with a few clever tricks of the trade. Flooring is a worthy investment and laying tiles, floorboards and carpets need specialist skills to make sure that they stay looking good for a long time; improperly laid floors can buckle or bubble, or leave you with unsightly gaps at the edges. For a professional, durable finish, consider consulting a professional carpet fitter or carpenter.