Living room in every home generally has the largest volume. The simple reason behind this is a living room is considered as a "gateway" to all other internal spaces. But in case of an apartment block in crowded city, scarcity of space is an issue resulting in compact architectural planning. This gives rise to apartments with bare minimum spaces.

Whatever be the case we can make minor changes to internal design and presentation to create a look and feel of a bigger living room.

There is one very important thumb rule when it comes to playing with internal spaces. The more light you will allow to enter a room, the more it will be perceived as a big room as far as volume is concerned. Also if you use brighter color shades that will help a uniform and smooth reflection of light equally in all the corners of the living room, it will be easier and effortless transition from small to big room perception.

There are certain points we can consider here.

1) Avoid using heavy furniture such as big stuff sofas, wardrobes or bookshelves that have closed shutters. Instead if you use sofas with sleek frame (like the one in bamboo furniture) this will create more transparency and will help in perception of more space. Also storage units such as TV unit, book shelves if kept open will reveal more wall surface behind them and reduce the "bulky" look.

In an interior space that is empty the perception of "small or big" is usually decided depending upon the dimensions of the space. The volume of the space defined by the boundaries of walls, floor and ceiling defines the space. The openings in the walls further help in reducing the bulkiness of the space. Next when the furniture fits in its place the importance or influence of the walls reduces and all attention gets focused on the furniture facades.

That's why it is necessary to use sleek furniture in smaller rooms, that will help in revealing the true nature of a space.

2) Allow more light to enter the living room by using light curtains. Instead of using heavy looking "valances" use simple and if possible semi transparent curtains that are just enough to reduce glare that might be caused because of direct sunlight.

3) Use brighter color schemes commonly known as "hot" color schemes. These create a very good transmission and reflection of natural as well as artificial light inside the living room.

There is one more different approach to defining the perception of the living room (or any interior space) and that's the empty volume left behind after all the furniture and other accessories have been fitted. Because anything in our living world is always "relative". The perceived volume is always relative to the empty volume that is normally used for circulation. The more empty volume you get, the bigger the room will look.

This also applies with transmission of light in all the spaces. The more you can get inside the room better it is for the healthy habitat inside the living room.

I hope this article was informative and will help you understand the concept of smaller and bigger perception of internal spaces.

Copyright Shrinivas Vaidya