One of the most common sources of dissatisfaction with a room that people have is that it feels/looks to small, cramped, cluttered, and other adjectives that boil down to a desire for more space. Literally increasing your square footage, as you’ve probably figured out, is expensive, messy, and time-consuming. Here are a few tricks that can make your room appear larger without having to hire a contractor.

1) De-clutter. A mess makes a room look like there is too much stuff in it for too little space. If it’s an office, get a filing cabinet to organize all those loose papers piling up. If it’s a playroom, get a bin for all the toys (and train your kids to clean up after themselves).

2) Choose light , soft, or cream colored paint. Dark colors and bold colors emphasize the walls, which by the nature of your problem are too close together. Don’t pick a color that draws your eyes–and attention–to the walls.

3) If you have window treatments, have the rod installed on the ceiling rather than right above the window. Having a horizontal line “cuts” the height of the room if you will, whereas having the window treatments flow from the ceiling elongates the height of the wall.

4) Use decorative mirrors on the walls or glass for tabletops. Once again, this eliminates the visual barrier of the solid wall or tabletop.

5) Have exposed legs on any chairs or sofas…. Once again, eliminating those pesky visual barriers is really the key to making any room appear more spacious. It’s all about tricking the eye!