Small living room, calm living room
Five rules a stylist uses to make a small room feel bigger, quieter and easier to live in.
Most of the homes I style are small. The rooms that work all have the same thing in common: fewer objects, chosen with more care.
One light for each corner
A single ceiling light flattens a room. Add a table lamp on one side and a candle on the other, and the room suddenly has depth.
Furniture with legs
Seeing the floor under a sofa or a chair makes a room look larger. Keep the heaviest pieces against the wall.
Store in baskets
Blankets, magazines and toys disappear in a lidded basket. Two baskets do more for a calm room than a new shelf.
Leave one wall empty
It is the hardest rule and the most useful. An empty wall gives the eye somewhere to rest.
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