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 Paint the room a pale colour, with a bright-white ceiling, to maximize the sense of space. Put down ceramic tile, wood-strip or other linear-type flooring that can be run on the diagonal. The eye follows the lines on the floor, and the room seems larger because diagonal lines will be longer than those running parallel or perpendicular to the walls. Open up the room by maximizing views of the outdoors or of an adjoining, more spacious room.
Forgo a headboard and footboard, which will force you to bring the bed farther out from the wall and interrupt the flow of space. For a substitute headboard, on the wall at the head of the bed you can hang a simple textile such as a quilt or tapestry from a decorative rod, group pictures low on the wall or mount an architectural fragment such as old porch gingerbread or picket fencing. Small bedrooms should be furnished to some extent so they will appear as roomy as possible.
Keep the bed low to the ground (a simple metal mattress frame is ample) to reduce its mass. Consider a sleep sofa in a bedroom that isn't used often. Use furniture sparingly because it can choke a room and its traffic pattern. A bed, bedside table and chest may be all the room can hold. Paint moldings, doors and the like in the same colour as the walls. Strongly contrasting elements chop up the space. Keep the walls light in colour, as light colours recede.
Purchase storage pieces that go up rather than out. For instance, choose a wall cupboard rather than a triple dresser. Use a bedside table that offers storage, such as a small chest with four drawers. Minimize pattern, which seems to fill a room. Flowers, stripes, plaids and polka dots will seem to swim toward you from a rug, curtains, wallpaper, or bedcover.
 Skip the billowy window and bed treatments such as piles of pillows and fluffy dust ruffles. Decorate windows simply. Besides being the wrong scale for a small room, show-stopping treatments such as showy draperies encroach into the space of the room. Tailored looks (blinds plus a simple valance, flat dust skirts) have less volume but still get the job done. Outfit the closet with a storage system of drawers, shelves and rods that optimize storage. Use the same flooring material throughout the space to unify it and make it seem more expansive. Select ceramic tile that is oversized - even in small bathrooms.
Spare clutter that is sitting atop the furniture. Restrain the use of pictures on the walls, which can close in the room. Some decorators advise leaving one wall blank to calm the psyche. Use a square lampshade so that the lamp can fit as snugly as possible against the wall. Use high-voltage
light bulbs to give the room a sense of openness. A light-flooded room seems more spacious.
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