How to Use Paint to Make a Room Look Bigger

ECOS 05/14/2015

Whether you have a small home you wish was bigger or you love your tiny home and you just wish it felt bigger, we're here to help! You don't need to invest in additions or skylights or any major renovations at all. We have an easy, awesome solution. Here's how to use paint to make a room look bigger!

  1. Use cool hues. Our brains perceive colors differently. Warm colors, like red, orange, and yellow, tend to draw in a space and make it feel smaller. Alternatively, cool colors like blue, green, and violet, tend to recede or move away and make a space seem more open. (If you have your heart set on a warm color, choose a tint that’s dampened with some cool tones and is very washed out.)
  2. Keep things monochromatic. Use one color scheme, in different shades and textures, on the furniture, flooring, and walls to keep things “clean,” which also creates the illusion of space.
  3. Choose light paint colors. Creams and shades of white reflect light making a room brighter, which also makes it appear larger. If whites and creams are too blah for your taste, choose one wall for a splash of light color.
  4. Paint trim and moldings lighter than the walls. When moldings and trim are lighter than the walls, the walls looks as if they’re further back. Once again making your room appear bigger.
  5. Create an optical illusion with stripes. If your room is narrow, paint horizontal stripes on the walls to make it look wider. Similarly, if you have a low ceiling, try vertical stripes on the walls to make the ceiling seem higher.
  6. Paint the ceiling a bright color. Painting the ceiling in a brighter or bolder color than the rest of the room draws the eye upwards which will make the ceilings seem higher so the whole room feels bigger.
  7. Paint the floor with stripes. Stripes have a way of making a room feel like it goes on forever and doing them on the floor will add a nice pop of color.

Do you have your own tricks for making a small space appear larger? Share them in the comments for others to learn from!

CATEGORIES small space solutions

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