Using the right colours: Every interior designer swears by this trick to avoid small spaces looking smaller than it actually is: use light, neutral colours for walls and furniture.

There’s charm in the little things, they say. This is probably the reason why compact housing is becoming the new ‘it’ word in the real estate business and we are all for it. Sprucing up a small space without making it seem too overcrowded is the real challenge here. There are things that every homeowner can contribute to, right from the building of the place. We spoke to three very prominent interior designers, here’s what they had to say:

Using the right colours: Every interior designer swears by this trick to avoid small spaces looking smaller than it actually is: use light, neutral colours for walls and furniture. Alex Jacob who swears by this rule says, “If you’ve noticed Japanese and Scandinavian homes, they all have white walls and light timber wood flooring. This is something we should all adopt to make our living spaces look more spacious.”

Play around with lighting: Most times, we just turn on a switch and we don’t take notice of anything but designer Ranjit Naik says that indirect lighting can make areas look more spacious. Focus lights and diffused lighting can make spaces look bigger and at the same time, create an ambience. Using the wrong light can make spaces look smaller.

In-built storage: Before the apartment/house is built, a way to make sure storage doesn’t become an issue is to have storage spaces built into the layout. If utilities like the cupboard and kitchen shelves are already built-in, then additional space will not be taken up by them. But this will largely depend on architectural design.

Choosing the right furniture: Small contributions like adding a strategically placed mirror can go a long way. When a mirror is plaed in the living room, for example, it creates the illusion that the space is bigger than it actually is, without much cost. Rani Bharathan advocates the use of multi-purpose furniture. A coffee table that can be raised to become a dining table or a sofa that doubles as a bed etc. “A pull out tray for a cutting board, having four shelves instead of two in a kitchen cabinet and having oil cabinets are all details to customisation that can go a long way in decluttering spaces and making them airy’, she says. Rani also suggests playing around with natural light. “Playing around with natural light – substituting the wood base of the top most shelf with glass itself can make a huge difference. Same way with glass tiles in the kitchen. It creates the illusion of space.