Make Your Home Look Larger Than It Is With Two Tips From HGTV's Christina Haack

While size isn't everything in the home design world, it sure can feel like an important factor. Whether you're in a ranch-style house or a cozy bungalow, making your home look and feel more spacious has a wealth of benefits. It can improve your home's aesthetic appeal, add value to your property, and even make your everyday living more enjoyable. That's why both homeowners and designers are always looking for clever hacks that create the illusion of more space in the home — all without adding any actual square footage. HGTV's Christina Haack is one of the design world's go-to voices for transforming tight homes into bright, open spaces. Two of her best tips? Paint the home's exterior white and use the same flooring throughout your home.

One of her most notable tips has to do with the outside of the house. To boost the curb appeal for your property, she recommends painting your home's exterior stark white. During an episode of HGTV's "Flip Off," Haack called this tip "a little trick to make the house appear larger than it is." You see, white is known to reflect light, which makes the surface appear more open, airier, and bigger overall. It also gives the home a modern vibe that's crisp, clean, and pops beautifully against any surrounding trees and grass. White exteriors stand out, look timeless, and give a fresh, new aesthetic that catches the eyes of buyers and even passersby.

When it comes to the inside of your home, maximizing space is a top priority for homeowners. One of Christina Haack's interior design tips for creating the illusion of space in a tight room has to do with flooring. She recommends using the same flooring in most spaces throughout the home, including the main living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and hallways. "I like sticking with the same flooring throughout bedrooms, throughout the whole house, besides bathrooms, laundry room, stuff like that, and then I like just putting down a rug because those are affordable and easy to switch out," she told Parade Home & Garden. "I like consistency. I feel like it makes houses look bigger." 

Color matching and material matching your floors introduces cohesiveness and consistency in your home. This helps to eliminate visual barriers that break up the space and make each room feel individually smaller. Instead, the eyes are drawn to the home as a whole, making the interior appear larger and more expansive. If you're remodeling a smaller or cramped-feeling home, you won't regret implementing Haack's two hacks that create the lovely illusion of space and openness.