You have a small area, perhaps you live in a studio, or you want to redo an attic room for your teenager, how can you make the area seem larger than it really is? Here are a few painting tips. To put it simply, you can rely on paint and a little innovation to give your tight space a whole new look.
It is often advised to paint the walls white to give the feeling of space but that is not always the best solution. Read on and you will see that our painting tips can liven up your small spaces while making them attractive and interesting.
No more boring white everywhere!
It is certain that dark colors applied on all four walls, will make the walls close in on you even more. It is therefore better to choose light colors, but without going to the white out look. White is impersonal anyway! It gives the feeling of being in an hospital room, cold, clinical, antiseptic. But you can choose slightly tinted whites. A very light gray is very much in today.
Painting tip # 1 : Play with perception of space
You can use bright or dark colors in a small space, but do so in moderation. Perhaps on one wall will be enough to bring out a special feature of the room. You can bring somethings closer by using a dark color, for example if the room is long and narrow, painting the wall that is the farthest from the entry a dark color would bring it closer making the room seem larger that it actually is.
Painting tip # 2 : Think about what you can use to add volume
You can include the elements of your room into the paint scheme. For example if there is a fireplace you could paint it in a different color to give it focus and add volume to the room. It is all in how the eye sees the space around us.
Painting tip # 3 : Make use of patterns
Patterns can be very useful but you must be careful not to overdo it, specially in a small room.
Just like stripes make us look thinner they can do wonders for a room where the ceiling is a little low. Use thin vertical stripes and only on one wall two at the most, and your ceiling will move up a few inches. On the other hand avoid horizontal stripes unless you want to make the space look all squished up.
Paint an optical illusion
Painting tip # 4 : Paint an optical illusion
This requires a little more skills, but painting a scene on the wall of a bedroom, or a fireplace in a living room can do wonders to push the walls out of the way. An optical illusion painted on any wall is grandiose, you can dare anything you want, if you have the talent to do it, or if you can find someone to do it for you.
Painting an optical illusion is a really neat trick and themes to that effect are numerous. It is an artistic play of perspective. When you look at it you know that you are in front of a painting but the subject of it looks like it is coming out of it.
A little more complicated
On a large wall, you can paint a whole outdoor scene, on a small surface an object of an animal can spring out. You can create the impression of an open window on an outdoor garden, a neat effect for a room without windows like in a basement. You can paint a library wall at default of having the space to put a real one. This kind of wall painting can also hide defects in an apartment or a room.
If you get this work done by an artist, it is highly recommended that you check out his/her credentials before proceeding, and that you ask for sketches of what will be on your walls as it is easier to make changes on a paper than it is on a wall painting.
Painting is a great way to make a small area look bigger, there are other ways to make a room look bigger, for example you might use a bistro table or a desk for small spaces. For room that lack expanse, smaller sized furniture does add a little to the illusion of more space and certainly gives you more room to move about.
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