Decorating Small Spaces

Here are a few tips from the book Decorating Small Spaces: Live Large in Any Space by Better Homes & Gardens:

Page 8 - Increase perceived space by using the same colors in adjoining rooms. Creating a long line of sight so the eyes can see without interruption makes two small rooms look more like one large room.

Page 21 - Anchor a furniture grouping and delineate it from others by creating an "island" with an area rug. A guideline for positioning furniture on the rug is that all legs of a particular piece should either be completely on the rug or completely off it.

Page 46 - Switch from a wooden table to one with a glass top. There's no better way to open up the center of a room or to reveal the pattern in a pretty rug.

Page 52 - Avoid putting roadblocks in the line of sight. Encountering a tall, bulky piece of furniture, such as a chest of drawers, at eye level just as you walk into a narrow space makes the room seem smaller.

Page 83 - Accent the vertical. This phrase alone will help you make the right decorating choices. Lifting the eye to a higher plane helps overcome space limitations in a room by drawing attention to all the extra space above eye level. Without a reason to look upward, the eye essentially puts an artificial "ceiling" on the space, and it's even lower than the actual ceiling.

• Page 23 - Include at least one tall element.  A bookcase or an armoire, for instance - in every room. Create interest at floor level too, with a patterned rug or a basket of pine cones beneath the a table. The idea is to keep the eye moving to distract it from the actual size of the room.
• Page 45 - Install curtain rods near the top of the room rather than on the window frame. This draws attention toward the ceiling, especially if you use decorative finials on the rods. (Buy longer curtains if you do this.) Unless your ceilings are high, avoid complicated or heavy-fabric valances laden with trim - they make ceilings appear lower.
• Page 77 - Anything that draws interest to the ceiling, yet isn't darker than the walls, tends to expand the perceived height.

Page 86 - Ample legroom. The general guideline is that there should be from 12 to 18 inches of space between the sofa and the coffee table; an ottoman often sits closer to the sofa to make it easier to put your feet up.

Page 96 - Reasons for round. A round table is naturally convivial, inspiring easy conversation among everyone seated and always letting one more person squeeze in. It's also a good choice for most small dining rooms. Many round tables come with extra leaves for when the crowd comes for dinner, but these are removed for everyday use to create space around the table.

Page 115 - Choosing colors. Kids thrive on colors that stimulate creativity. Choose a bright pastel for the walls and either extend it to furniture (to make the room seem more spacious) or switch to another bright color that complements the walls. It's easy to clean little fingerprints if you choose gloss or semi gloss paint.