Learn How Color Can Expand and Define a Room
Paint is an excellent way to alter the size and feeling of a room, and so much more economical than knocking down walls! The way our eye perceives color value within a space directly affects our perception of the size of that space. Here are some fun ways that you can play with this concept in your own home:
1. Paint walls and ceiling the same color to make the room feel larger.
2. Paint a room’s ceiling darker than the walls to make a large space feel smaller.
3. Paint walls and ceiling different colors to define architecture.
1. To make a smaller space feel larger, consider painting the ceiling and walls in the same color. When this happens, our eye is able to travel continuously around the space rather than having to stop from wall to ceiling. A common misconception is that darker colors will make a space feel smaller but, in reality, it is the high levels of contrast between the white ceiling and colored walls that have this effect. Also, certain deep colors in a small space will give that space even more warmth.
2. To make a large space feel cozier use a dark or warm color on the walls. These values appear to move toward us whereas lighter and brighter colors tend to recede.
Another possibility would be to paint the ceiling a darker color than the walls. What this will do is draw the ceiling down, giving more warmth to the space. Conversely, a lighter ceiling will seem to soar away from the walls.
3. To highlight interesting architectural features, use two colors that have some contrast and choose the walls you’d like to accent. Doing so will give your eye a better sense of where and how the walls are shaped. In the event you’ve got something about the architecture that you’d like to downplay, the best option would be to paint all walls in the same (perhaps neutral) color. Again, less contrast = more ease for the eye to travel.