Domakihub Make Any Room Look Bigger with These 5 Design Moves
Simple, proven tricks that open up tight spaces in homes, rentals, and hotel rooms.
Reviewed by Domakihub home & decor pros · 2026-06-23 · 4 min read
Small rooms are everywhere in Greece — compact island apartments, city-centre studios, and holiday villas where every square metre counts. The video above shows the designer techniques in action; this article breaks them into five concrete steps you can apply this weekend, with notes on what works especially well in the Mediterranean light and building proportions you will find across Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete, and the islands.
Why small rooms feel even smaller than they are
Most rooms do not feel cramped because of their actual footprint — they feel cramped because of the decisions made inside them. Dark colours absorb light, low furniture interrupts sightlines, clutter breaks up the floor plane, and curtains that hang from a window frame rather than the ceiling cut the apparent height in half. Each of these is a visual signal your brain reads as 'enclosed'.
In Greece, where older buildings often have generous ceiling heights but narrow floor plans, and where modern holiday rentals need to photograph well for Airbnb listings, fixing these signals pays double dividends: the space feels better to live in and looks better in photos.
What actually controls the perceived size of a room
Perceived size is driven by three things: how much uninterrupted floor you can see, how high the ceiling appears, and how much light bounces around the space. Every technique below targets at least one of those three levers. You do not need to knock down walls or buy all-new furniture — strategic, reversible changes are enough.
5 steps to make any room look bigger
- 1
Paint walls and ceiling in one continuous light colour
Choose a single pale tone — soft white, warm sand, or pale stone — and run it across all four walls and the ceiling without a break. When the eye cannot find a hard edge between wall and ceiling, the room height reads as taller than it is. In Greece's strong natural light, warm whites (LRV above 75) work better than cold white, which can look harsh under direct sun. Avoid feature walls in a small room: the contrast anchors the eye to that plane and makes the room feel shorter.
- 2
Hang curtains at ceiling height, not window height
Fix your curtain rod as close to the ceiling cornice as possible, even if the window itself sits much lower. This single change elongates the wall vertically and is one of the highest-impact moves available for zero structural work. Use lightweight, sheer linen panels in natural or white tones so they diffuse light rather than block it — particularly important in rooms that face north or east in Greek apartment blocks.
- 3
Choose furniture with visible legs and a low profile
Bulky sofas and beds that sit directly on the floor block the view of the floor plane and make a room feel heavy. Replace them — or style around them — with pieces that have clear legs: a sofa raised 15–20 cm off the floor, a bed frame that shows the floor underneath. The continuous strip of visible floor running beneath the furniture signals a larger, more open space. Keep the silhouette low overall; in rooms with high ceilings, tall bookcases against a single wall are acceptable, but keep opposite walls clear.
- 4
Use a large, single rug rather than several small ones
Multiple small rugs chop the floor into fragments, each of which reads as its own small zone. A single large rug — ideally large enough that the main furniture sits on or just off it — unifies the floor plane and makes it read as one continuous, generous surface. In holiday rentals and hotel rooms, a natural-fibre rug (jute, sisal, or flat-weave cotton) in a mid-tone neutral also photographs cleanly, which matters for listing images.
- 5
Add a large mirror on the wall opposite the main light source
A floor-to-ceiling or oversized wall mirror placed opposite a window bounces natural light deep into the room and creates the visual impression of a second, identical space beyond the wall. This is the oldest trick in the book for a reason: it costs less than any structural change and the effect is immediate. In Greek seaside properties with sea views, positioning the mirror to reflect that view also doubles the psychological benefit of the outlook.
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FAQ
- Does a light colour on the floor also help?
- Yes. Pale timber, light stone tiles, or bleached concrete floors extend the visual plane and reflect more light than dark finishes. In existing rentals where replacing flooring is not practical, a large pale rug achieves a similar effect and can be changed seasonally.
- Can I use these tricks in a furnished holiday rental without replacing the furniture?
- Most of them. Curtain height, mirror placement, rug choice, and wall colour are all reversible and possible even in furnished rentals with a landlord's agreement. Furniture-leg visibility is trickier, but adding mirror panels to the base of an existing bed or sofa can approximate the effect without replacement.
- Are dark accent colours completely off limits in small rooms?
- Not completely. A single dark accent used on a small, contained surface — a single piece of art, a cushion, a plant pot — can add depth without closing the room down. The rule is to avoid dark colours on large planes: walls, ceiling, and large upholstery. Keep the structural surfaces light and you have budget for one or two grounded dark accents.