HONOLULU (KHON2) — In Hawaiʻi, living space is a premium that not many have.

This made KHON2.com wonder how we can make our tiny living spaces feel luxurious and spacious.

There is a great deal of information online about how you can achieve this, but lots of the ideas are pretty lame or just not achievable. So, KHON2.com did the research for you.

From Bobby Berk to Marth Stewart, this is what the experts have to say about creating a luxurious home out of a tiny space.

Floating furniture

This idea is not as magical as it sounds. Basically, the concept is not pushing all your furniture against a wall. Instead, you allow your furniture to occupy space in the room.

In order to float your furniture, these are the ideas you can utilize:

• Symmetry is the key to making your room look larger than it is. With two sofas facing one another, you can achieve a sociable atmosphere that detracts from the size of the room and pushes the focus on the experience. Don’t have room for two sofas? Then, you can try this with two loveseats.
• Leave the three-piece furniture suit at your grandmother’s home. A room that has mixed furniture makes for a rather creative environment. The more interesting your pieces are, the more people are going to dwell on the looks of the furniture than how small or large the space is.
• Locate an area rug that you love and center all your furniture around it. Filling the floor space with the rug will allow you to anchor your furniture and create a homey ambiance.
• Be sure that your furniture is proportional to your space. Don’t go for some really big sectionals for a studio apartment, for example. If you have a small space, then use smaller furniture, i.e. a loveseat rather than a really large sofa.
• Utilize your wall space and consider integrating built-ins. Walls can be the home of shelves that also can act as incognito storage. Bay windows can become a seating nook.

Style tricks

There are lots of little things you can do to get that space opened up.

• You can lean into the age of your home, apartment or condo and “play up” the period it was built. For example, there are lots of structures in Hawaii that were built in the 1960s and 1970s. You can utilize used vintage furniture and create an atmosphere that is very different from the average space.
• Don’t be afraid to paint your walls or utilize fun colors to brighten up and broaden the feel of your space.
• Hanging plants can provide depth to a room that nothing else can. There are lots of plants that love to live indoors.
• Don’t clutter your space. Choose specific decor that helps to add to the space rather than make it feel smaller. There is a difference between clutter and a well curated space. So, don’t be afraid to be grandiose but be smart about it.
• Acrylic furniture is both a kitschy vintage approach and a space modifying tool. Really any unexpected furniture is a great way to draw focus from the size of the space to the contents of that space. Thrift stores a great resource for things like this.
• Mirrors have an amazing ability to expand perception of space. You can find lots of large mirrors at charity shops. Lean them against walls. Hang them in rooms. There really is no limit to how much fun you can have with mirrors.
• To go along with the mirrors idea or on its own, lighting in strategic places can help open up a room. You can position the lights so that the mirrors reflect their light, opening up the space significantly. You can also utilize smart lighting which typically is installed on walls or in ceilings. Not using space for lamps makes a big difference.

There you have it. Some easy and mostly inexpensive ways to make a small space feel much larger than it is. Have fun with it and see where your creativity takes you.