Small living rooms are rarely a square-metre problem — more often, they're a problem of too many loose elements all competing for attention. A handful of recurring principles fix that surprisingly quickly.

1. Let one piece of furniture anchor the room. Usually that's the sofa. Choose the largest sofa that genuinely fits, and keep everything else modest.

2. Work with a calm, three-tone colour palette. More colours make a small space feel busier, not livelier.

3. Layer light at three heights: ceiling, eye level and floor. A single ceiling fixture almost always feels bare.

4. Hang one large mirror opposite the window. The effect is bigger than three small ones combined.

5. Keep the floor as visible as possible. Furniture on legs feels airier than blocks that sit flush with the ground.

6. Choose one piece of art that's genuinely large enough for the wall. Small scattered frames make walls feel cluttered.

None of these fixes requires a renovation. Together they change how a room feels the moment you walk in.