With the pandemic restrictions still playing a role in everyone’s day to day lives , along with the encouraged social distancing, many people are suddenly spending a lot of time in their homes and trying to accomplish many cleaning tasks and also think of ways to make a brighter living space. To help fight the tedious stay-at-home fever, it’s a good idea to get tips from professional organizers and interior designers to make your home feel more spacious. Before you start, think about areas in your home that have made you feel calm and how they were arranged. Here are some of the best ways to make your space feel bigger and brighter.

A definite step to opening up your space is to first declutter in every corner of your home. Decluttering can quickly be done by anyone using only a few resources. You will need to walk from room to room and put things away, clear up long-standing paper piles or cardboard boxes, and gather up small things that aren’t supposed to be there. If you find an item that isn’t useful and is just occupying space, consider storing it out of sight or donate it to your local donation centers.

An excellent way to get into the habit of decluttering your home regularly is to place a garbage can in every room of your house so you can avoid clutter being dumped everywhere. It’s also a good idea to keep a basket at the bottom of the stairs. It can be a “catch-all” for things that you have collected from that level that needs to be taken back upstairs or downstairs, thus saving you multiple trips. Make it a habit every day to put away everything you’ve accumulated in the basket, especially items that are still useful. If you work to achieve this every day, it shouldn’t take a long time to maintain clean spaces before you go to sleep.

If your home has large open floor space, you can make your house feel even bigger. Don’t use your floor as a storage space, as small piles in corners often grow and expand over time. These piles of different things tend to be items that have no home, so they get piled on the floor. As these things intrude upon your living space, you will be disappointed, because as this happens, your actual physical living space is being reduced. If you tackle these piles and free up usable floor space, you will immediately visually create a lighter and brighter area. If you have forgotten to look at items in those piles for a long time, take the opportunity to let go of those items.

Be creative with the way you store things and be more selective with what items you like to keep.This can simply be done by folding blankets into a chest, placing pet toys in a basket, and by hanging photos instead of resting them against the walls or furniture. Use multi-function furniture pieces that double as storage to optimize your space. Examples of these items are furniture like seats, coffee tables, and ottomans that have hidden rooms where you can keep blankets, DVDs, games, or clutter off of furniture. Just a tip: You can keep the items you don't use every day, hidden away in these multi purpose furniture pieces. 

It’s also good to install floating shelves to elongate the walls and make a place to store things off of the floor.

Many interior designers advise homeowners to decorate using large mirrors as they can help make your room bigger and brighter. The mirrors allow reflections in the room and provide an illusion that your home has more space. Mirrors also give a sense of movement, will bounce more light around and can visually double the size of your area. If you use full-length mirrors, you can get the full image of yourself too.

If you are planning to buy new furniture – keep it simple. Buy furniture that is generally lower to help make an area feel much bigger by leaving more open space above, and keeping any views of windows from being obstructed. It also applies to the leg style of the furniture. Free standing legs can show more space and appear to be floating, compared to large furniture that lays flat on the floor.

So, if you want to make your home look more spacious and much brighter, take these tips and add some great décor pieces, such as mirrors, on the walls and free up valuable floor space so you can create a much bigger and brighter feeling home.