How to change the size of a room with paint is all about the illusion that light and dark paint colors create in a space. Paint can do a lot of magic in making the space, size, and height of the room not what it is in terms of the area but in terms of the perception created. Using a miniature room, here’s Dave giving a demo of what you can do to make your space bigger or smaller, longer or shorter, narrower or wider.
Here are Dave’s tips:
- Enlarge a room by painting the walls and ceilings with the same white or light color.
- Painting the ceiling a darker color gives the illusion that the height of the room is lowered, giving the space a more intimate vibe.
- Make a long room look shorter by painting the back wall a darker color.
- If the room is too wide, paint the the two longest walls on opposite sides a darker color.
- For rooms with a low ceiling, give the room height by painting the ceiling a light color and the walls a darker one.
- To give a big space a cozier feel, paint the walls and ceilings a dark color.
Save this post so that you can come back to it the next time you would need tips on what illusion you’d like to create with paint the next time you repaint rooms in your home.
“Change” the Size of the Room with Paint
We’ve written before about the illusion that paint brings to a space.
Tips on How to Use Paint to Make Your Condo Look Bigger – This post show why white paint is so beloved by homeowners. It makes the space look big, especially if you paint baseboards and other trims the same color as your wall. Use colors to “change” the shape and size of a room by using darker colors to make a wall advance and lighter colors to make it recede. Paint stripes to create height or width.
Consider Paint Finish
Although paint finish—gloss, semi-gloss, satin, matte, and flat—is more about dirt pick-up, cleanability, durability, hiding, or masking imperfections, it does affect the look and feel of a room.
The post above is a mine of info about paint finish, sheen, or kintab, and will help you pick the right coating for the surface you want to paint, e.g. walls, cabinets, furniture, ceilings.
The Light Reflectance Value (LRV) of the paint you choose, or how much light a surface absorbs or reflects, would also be good for you to consider. This works hand in hand with the natural and artificial lighting in a room. A rule of thumb is: For a darker room, choose a paint with a higher LRV, about 65% or higher. In any case, architects and interior designers usually pick a paint color with an LRV of at least 50%. Read more about LRV by clicking on this link.
In short, paint colors may bring the greatest impact on how a space is perceived. However, paint finish and LRV also affect the impact.
For more tips about paint, subscribe to this Boysen blog Let it B, the country’s ultimate painting guide.
