Feature image credit: Home Designing

For most of us living in London, space is an issue: you could probably do with a little more room between the dining table and the wall, for example, or you’ve stopped buying new clothes because you can’t shut your wardrobe doors. We’ve been told time and time again that light colours help to make a room feel bigger, but what else can you do to create a sense of space, light and calm?

Here are a few tricks to make your rooms seem far larger than they are – none of them too drastic, but all highly effective.

See also…

• 10 London flats a gerbil couldn’t live in
• Moving in together: 2 people, 1 flat, zero space
• Last minute checklist for moving house
• Moving flat in London? 5 lifehack services that’ll help you out
• Self-storage with a difference: all you have to do is pack!

1. Double up

Furniture that serves two functions is your friend. We’re not just talking the classic sofa bed, either – designers are increasingly building ingenious double functionality into their home furnishings. Here’s a few of our favourites:

Don’t have an outside space for your bike but don’t want to risk it getting nicked? Well, as long as you’re not regularly cycling through mud (and preferably have an extremely attractive single-speed hipster bike) this is a pretty great solution:

Bike shelf, $299 plus shipping, The Knife & Saw

Ironing boards are always a pain to store, especially when under-stair cupboards are a distant memory. (Actually, stairs are a distant memory.) Anyway, this wall-mounted mirror doubles up as an ironing board – and you can store your iron inside.

Wall mounted ironing board, $219.99 plus shipping, Improvements

Ikea is pretty much a right of passage for all those trying to furnish their first home on a shoestring. Whether you’re trying to sort the whole place in one frantic afternoon or you just need some extra crockery, Ikea knows its audience and has some fantastic designs. Take this corner sofa bed: it’s got plenty of compact seating for when friends are over, converts into a double bed, and has built-in storage in the chaise longue.

Friheten corner sofa bed, £395, Ikea

2. The sky’s the limit

Even if your flat already has fairly high ceilings, the key to creating the illusion of space is to draw the eye upward. There’s a couple of ways to do this. You could:

Paint a border in a different colour around the top of the wall – or just paint the ceiling a different colour.

Image credit: Next Residential

Create something of interest near the top of the wall. We’re bookworms, so we particularly like this idea.

Image credit: Classically Amber blog

3. Reflect on it

Use mirrors wherever you can to create a sense of depth in a room. If possible, place them opposite a window so they reflect the view – it’ll make it feel as though your place is an extension of the outside world.

Image credit: Canpastanesi

It’s also a good idea to include transparent furnishings here and there. Now, we’re not saying you have to go for the space-age, hyper-modern, characterless look – but a see-through table or chair makes a big difference, as do glass containers and vases.

Image credit: Southern Front Media

4. Cut the clutter

We’re all about clutter cutting here at Boxman. As well as clever storage around the home – you can read more about that here – there are some companies offering brilliant and innovative solutions to space issues. Take Boskke’s sky planter: it frees up space on your surfaces and creates a beautiful, greenhouse-like effect in your apartment.

Sky planters, from £14.95, Boskke

For those of you who simply have too much stuff to handle, you can put your stuff into storage. We rarely use the things we have lying around most of the time – books, records, out-of-season clothing – and with Boxman you pay by the box, not the room, so it’s highly cost effective. Just order your boxes to your door, pack them up, and we’ll collect and store them for you – all for £5 per box per month.

5. Plan your palette

As well as keeping your colours light, keeping them within the same palette creates a sense of space. Imagine a room full of conflicting colours, shades, patterns and shapes – it’s busy. This is fine for a large room, but a small space just can’t take it. Whether you go for a range of neutrals – grey, beige, cream and black – or various shades of one colour, a unified tone creates a sense of order and calm.

Image credit: Fannix

The sixth option (yes, there’s a secret sixth!) is to get your devices out – whether you prefer laptop, desktop, mobile or tablet – and whack your postcode into the Boxman website. If we’re in your locale, we can have sturdy, waterproof boxes with you within a few hours, you pack them with your stuff and digitally tag them, and then we take them away and look after them in our secure warehouse. Whenever you want them back, you go back online, select the box you want and we’ll return them to you as soon as possible. It’s self-storage with a difference – no more wasting your weekend in dusty storage facilities, climbing over other people’s stuff. Just think of us as your virtual spare room!