5 Tips for Decorating Large Rooms

Large spaces can sometimes be overwhelming to decorate—awkward angles, impractical layouts—it can be a challenge. Yet having too much space can be a good thing! With more area to work with, you have more options at your fingertips. Here are a few tips to make your room less cave-like and more cozy.

Tip #1: Physically Divide It Up

There are a couple ways you can divide your too-big room into cozier areas:

1. Use sliding interior doors to create new rooms, like a reading nook or children’s play area. By using interior glass doors, the space is sectioned off and private, but not closed off entirely—light can still pass through, and the decor can still match, and the interior sliding glass doors can be opened to incorporate it back into the larger room.
2. Use furniture like sectional sofas and bookshelves to break up the room’s floor plan into separate zones, without making permanent changes. Lamps and taller fixtures like a statue or fountain also help to designate one space from another. A console table can “wall” off the TV room from the dining room, or a set of shelves can designate the library separate from the kitchen.

Tip #2: Visually Divide It Up

Use patterned floor rugs, curtains, door features, wall color, room dividers, and decor trends to visually divide the spaces. Creating cozy spaces with distinct color schemes unto themselves will help your room look less like a furniture store and more like a welcoming home. A children’s corner will be a bit more colorful, while the game table will have more storage—these visual cues help a big room feel more inviting.

Tip #3: Choose a Focal Point

If you’d prefer to keep your larger room open, consider choosing a focal point like a fireplace or a large coffee table, and arrange the furniture around that piece, remembering not to push all the seating to the edges of the room. This is also a great way to display your heirloom piano or a prized collection in a glass showcase.

Tip #4: Be Bold

Whether you’re a contractor, a homeowner, or an interior designer, it can be intimidating to choose decor elements for a large room or space—but, here, being bold doesn’t have to be scary. Look for strong, graphic prints for curtains on windows or interior glass doors, and color coordinate that print with bright or singular colors throughout. This is a great way to also incorporate colors, from artwork or themes—think stripes and blues for a beachy theme, or leaves and greens for a tropical feel—without being overly matched.

Tip #5: Light It Up

No matter how good your interior decorating skills are, if you’ve got a large, dark space, it’s going to feel like a cold, scary cave. Unless that’s the look you’re really going for, be sure to vary your lighting, but keep the bulbs the same warmth or color. Since lamps can also help visually designate smaller spaces within a larger room, they are perfect for lighting it, as well.

Torch lamps that face up toward the ceiling will add more ambient light, while down-facing lamps are better for a reading chair or puzzle table. If you have taller ceilings, warmth can be given by hanging a chandelier with adjustable light settings, adding lighting strips along ceiling beams, or installing wall sconces for a coordinated decor trend.

Tip #6: Don’t Leave the Walls Bare

It may be tempting to scale down your decorating when you have a room already so full of furniture and fixtures, but leaving your walls bare will undo all your hard work. Remember to keep the pieces thematic, whether it’s color or style, to the room or section they’re in—but have fun. Show off a collection of art or antiques, or coordinate frames for all the family photos collecting dust. Hanging art or other pieces on the walls will help ground the space and make it feel smaller and more inviting.

If you are thinking of how to remodel and redesign your larger living space, call The Sliding Door Company for a free consultation or find a showroom near you. They can help you determine the best sliding doors for your interior projects and help make your house a home!