Trying to figure out how to decorate a long and narrow room in your house? If you do, then you know how hard it can be to decorate and live in it. You might have this “bowling alley” room that you would like to decorate, but with a long and narrow room, you always run the risk of creating a tunnel effect that makes it feel cramped and train like. With some visual and decorating tips, a room like this can be converted into a comfortable and welcoming space. If you are also looking to make the most of your long and narrow space and minimize its awkwardness, read on for some easy decorating tricks.
Keep the furniture away from the walls
Try to not push everything against the walls of the room. Let some furniture stay in the middle of the room. Contrary to popular belief, the room will not look choppy; instead, the room will feel cozy. Furniture set against walls and space in the middle give the room a narrower effect.
Painting the walls
To not make a room look boring and narrow, painting the walls is an inexpensive and easy trick. Some kind of color at the farthest wall becomes a focal point of the room. You can get creative with the paint, for example, you can use vertically textured wallpapers; faux stained glass windows, etc. They make for an elegant focal point.
Using Circular or Oval Furniture
The best way to prevent the train compartment effect is to incorporate furniture with soft round edges. Round ottoman, ovular or circular side and coffee tables will be useful in counteracting all the straight lines and rectangular shapes. You should also make use of the corners of the room as an occupied edge will not pull attention to itself.
Using Vertical spaces
As the room has a lot of lengths and not enough breadth to match, there arises a need to make use of the vertical space i.e. the height of the room. Tall pieces which draw the eye upwards can avoid the room from looking cramped. Tall bookshelves, armoires, long wall art arrangements can all be used to create a vertical illusion. The simplest way of using the height to create an illusion is by hanging drapes where the wall meets the ceiling. You can use vertically stripped wallpapers and floor to ceiling windows for this purpose too.
Space use
How you make use of the available space is what makes the room look cozy and comfortable. You can divide the space into separate areas. Consider two different areas, for example, if it is a living room, divide it into a smaller seating area and a study or a comfortable dining nook. Decorate the areas accordingly to make the differentiation. If it is a bedroom, you can install the bed horizontally against the farther wall and use the front half as a study or a conversation nook, etc. You can use different colored rugs to differentiate between the areas. Oval rugs can be more effective in demarcating the areas.
Floor and ceilings
If you have a narrow room, you could use light patterned flooring and tiles. Using bold and dark patterned or colored tiles can make the already narrow space seem more compressed. If you use plain wooden flooring or plain white flooring, you could make it more colorful and interesting by the use of colorful rugs.
A narrow room looks even more crowded if the ceiling of the room appears lower. It is essential to make the height of the room appear taller. You should always go for a light colored ceiling. Try to avoid ceiling textures and partial wall painting. If you opt for an elegant chandelier, try to have it fixed with the ceiling and not hanging too much.
Adding a pop of natural color
A narrow and long room does not have to look awkward and uninviting. To make space look comfortable and lived in, you could consider adding some colorful plants to the room. Adding plants and vines gives the room a warm and cozy vibe. You can arrange the furniture such that you can place plants in the corners of the room, by the entrance, near the seating arrangements or by the study table. Real plants inside the house may cause watering, maintaining and cleaning hassles; thus a more logical option is using artificial plants in the place of real ones. Faux plants are now available in a variety of colors and plant types. They are easy to maintain and have a long life. You can use tall silk flower arrangements for the corners of the room. Some fake hydrangeas in appropriate colors, near the windows would give the required natural touch. You can use silk ferns near the doors of the room and faux floral arrangements using flowers like silk tulips for the coffee table or the centerpiece.
Light effect
You can use ceiling lights if you want to show the vertical space of the room. The colors reflected from the light sources can soften the edges of the long rectangular rooms. Tall lamps in the corners of the long room give a soft lighting effect to the room. Also in a long, narrow room you should keep the walking space very well-lit from above so that you do not trip on the furniture.
Furniture Size
It’s not necessary to have furniture and accessories matching the shape of the room. You can add a lot of drama to your room by varying the furniture sizes in the room. A bright colored recliner or a colorful wall can be made as focus points of the room. When you decorate a long and narrow room using a large furniture item like an L-shaped sofa or a king-sized huge bed or a big circular table makes the room look very trendy.
Avoid cluttering
As the space is very limited any extra items make the room feel disorganized and shabby. Having too many items in the room also create a tripping hazard. Try to use items which are multipurpose like an ottoman with storage. To make your narrow space look fascinating to try to use light-colored paint on the walls and the above-mentioned tips.
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