Budget Ways to Visually Expand Space: Insights from an Architect

Most apartments in panel buildings cannot boast large areas, so it's desirable to use the available square meters as efficiently and functionally as possible without cluttering the living space with furniture and interior items. To make a flat feel more spacious, it's not necessary to spend a lot of money on this; some methods require no financial investment at all. The ways to visually expand the space will be discussed by designer and architect Eugeniy Koblov.

Eugeniy Koblov — Designer and Architect

Proper Color Palette Selection

Dark colors always make a room look smaller visually. Therefore, when choosing the color of a room, it's better to prefer light tones, especially cool shades of gray and blue, but not bright white. Contrary to popular belief, it visually narrows the space. Visually expanding the space can be achieved by decorating one wall in a contrasting color. If speaking about a bathroom, floor tiles should also be of a lighter shade, monochromatic, without patterns. And the color should differ from that of the walls.

Design: Elena Maksimova

Do Away with Doors

They take up space. The opening between the kitchen and corridor can be decorated as an arch. This looks visually better and gives a sense of larger space. In small apartments, folding doors can be considered instead of regular ones, which also gives a feeling of expanded space.

There are universal rules that apply not only to renovations but also to fashion: vertical stripes make the body look taller and visually elongate, whereas horizontal lines do the opposite — they compress and make things appear shorter (and thicker if speaking from a fashion perspective). Therefore, avoid solutions with horizontal lines. As mentioned above, contrast in the form of one wall also gives a feeling of space.

It should be noted that vertical forms can also be used in interior items: lamps, shelves, generally anything with a longitudinal shape. However, it's not advisable to overdo it, otherwise the opposite effect will occur, contributing to narrowing the space.

Design: Avoid Bad Architecture

Proper Choice of Furniture

Everything that clutters gives a feeling of small space. Therefore, when choosing furniture, it's better to prefer compact and multifunctional units. Instead of a bed — a foldable sofa. Instead of a full-size kitchen table — a bar counter. Items that serve multiple purposes in interior design are the ideal option: shelves that turn into a computer desk, a cabinet that turns into a bed, and so on.

It's possible to choose Danish or Finnish furniture: it is slightly smaller than usual sizes. Small beds, sofas. Against such a background, everything else will seem bigger than the furniture itself, which gives a feeling of larger space. As for shapes: if they are softer and more airy, that also contributes to visually expanding the room.

Design: Alexandra Sakmarova

Mirrors

Mirrors are a good helper in solving problems of small apartments. They increase the amount of light, making the space appear wider. A good option for a studio apartment is a wall-mounted wardrobe (with shallow depth to avoid taking up too much space) with mirrors on all doors. This gives a sense of a long and spacious room, in addition to the storage system which can be planned so that it's possible to store not only clothes but also suitcases, vacuum cleaners, ironing boards, and more, significantly simplifying the problem of where to store bulky items.

Design: Anna Dobrokovskaya