When it comes to having larger rooms, filling the space can be exciting, even easy. However, if you live in a small home or apartment, you most likely know how challenging smaller spaces can be to decorate.
Besides scaling your furniture down to fit the size room, the small space sometimes limits furniture and art placement.
Although your space is fixed in size and amount of natural light, choosing the right interior paint colors can play a prominent role in transforming the look and feel of a room and help make a room look bigger.
As professional interior painters, we have discovered a few tricks for choosing interior paint colors that give an illusion of a larger space.
In this blog post, we’ll share our tricks for how to choose the best colors to make a room look bigger using techniques that create the illusion of a larger space.
Can paint make a room look bigger?
Yes, it can! When it comes to interior paint colors to make a room look bigger, lighter and darker colors that create contrast can give the room depth, which establishes an illusion of a larger space.
When you look at how to make a small room look bigger, keep in mind that medium shades will make your area look much smaller than it is.
While some basic rules apply in optimizing small spaces, that doesn’t mean you can’t play around with fun palettes.
What is the best color for walls in a small room?
Dark colors work well in small areas. They can create a dramatic, intimate feel. They blur the edges of the walls, which has a way of making the space feel larger.
Choose similar paint colors to keep things consistent
When it comes to tricking the eye into seeing a room as more prominent than it is, you should choose a ceiling color in the same range of hues as the color of the walls. Consistent paint hues throughout the home will give your space a seamless, open look.
Choosing similar colors creates a lack of awareness of where the wall ends, and the ceiling begins. It encourages your eyes to flow smoothly as you move from room to room.
Another tip, try using the same color to paint your cabinets, trim, and floorboards. Using the same color on the ceiling as the trim areas gives the illusion of a taller, bigger room.
Create an optical illusion with an accent wall
We know what you’re thinking. “Wait, didn’t you just say to keep it consistent?” The answer is “yes”. Using one color on your walls is a great way to make your room feel spacious. However, sometimes rules are made to be broken.
Accent walls are a great way to create an optical illusion drawing the eye to a single focal point.
Dark colors read as receding from the viewer, so the accent wall visually enlarges the space. It sets up a nice contrast that can make the rest of the space seem brighter by comparison.
This works great for a square area and longer, narrower rooms. Instead of painting just one wall a contrasting color, try painting the two long walls a darker shade than the two short ones. This trick can emphasize the length of a room and make it feel bigger in comparison.
The right finish can also make a room feel bigger
Not only does paint color matter when making a space feel larger but also the finish! There are many different types of finishes when it comes to painting.
For example, matte paint is very flat, meaning it has no shine. High gloss, on the other hand, is nothing but shine. In between the two extremes are eggshell, satin, and semi-gloss.
We recommend the inbetweeners, the slightly glossy finish reflects natural light, which can help make the room feel larger.
The glossier the paint, the better it is for high traffic areas because these types of paint are more durable and easier to clean.
When you are ready to make these decisions, don’t go it alone. Hire us as your interior painting contractors to offer a color consultation and if your goal is to change the look and feel of your space, we have the know-how to make it happen.
