Home Furniture Reference

Furniture Tips – If you’re downsizing or haven’t even upsized yet, then your home may feel a little small to you now and again. That’s not too surprising, considering that stuff has a way of accumulating at an alarming rate, filling even the tiniest nooks or crannies.

Full sized furniture only adds to the problem, making the room look claustrophobic. Hardly a place to unwind after a hard day at school or work.

If you have a full-sized sofa in your apartment, starter home or dorm right now, there’s little you can do to reduce its scale, outside of taking a chainsaw to it and cutting it down to size (we don’t recommend this, by the way).

Finding a space-saving sofa is the better option. Manufacturers have been clued into the need for scaled pieces, particularly in an economy where many people are moving to smaller homes rather than larger ones.

If you’re imaging miniaturized sofas for your home, don’t. A sofa’s dimensions are only part of the equation. There are other tricks of the trade that can be used to make a sofa look smaller in a room without cutting the useful seating space.

Modern sofas already know some of these secrets. For example, many modern sofas, whether they’re recliner sofas, sectional sofas, sleeper sofas or lounges, have low backs that make the walls look higher than they really are. This gives the room a feeling of spaciousness without compromising comfort.

The same is true for sofas that have large arms.  The arms of a sofa have only one true purpose: to support your arms. They don’t have to be overstuffed affairs, which are often uncomfortable anyway. To make a room look larger, go with a sofa that has a smaller set of arms that still offers the support you’re looking for. And if space is at a premium, you may want to go with vertical arms that don’t extend beyond the edge of the sofa. Those extra inches can add up to another chair or end in the room – well worth the sacrifice.

This brings up an important point. The more straight lines your sofa, sofa recliner, sofa bed or lounger has, the smaller it will look in the room. For example, a sofa with a straight back will look less voluminous than one with a camel back. For a smaller look, you also want the legs to be visible rather than having them hidden behind a dust flap.

Modern style sofas are also perfect for smaller spaces. Since “form follows function,” they usually don’t have a lot of unnecessary embellishments that don’t add to the comfort of the sofa. By their very nature, they will almost assuredly make your small space look larger.

Having limited space doesn’t mean you can’t have an attractive, comfortable room that is both welcoming and spacious feeling, even if it’s not. The most basic rules in design can help trick the eye and create a space that looks much larger than it really is. Stick with these basics and you’ll find you have plenty of space to spread out, even if you’re living in less square footage.

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