Making our Drawing room look bigger !

In this post I will be looking at tricks of the trade which will make our small set seem like a lavish drawing room but how we can make a small room look bigger?

Small rooms can feel confining and uncomfortable and for the drawing room this is not what we want. Luckily for us we can utilize certain design concepts that fool the eye and make our rooms seem much bigger and spacious. Some solutions for small spaces, that can make a room in your home look larger are color techniques, furniture arranging, and lighting considerations can give the look of space and as this room is meant to be a grand drawing room we need to take this into account.
It is all about illusion. Light colors make your room look bigger and brighter. Light and brightly colored walls are more reflective making a space feel open and airy, which will help to maximize the effect created of natural light which we are unable to have in a set. for this effect we need to select soft tones of blues and greens and pastel colours such as pink.
another way to add detail to our set and keep it light and is airy is by painting our walls light and using dark colors for the border and trim, in our case our panelling is a dark walnut/mahogany.
another trick with colour is to paint our wall trim and moldings a lighter color than our walls. if we painted our moldings light, the wall would appear further back, making our drawing room appear bigger.
In our set we decided on pale pastel pink with a slightly darker print to create a wallpapered effect this colour was authentic to the period.

Whilst in the study we needed to use darker tones to create shadow and the sense of darkness to reflect Ivan's state of mind.
Dark colors absorb light, making the room look smaller which is a desired effect for this room. (more information on the wallpaper of the rooms in later post)
(image on left jenny and rhyan painting the dark green walls of the study and lighter green stencil)

Also the use of furniture can also make our room look a lot smaller then we want using known tricks of the trade to create space yet still having the antiques and furniture we need to set the scene the following tips have helped shape the Drawing room.

Placing the large pieces of furniture against the walls opens up the space. allowing room for smaller side tables and chairs to fill the middle of the room.

Making sure that the scale the furniture fits the size of the room and doesn't block walking pathways. With furniture and accessories blocking the view into a room and out to open spaces, a room will look cramped. By moving furniture out and away from walkways, you’ll open up the space and make it feel larger. If you can see the floor, the room will look larger. Having over sized sofas or too much furniture will make the drawing room look smaller and his room is not meant to be small !
Setting our furniture at an angle works because the longest straight line in any given room is it’s diagonal. When you place your furniture at an angle, it leads the eye along the longer distance, rather than the shorter wall. And finally choosing a sofa and chairs with open arms and exposed legs allows light to filter under the furniture, making the room appear airier. Luckily the furniture period meant a lot of exposed wood and and legs of chairs and love seats showing.
Mirrors can also make our room look larger. Using a focal point and angling the mirror towards it, which will give the illusion of depth. The mirrors also reflect both natural and artificial light to make a room brighter during the day and night. They bounce light deep into the room, making it appear larger. This is especially effective with near a window so the outdoors can be reflected. Mirrors on the walls and glass tabletops will make it seem like there’s a more open flow.We could also use mirrored cabinet doors to make spaces feel large and uncluttered. in this specific styled room we will use a lot of guild mirrors which not only help create extra light but will create a sense of wealth.

Researching light and the use of mirrors i came across a very well known room in the same period called the Hall of Mirrors located in Versailles France some where i have visited recently the photo below is one of my own.
finally using the natural light from a window what in this case we wont be able to get a rule is that you Make sure window coverings are sheer, or are pulled back, to bring more light in. hopefully we will be able create the appearance of light outside the window using set lights.