Colour and space
When you are faced with a room that feels small, there’s no need to start knocking down walls. The same goes for large, spacious rooms that can make you feel small or isolated. A false ceiling might be an expensive mistake.
The first thing to try is a colour change. Our eyes perceive colours and tones in such a way that it is possible to create optical illusions that apparently change the dimensions of a room.
Make sure you use a few testers before you buy your paint and look at the colours in daylight and artificial light.
Warm colours
Warm colours that appear to advance:
- Brown
- Red
- Orange
Cool colours
Cool colours that appear to recede:
- Blue
- Green
Dark tones
Tone can be used to modify or reinforce the required illusion. Dark tones – even when you are using cool colours – will advance.
Pale tones
Pale tones will open up a space visually, even with warm colours.
Colour and tone together
If you paint a ceiling a darker tone than the walls, it will appear lower. If you treat the floor in a similar way, you can almost make the room seem squeezed between the ceiling and the floor.
A long, narrow passageway will feel less claustrophobic if you push out the walls by decorating them with pale, cool colours – which will, incidentally, reflect more light as well.
Stripes
Using stripes is another way to alter the perception of space.
Vertically striped wallpaper or wood-strip panelling on the walls will counteract the effect of a low ceiling.
Venetian blinds make windows seem wider, and stripped wooden floors are stretched in the direction of the boards.
Any large-scale pattern draws attention, and – in the same way as warm, dark colours – will advance, while from a distance, small patterns appear as an overall texture and so have less effect.
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