Create Space Without Adding Square Footage
As kids grow up and move away, it may be time for a smaller home! There are lots of charming, smaller square footage homes in Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill, and throughout the Triangle area. But if you’re moving from a larger home, you may be worried about feeling cramped in a smaller space.
With a few well-placed windows and built-ins, it is possible to make more of less! There are ways to use illusions to make you feel as though your house is larger than it really is. A recent article on MSN had these suggestions:
To add space . . . add a wall?
It’s intuitive to assume that to maximize space one would take out walls — but you can lose comfort in that spaciousness. Don’t chop up rooms a la old tract homes, but consider adding a wall that slightly breaks up a room, or putting a freestanding bookcase in the middle of a room, to make a space seem bigger.
Vary ceiling height
Altering the height of the ceiling, even within one room — lower at first, higher as one proceeds — creates a sense of entrance and welcome. A simple cloth hanging over a bed creates a different feeling of space and makes the area more intimate.
Layer your area
Though it’s counterintuitive, adding different elements in the middle-distance of a room — a pillar, a low bookcase — can act rather like punctuation marks in a sentence, slowing down the eye, and letting it experience the space.
Think like a sailor
Architects often refer to their smaller creations as sailboats, which have no wasted space. Look for opportunities for built-ins, such as bookshelf opportunities in staircases, cool cabinet possibilities, drawers under beds, etc.
Remember: Glass is good
In addition to letting in light, which is crucial to lending a house an airy feel, well-placed windows steal space from the outdoors and give it to the house. For a horizon view, place windows together at a corner of the house. Windows placed high on the wall so that people can’t see in also act to make space feel bigger, while bringing in natural light.
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