When large furniture—sofas, beds, cupboards—eat up every inch of floor and touch every wall, rooms feel heavy and tight. You can’t see much of the floor, so your brain reads “no space left.”
Leaving a bit of visible floor around pieces, even just a few centimetres, gives the eye a break. It signals, “There is breathing room here.” This is why furniture on slim legs often looks lighter; you can see the floor underneath.
The more floor you can glimpse, the more open the room feels, even if the actual dimensions haven’t changed.
