I have been fairly vocal against upsizing and I feel I have my reasons for opposing the move. Increase in living cost is a direct result of upsizing. Higher water consumption and electricity bills are among the main fallouts of the move.
Add to this tally the concerns related to energy leakage, upkeep and higher cost of home-owning. I think you will agree that I have my reasons. Having said this, I also lobby for the fact that homes can be made bigger without upsizing them.
You cannot make a home smaller and this makes downsizing equivalent to buying a new home. However, you can make a home look bigger with only a few strategic alterations; there is no need to buy a new home altogether.
Open floor plan
Let me start with the great modern idea called “open floor plan”. Over the years I often felt how this move could extend the impression of space. However, not many backed the idea and I remained on the fences with this vision.
Of late, I see it to be a part of many master plans. I see happy faces of clients when I talk about a blue print which has an open floor plan. Among many other things, it definitely increases the illusion of space without actually adding space to your home.
Load bearing walls
Just do away with a couple of load bearing walls and see the effect. Before you visualise the effect in your minds, a couple of quick recommendations- 1) remember that any load bear walling removed from its position necessitates an even redistribution of space. 2) You will need council approvals to modify the load-bearing walls.
Now for the effect- imagine monitoring your children in the playroom from your kitchen or watching the big living room discussion from the dining space. In fact, in a recent article I have discussed how the open floor plans have responded to the changing home dynamics and space crunch, making even small homes look big.
Green walls or living walls
Time for another one- Have you checked out these beautiful things called “living walls”? These are vertical hangings made from green plants. You would know that the colour green expands on our eye, thus giving the impression of bigger square metre acreage to your guests.
Of course, the green walls have multi-fold benefits even otherwise. Facilitating high quality indoor air and promoting energy-efficiency are only two among the several benefits.
Lessen your furniture and appliances
There is a technique-quite elementary-which works on the human psychology and makes cramped spaces look bigger. It is called the strategy of “minimising possessions”. Just as a power point invaded by power plugs looks messy, homes with too many furniture and appliances also looks cluttered.
On the retina, it creates an impact of shrunken space. To make your home bigger without upsizing you need to remove those pieces which can be done without.
I hope that these ideas will make the cut with you because they do not ask you to spend a fortune to add space to your home.
What merit do you find in upsizing a home?
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