I have lived in small apartments for the last two years of my life. My latest apartment was pretty small and dark, the windows were small and the ceiling really low. I knew that my best solution would be paint everything white but I was really craving some color. What I ended up doing was painting most of the walls Navajo White (a white with a hint of beige) and then I painted just one of the walls in the living room in Latte (another neutral) The Latte wall was my splash of color and I have to say that if I had painted all the walls in that brown tone, the space would have looked really dark. Lighter colors make rooms look bigger, they also make a spaces look bright and open.

For all those people out there that need a bit of color, like me, you could do what I did. Add a little splash on one of your walls and keep the rest light, try a neutral or even a pastel tone. Check out some ideas here.

Other things that help to make a room look bigger are:

• Light colored floors and ceilings. Keeping everything lightly colored makes the space seem bigger. This also makes the natural light spread more throughout the space.
• Use furniture in the same color as the walls. When the furniture is camouflaged within the environment it makes you feel that you have more space than you actually have.
• Keep your space uncluttered.
• Small pieces of furniture will help make your space look bigger, try to buy smaller things. Imagine a 15 foot wall with a huge three seat sofa that covers almost the whole wall. Now imagine the same wall with a light looking two seat sofa and an ottoman next to it, the effect would be so different, don’t you think?
• Mirrors and glass tables can be your best friends. The bedroom in our apartment has mirrored closets and it looks huge because everything looks twice as big, the walls seems to continue and the light is reflected and spreads through the whole room, we are loving it! Glass coffee tables and dining room tables are great to create a spacious effect, they look so light.

Remember that you can always add colorful accessories to personalize your space. I was a bit sad when I read that we couldn't paint our apartment, but then I started loving the light colored walls. The space looks bigger and lighter, that’s just what we needed.