Small rooms can feel cluttered and uninviting, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Watch: How to paint a wall
Thankfully, there are lots of tips and tricks to help make a small room feel bigger.
How do you make a small room look bigger with paint?
We know where you place the sofa in your small living room can make a massive difference to how big or small the room feels.
Another genius tip for making a small room feel larger is using paint and a technique called colour drenching. You select a single colour and apply it to multiple surfaces in a single space.
So does painting a room all in one colour make it look bigger?
Lisa Alward is the Principal Interior Designer at Bella Vie Interiors and the author of the book Beautiful Life. She says colour drenching can absolutely help give the illusion of a bigger room.
“Colour drenching effectively makes everything blend together, allowing you to create a statement by choosing a contrasting focal point in a room. In a small room, fewer visual lines make the space look larger,” says Lisa.
How to choose a colour for colour drenching
When choosing a colour to work within your small space, Lisa recommends considering the following before making a final decision.
Light
“Firstly, consider the orientation of a room and the natural light it receives. If a room gets a lot of natural light, you can use cooler tones as the sunlight will warm the colours,” says Lisa.
“In rooms that don’t receive a lot of natural daylight, you may want to use a warmer tone, which will help make the space feel cosier.”
How the colour makes you feel
“Secondly, select colours that speak to you, whether they make you feel happy and energised or calm and serene.
“Before you make your final decision, paint some samples to see how the light in your room affects the colour.”
How do you enlarge a room with paint? Colour drenching 101
Now that you’ve chosen your paint colour, it’s time to start painting.
“To make a small room feel larger, paint doors, ceiling and trims the same colour as the walls to make the room recede, so whatever you put in the room becomes the hero,” says Lisa.
“Matching your cabinetry colour to your wall colour can work really well in a small space as it ‘disappears’ against the wall.”
Rules for colour drenching
The good news is there are no complex rules for colour drenching.
While it’s usually done with one colour, Lisa says, “a slightly darker tone on the architraves and skirtings with a slightly lighter tone on the ceiling could be stunning.”
“I would paint the ceiling the same colour as the walls in a small, cosy, intimate room. Then consider furnishings such as curtains, cushions, lamps, and rugs.
“Patterns of the same colour can be used to break up larger blocks of colour and add visual interest.”
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