2 Ways to Make Your Home Seem Bigger

January 29, 2015

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as is pretty much every other impression that we get of a person, place, or thing – it’s all relative, and it is the skill and artifice of the true artist to manipulate those perceptions to create the impression that is desired. In the case of a home, the architect and interior designer’s job is to take the limitations in which they must work – location, material, cost, labor —  and use that to create the desired look and impact for the future home-owner. Two ways in which this is being done is through the use of raised ceilings and of double-door entrances.

The Raised Ceiling

Raised ceilings are pretty much exactly what they sound like: ceilings that are higher than your standard ceiling which you have seen in most homes. These ceilings are over eight feet in height, often going up to twelve feet in height. Some are critical of this approach, as it increases the cost of heating or cooling, but its effect is undeniable: it makes a room seem even larger, roomier, and grander than it otherwise would with a lower ceiling. If your goal is to create the roomiest space possible, then a raised ceiling is a great way to do so even when you have exhausted your ability to expand the horizontal plane of the room.

The Double Door

The double-door entrance is another excellent example of using a small change in how a home is designed and built in order to create the appearance of space, size, and luxury at minimal cost and effort. Entering a single door is, for the most part, sufficient for a door’s basic usage, but a double-door allows for large amounts of people to enter, as well as for couches, beds, and other large items to be moved in through the front.

More importantly, it makes one’s entrance into the home a large, open affair, almost as if you are entering through a castle’s gate. The size and scale of your entrance, especially in comparison to the single-door entrances of other homes, will naturally create the impression of a larger, grander home. This, ultimately, is the great trick of these two features: to make a home seem larger and more spacious than it actually is with minimal effort or cost!