Home > "I Think I Need a Little Space": Three Ways to Make Your Space Look Bigger with Lighting "I Think I Need a Little Space": Three Ways to Make Your Space Look Bigger with Lighting As you may know, Lighting By Gregory is based in New York City. Therefore, most of us live in apartments that are so small, even the mice complain about lack of foot space. But since we sell lighting, we’ve learned some ways to use lighting. So whether you’re a city dweller in similarly cramped spaces, a college student trying to push out those dorm walls, or a suburbanite who wants to “expand” that guest room, here’s how you can trick yourself and others into thinking your room is bigger than it actually is. Focus, Focus, Focus A small room feels small because the walls look so close together. Sounds redundant, right? But think about it – when we enter a small room, we feel cramped because the walls are so close together. One of the best ways to make your room bigger without knocking down those walls is to take the focus away from them. This can be easily done with lighting. If you have a painting on a wall or a sculpture in the corner, focus on them instead of the walls. Use lighting to draw your eye towards those objects and then the walls will stop closing in on you. The best lighting fixtures for this technique are small and adjustable. Recessed lighting fixtures are small and can be placed in strategic locations where you want to draw attention towards. Track lighting is also a good technique as you can adjust the aim of the light to where you want it to go. Light it Up A great way to make your room look bigger is to bounce light off the ceiling and let it gently fill up the rest of the room. This works in the same way as the first tip – drawing attention away from the walls. It also allows the rest of the room to be lightly brushed by the bouncing light coming off the ceiling, allowing your room to look bigger while creating a pleasant light. Join the Enlightenment The more light you have in a room, the bigger it seems – and we promise we’re not saying that just because we sell lights. Bright colors give a space a feel of being open. With light, you can illuminate and brighten your space, which gives it a feeling of being larger than it is. Of course, windows and sunlight do the best job of opening up a space, but it’s not always easy to knock out part of the wall to make a window. Notice how the sunlight makes this small hotel room seem bigger by brightening the walls? This effect can be accomplished with artificial light as well. Of course, you have a limited amount of room, so you want to be careful wear you put the fixtures. Wall sconces and mounted wall lamps are an excellent way to brighten up the room with artificial light without taking a lot of space. So don’t worry if your living space is tiny. Even if you live in a shoebox like us, with a few strategically placed lighting fixtures, you can make it seem as big as a refrigerator box!