Something about the New Year makes you want to expand. Whether its your perspective, your need to travel, your desire to change or even expand your living environment, there is no better time to do it then the start of a new year. If you received a new piece of artwork for the holidays (like a Limited Edition from My Pop Art), it may inspire you to open up your home, do some rearranging. Bright, bold artwork has a transformative effect on a room and your mind.
Here are some other tips on ways to make your space seem bigger, more open. (Remember your space affects the way you feel, so if you have a list of New Year’s resolutions you’d like to stick to, start with your living environment):

Open up the room by maximizing views of the outdoors or of an adjoining, more spacious room.

Keep the walls light in color, as light colors recede.

Provide good illumination, which will enhance the sense of space.

Paint moldings, doors and the like in the same color as the walls. Strongly contrasting elements chop up the space.

Put away some of the tabletop bric-a-brac. It makes the room seem cluttered, busy and crowded.

Paint the ceiling white. Rooms have a greater sense of space with high ceilings, and white ceilings seem higher than darker ones.

Run linear flooring such as wood strips and ceramic tile on the diagonal. This creates the longest straight lines possible in the room, and the eye will follow them.

Use the same flooring material throughout the space to unify it and make it seem more expansive.

Select ceramic tiles that are oversized – even in small bathrooms.

Use furniture that is scaled appropriately to the room. For example, an oversize sofa will eat up too much space in a small room.

Decorate windows simply. Besides being the wrong scale for a small room, show-stopping treatments such as billowy draperies encroach into the space of the room.